Buttflapper 1d ago • 40%
It's honestly crazy how horrifically they monetized RS3. You're spammed with login notifications for your free gambling opportunities. Idk what it is now but it was squeal of Fortune, then some weird chest opening game you get two keys from or you get them from just playing the game and at random. Met a guy who spent $3600 on getting his skills up. Unfathomable to me
Buttflapper 1d ago • 50%
I don't subscribe anymore. I unsubscribed with the other people who left when the subscription increase was announced
Buttflapper 1d ago • 28%
Hmm idk... The community is mad half the time at the devs. The voting is awful and simply doesn't work at all. They're not a tight knit company anymore either, they're owned by an investment company
Buttflapper 1d ago • 25%
Ohh darn you're right. I misremembered. Thought it was always 15. But yeah, I get the cost of running the game and all that stuff. Totally valid points.
Buttflapper 1d ago • 25%
I think your need to do some inflation adjustment, their costs increase a lot as well. And raw “record profits” aren’t meaningful when not inflation adjusted.
They added microtransactions to both Runescape 3 and Oldschool, bonds never existed back then, so now you can buy gold in game, which is huge insane revenue amount for them. World of Warcraft has never had to increase costs even once.
Out of my friends list of 45 people, I know that's not a lot but still, small list of friends that I have that have played this game actively since the very beginning, two of them still play the game and one of them does not even subscribe full-time. Only when there's a major update.... When I asked every single one of my friends why they no longer play anymore the same exact reason was said. “They were taking over by an investment company, and now it just seems like a silly cash grab. They keep raising the prices, keep missing the mark, don't listen to players.” <<< One of my friends said this to me.... **So let's get the facts straight here** According to [Jagex full accounts report in 2008](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03982706/filing-history/MjAyNDYwMjkzN2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0) from the UK government website, they made $10 million in profit back in 2008. So they were not operating at a loss. Their [profit for the year 2022](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03982706/filing-history/MzQxNjQxMDEyMWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0) is up to 38 million. Jagex's profit rose from £10 million in 2008 to £38 million in 2022, a 280% increase. From 2008's price of $7.95 to the current price of $13.99, the RuneScape membership price has increased by approximately 76%. **So in other words, Jagex profit has risen by 280% since 2008, and They raised the subscription by over 80%. If we count the entire lifespan of RuneScape, it's gone up by 180%. This is: corporate greed**. For reference, by the way, World of Warcraft has never once had to increase their subscription price ever. We also have bonds in our game, and RS3 is completely monetized. A monetized game and a subscription is absolutely insanity, when you add in percentage increases to the subscription price, that's just silly Edit: [A reddit user also pointed out](https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/s/GFRuzO9Wwd) that you have to pay $14 a month for EVERY character, even if you're part of the same account. WoW let's you have 60+ characters in your subscription.
Buttflapper 2d ago • 60%
It's globally accepted in the Sims community that no one wants a multiplayer Sims. We've been asking for Sims 5 for years now, and they tell us they're no longer doing Sims 5 they're doing multiplayer Sims next, with a paid store similar to Fallout 76. So yeah, fuck EA 100% truly vile shit company
Buttflapper 2d ago • 66%
if you watch the video she claims it cures acid reflux and GERD and makes all sorts of promises about it. There's no way to know if she's being truthful. She could make up 96% of it.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFxS8UeJ/ This user appears on my TikTok feed all the time selling some product that she claims helps with acid reflux. As someone who has acid reflux, I have done a massive amount of research, and even read research papers and research studies on the subject to aid in my treatment of the illness. It's a pretty serious illness, and it's definitely not easy to treat or come up with a treatment plan, which is why there are so few medicines that are actually FDA approved for it... But this lady is out here pushing her medicine claiming it's a miracle cure to acid reflux. There are lots of these nowadays, not only on TikTok but on Facebook as well. People pushing these alternative treatments and making such ridiculous claims, half of them probably false. What I want to know is this. Why is this legal in the USA? Surely there should be some sort of governing body that prevents people from doing this and makes it illegal to spread this kind of misinformation?
Buttflapper 1w ago • 62%
I actually have played around 900 hours of it on Steam alone. I'm not going to support them anymore though because of their bullshit price increases. They are owned by an investment company now That is milking them for every cent. World of Warcraft has never once increased the prices of their game at all. I'm not going to support a game that is like that
Buttflapper 1w ago • 100%
The one on the left looks like bacon bits. The one on the right literally looks like baking powder. Cannot imagine how processed this is to have it be good for 3 and 1/2 years that it says on the package as expiration date
Buttflapper 1w ago • 75%
I'm not sure I understand how this works? So you just cram everything into the junk mail envelope and that's it?
Buttflapper 1w ago • 75%
Burning garbage is illegal in Georgia in certain areas including my own. Plus, that's not even remotely environmentally friendly, because there's lots of ink and plastics. I'm truly at a loss. The only thing I could possibly think of is getting an industrial paper shredder for like $200 and just throwing everything in that
Buttflapper 1w ago • 75%
I really appreciate that because someone was over here trying to convince me to play a gacha game claiming that it's not that bad. Some people just don't get it
Buttflapper 1w ago • 50%
Buttflapper 1w ago • 66%
Any lottery style game (let's be honest, Gacha = Lottery) is psychologically harmful in my opinion because it trains you to gamble, there's no other way around it. These games purposefully condition you to spend currency that you've earned, lose majorly, and then get rushes of dopamine when you finally win. They are designed to keep you wanting more. If you think I'm making this up, then read Got ya!: The Psychology of Gacha Addiction
Gacha games have mastered the art of making us eagerly anticipate each draw, activating our brain’s reward system and flooding us with dopamine — the pleasure neurotransmitter. It’s the chemical cocktail that keeps us engaged, excited, and coming back for more. Next on the list is the ‘just one more try’ mentality
There's nothing remotely healthy about this at all, which runs completely contrary to what my personal goals are
Buttflapper 1w ago • 87%
I don't find myself having any negative feelings after playing a game like Zenless Zone Zero
I agree with the rest of what you said but this part is crazy. Gacha games are so heavily monetized it's wild. I played zenless as well up until a few weeks ago, that game is such a trash can. I used every single currency that I had earned in the entire game and couldn't get The character I wanted. Some people spend as much as $2,000 on the game just trying to get a single character. That kind of gambling is even worse than what I'm talking about
Buttflapper 1w ago • 95%
Apex Legends ... the microtransactions and battle passes were just straight up toxic
My friend bought Battlepass for Apex once because it had a pretty decent skin in it. Then, he was straight up *PISSED * when next season they had the most ridiculous, incredible looking skin ever. He felt like he had to purchase it again that season, and was bitter he spent money the previous season for something so mediocre. That kind of thought process is just awful. These games lure you right into it.
Buttflapper 1w ago • 85%
My default skinned character can still win against a guy in a bear-suit with a golden AK and that’s really all I need. I have no particular FOMO of not winning the fashion part of the game.
Sure, until Activision starts using its new patented pay to win technology
Twitter user strahfe recently shared a patent by Activision that suggests buying cosmetic items could increase your chances of being placed in games against less-experienced players. The patent reads: “The microtransaction engine may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player”
I'm not heavy into conspiracies, but I'm suspicious enough to not give Activision the benefit of the doubt and bet that they've done this in secret if they have a patent for it. But really... if we're even thinking about these kinds of things, the game is a lost cause.
Buttflapper 1w ago • 50%
Pointing at the 5-10 indie games that won the lottery isn’t really relevant to what is required for the average indie game.
This is an interesting comparison. Winning the lottery isn't tied to honest hard work or passion or anything like that. It's literally a gamble. Stardew wasn't really a gamble, it was a passion project that delivered to people what they wanted. There are other games that are very successful too. The "average" indie game is also some really strange hyperbole to use, how do you even know what's average? is there a scale, a criteria, a rating board for "lottery" indie games and "average" ones?
Buttflapper 1w ago • 50%
you seem to be upset that it offers cosmetic items for sale. One of your proposed solutions is to bundle all of the cosmetic items together and sell it as a DLC. What is the actual difference in those two options?
The difference is cosmetic items in an in-game shop are designed to get you to "browse" the store regularly and then become mentally conditioned to "shopping" for additional things to buy that aren't included in the game. This is a very unnatural way of acquiring cosmetics in a video game. A more natural approach is to simply discover them in the game or earn them through gameplay. Simple example: Red tiger camo in Call of Duty 4. No need to browse a shop and see skins and wade through other crap to find the one you want and then see a price tag. You also don't have to see a DLC you don't have, since you haven't bought it. Adding things in a game and being like "Sorry, you don't have this... but you COULD have it, for $5!" that's just nutty to me
After playing World of Warcraft for 15 years, I started becoming increasingly bored and disgruntled with the game. The game being grindy and repetitive is no real surprise, I mean it's an MMO. But the one thing that was really frustrating was paying monthly for a subscription and a huge chunk of cash for an expansion, but still having extra stuff flashed in my face all the time that was simply not possible to earn in-game. Mount skins, cosmetics, miscellaneous stuff that is only available in the Blizzard store. They also began adding loyalty items that require being subscribed every single month, and doing repetitive, extremely boring stuff on top of the other repetitive boring stuff, so basically double dipping on your grind, which really isn't fun. Aside from that, I also played other games that required a heavy amount of grinding too, and each one of them had similarly frustrating elements. Destiny 2, overwatch, Battlefield, Fortnite, Halo, and the list goes on. Each of them has the same issue: **fear of missing out**. FOMO basically makes it so that if you don't seize the opportunity to spend real life money, you will never be able to obtain something really cool, because it's only there for a short time, and then it's gone, and you are made to feel guilty and bad about it. It's just kind of depressing playing kind of games and realizing that you are now mentally dependent on financial transactions in order to get the full enjoyment of the game. That to me is a very very awful way to live life, and it really messes with your emotions **So I ditched every game that had any element of an in-game purchase**. This is honestly helped my mental health a huge, huge amount. Now, I only play games that either have no microtransactions in them at all, or are completely free and 100% possible to play with no purchase required at all. So games like team fortress, deadlocked, Stardew Valley, and many other indie games that you can purchase and then never have to worry about getting suckered into the microtransaction cycle for
Buttflapper 2w ago • 33%
It was, but the important thing is that it was conveniently located inside of Facebook, and generic enough that it grabbed people's attention, which is exactly what you need sometimes. When it's too niche or specific, that's when people lose interest. That's why fields of mistria is not necessarily as popular. It's a little bit more niche and specific, with magic and washed out color theme, pastel colors, appealing to the cozy gaming crowd. And that's okay! Not every game needs to be so generic that it appeals to everyone
As a long-time Stardew Valley fan, I never thought I'd find a game that could capture my heart quite the same way. Fields of Mistria has done just that. I'm honestly blown away by how good this game is note: just a random fan, have nothing to do with this game at all. It kinda saddens me that it hasn't gotten as much attention though, there are so many mediocre games with soooo many reviews.. this game is legit insane. it's gorgeous!! Edit: Concerned Ape must've seen my post, and now Stardew Valley has a midweek deal for -50% off LMFAO you cannot make this up
I’m really frustrated with how almost every new game these days is being forced into this “live service” model. It seems like no matter what type of game you want to play—whether it’s an RPG, shooter, or even something traditionally single-player—you’re stuck with always-online requirements. And for what? It adds nothing to the experience for most players and, if anything, it makes the game worse. Take Fallout 76, for example. You can’t play it offline, period. You’re expected to pay $100 a year for a subscription to *play by yourself*, but even then, you’re still online, and any slight hiccup in your internet connection—or their terrible servers—means you get kicked off. It’s absurd. Fallout has always been a solo game experience, but now we’re locked into an online system no one wanted. Who actually benefits from this? Not the players, that’s for sure. Another perfect example is Once Human. This is a game that could have been incredible, but instead, it’s trapped in the live service model from the start. I’m sitting there playing, and there’s no one around. So why am I online? Why can’t I just enjoy the game offline? It’s not like I’m asking to avoid multiplayer altogether—just give players the option! If I want to jump into a server and play with others, fine. But the fact that I’m forced to connect even for big chunks of the game that should be playable offline just feels unnecessary. One of the worst offenders in recent memory is Temtem. It’s like they tried to make a multiplayer Pokémon and failed miserably. The game is fully online, yet it’s a ghost town. Steam shows fewer than 100 players on at any given time, but they still force everyone to play online. And one day, the servers will go offline entirely, and what happens to your game then? It’s completely gone, and so is your money. It feels like a scam. The worst part is, nobody seems to be fighting against this trend except for the EU. They’re already working on passing laws that would require games to be playable offline if the servers get shut down. Imagine that! A game company actually having to care about whether you can play the game you paid for after it’s abandoned. It’s crazy to me that this isn’t already standard everywhere. The fact that we even need a law to ensure you can still enjoy your purchase after the servers are gone is telling. It’s just sad to see so many great games ruined by forced online connectivity. Live service works for some titles, but not everything needs to be connected 24/7. Developers need to wake up and realize that players want the choice, not a one-size-fits-all approach that makes everything worse in the long run.
Quit World of Warcraft recently Because I couldn't justify the subscription anymore. It's been really hard to find a game to put time into and keep my attention. I tried OverWatch 2 but that game is hot fecal matter. Stardew Valley is fun for a little while, all my friends quit though And that's who I played with. Team fortress is good I guess as well, gets repetitive though. And that game is old as heck... So I'm like hey, you know what? I'll try deadlocked, this new early access valve game. Holy crap this is actually fun! It's like Dota or League of Legends, mixed with OverWatch. Some of the characters even mimic some of the exact mechanics of the game, for example one of the characters has an ultimate ability where you spin around in circles dealing damage to everything, like they copied it off of reaper in OverWatch. But hey, I'm not really complaining, who cares right? Valve honestly makes some of the best games ever, every time I play one it's a banger that gets my attention for thousands of hours and this one has been so damn fun. I'm surprised more people aren't playing it, it's just crazy how fun it is and how addictive it is.
Battlefield 2042 is $60 right now. One of my friends on Steam plays Battlefield 2042 and I thought hey, that would be pretty cool to play with him. I'm sure it wouldn't be that much because that game came out a long time ago and was extremely poorly received and like, I'm sure it would be really easy to buy that game or get it now since it's been so long and again, very low reviews. The game is $60!! But when it goes on sale, it's like 8$, so 80% off. Truly unbelievable. Why do they do this? Like, they're basically trying to kill the game or something because no one in their right mind would pay $60 for this game, so 90% of the time when it's *not* on sale, no one buys it or wants to try it out... Also, lots of old games that are "on sale" constantly for like $5 and the base price is 40-60$, so it makes it seem like SUCH a good deal, when in reality, the value has just depreciated... They never seem to lower the base cost of anything, making it deceptive. Is it really 80% off of a $60 game if no one in their right f*cking mind would pay that much for it ever?
RuneScape was my favorite game of all time when I was a kid. I'd play it for at least 8 hours a day every day, and never get bored. Now, RuneScape is RuneScape 3, terribly infested gambling microtransaction mess that looks like a really bad early access game, or Oldschool RuneScape, which is really fun, but is infested with bots. It's honestly so bad. I tried to play it and it feels so... good, but also low effort. The worst part, however, is the corporate greed. Jagex, the company that developes Runescape, has been sold numerous times. This time, it's owned by some Venture Capital or investment firm, the kind that kills games off to gain their IP and then sell them for huge amounts of money (CVC Capital Partners and Haveli Investments). The first thing they've done is raise the subscription of Runescape to nearly $15, which is truly nuts. This game used to be like $8 a month previously, some are still paying that much.... It's sad to see corporate greed kill such a great game. Idk what to even play now....
[Starfield steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2721670/Starfield__Shattered_Space/&ved=2ahUKEwimiNqsyfCIAxXV38kDHbq_FuQQjjh6BAgSEAE&usg=AOvVaw1sQimjjbz-yyg6jjcWEflS) for the DLC currently shows eight user review score of 41%, making this one of the worst Bethesda DLC's released of all time. This is so horribly, shockingly bad for Bethesda, because it shows as a gaming company, they are no longer capable of delivering a really good gaming experience as they had in the past. Some of the reviews sum up quite nicely what is wrong with this DLC.... > Less content than any skyrim DLC. Less than The Fallout 4 story DLCs. Doesn't change of the complaints people had with the base game, writing is still at a 4th grade level. > Quick: If you are looking to buy my answer is no, you aren't missing much content. I was really hoping to enjoy this DLC. Took about 4 hours for the main story and maybe 2 more hours to 100% the achievements. These two reviews I think really summed up what Starfield has become, $70 for an AAAA title that has extremely little buy-in from the community, horrifically low amount of replayability and can be breezed through easily. It's mind-boggling to see this
I remember fondly the days of playing [Heroes of Might and Magic II](https://www.gog.com/en/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_2_gold_edition), never played HOMM3 or anything after, but as I looked at the latest and most "recent" heroes games... they're all rated/reviewed SO harshly. Apparently, they never gained steam like the earlier titles. RTS seems to have the same issue, tapering off. Starcraft is basically dried up and dead, and we never got another Warcraft unfortunately. Even WC3 Reforged was a total flop/disaster, people were hoping one day to get Warcraft 4. Would've been nice, honestly.... But it never happened. as of today, I can't find a single RTS or RPG I actually enjoy that isn't some old 'classic'. What happened to these genres?
https://steamcharts.com/ On Steamcharts, Counterstrike has been the #1 game on Steam every single day I have EVER looked at this site, for at least 3 years now. This top 10 has basically been the same for years... I don't get it. Do people just not play anything else? Dota, Rust, PUBG, GTA V, Call of Duty, Apex.... Admittedly, Satisfactory is new to the top 10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege FINALLY fell out of the top 10, adn so did Destiny 2. It just feels like it never changes, which is crazy.. what happened?
Asheville NC and Western NC has been destroyed by hurricane Helene and flooding. People are saying the same boring tired things there and sharing the same misinformation. > This is just ordinary weather which happens all the time. > The only thing we can do is pray. > Climate change isn't real This is dangerous to say things like this because it makes people believe that there's no climate change, and that is ordinary and expected when that's not even remotely true. It's leading people to ignorantly become complacent, not contact their government, and when disasters like hurricanes happen, they don't evacuate because they don't believe it'll be serious. I started commenting on everything telling people that climate change is causing these issues and got the most unhinged glue-sniffer responses ever like > 'this has always been like this' or 'liberal snowflake tears' and the worst ones are always religious. > 'we can't do anything to save our planet, you need to pray. Send your prayers' God didn't create this issue? We are ruining our planet! Example 1. We now have to surround hospital in Tampa Florida with a literal fucking wall just for ordinary storms https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFSX8mRS/ > @Kevin R. Sullivan:Hurricanes have nothing to do with climate change Deranged comments like this are very dangerous and spread false misinformation
After being incredibly disappointed by the release of Sims 4, I was someone holding out hope for Sims 5 that they would have realized, “Hey, people really didn't want us to do anything multiplayer in Sims 4. Maybe that means we should go back and make an actual good Sims game?” But instead, we get this awful news that Sims will be just like Fortnite, heavily monetized with its own store, basically following the model of Fallout games with creation club, in a sense. Completely the opposite of what players asked for, and crushing all of our hopes and dreams of playing a new Sims game that's just like Sims 3.... To me, this really kills the entire franchise for me. I don't think there's any hope for it, I think this is a death blow, basically an execution of the franchise and turning it into the most low value (to the consumer, mind you) dribble that they could have possibly came up with. There is nothing they could have announced that is worse than a multiplayer version of Sims with microtransactions, that's basically just Sims mobile that you can play on your PC! Sims 4 is already completely unplayable for me, because there's no content, it's just stupid packs and kids and stuff and little micro bundles. There's nothing fun about the game, and you see people streaming it, it's just building. That's all they are ever doing. Just building crap. It's even worse that there's no competitor because it's so incredibly challenging to make a game like The Sims. Horrifically challenging, life by me was completely gutted and canceled, and that was one of the major games that people were looking forward to. There is still paralives, But they are so early access and have no release date at all. It could be 10 years from now that they finish their game or longer. TL;DR: Sims 4 ruined by surprise multiplayer mechanics that were removed. Sims 5 canceled in place of multiplayer with microtransaction store like Fallout creation club. Barely any competitors, life by me canceled. Franchise is dead in the water
I wanted to get printer photo paper for my printer, a Canon. I went to Walmart, They had nothing. Went to Target, they had one pack of photo paper and it was crazy expensive, so I went to micro center. That one was just as expensive. So finally I went back to Amazon, which I was trying to avoid, and saw the price 25 to 40% lower than anywhere I had been. Literally everything that I was looking for, I could find within seconds. Not even Best buy has even close to the amount of inventory or variety, even when you're shopping online.... Therefore, I think Amazon has a literal monopoly in the tech industry right now, you're literally forced to buy from them, because unless you have the money and financial fortitude to protest with your wallet, you're going to be buying from them. There's no other choice. They have so aggressively and dominantly taken over the supply chain market that no other tech company can currently compete with them in any aspect at all. You will be paying 40 to 50% more on everything by cutting out Amazon, and no one has the money for that anymore unless you're upper middle class or above
Clinical information systems and healthcare patient portals are proving to be a significant waste of money. Millions of dollars are invested into developing and maintaining these platforms, often by third-party vendors, to provide patients with online access to their medical records. While the idea behind these portals is great in theory, the execution falls flat when healthcare providers continue to send massive amounts of paper copies through the mail, despite the digital system. This redundancy is both financially wasteful and environmentally harmful, especially when patients like me would prefer a paperless option. Even more frustrating is that at my current health insurance company, I can't even opt out of receiving paper copies. Despite several attempts to request this, I'm told there's no way to stop the influx of mail. Now, I'm left with no choice but to purchase a $70 paper shredder just to deal with the overwhelming amount of unnecessary paperwork I receive. It feels like an outdated system where healthcare organizations are not fully committed to leveraging the digital tools they've invested in. To make matters worse, the US Postal Service bears the burden of delivering all these unnecessary documents. This means taxpayers and other users of the postal system are indirectly subsidizing this inefficiency. It’s absurd that after all the time and money spent on developing patient portals, they’re not serving their purpose if the same information is just going to be mailed out anyway. It’s a huge missed opportunity for cost savings and sustainability. For anyone curious about which platforms I'm talking about, my chart, Healow. These are the two that I have used. I'm sure there are many others, but Blue Cross is also part of the problem, they have their own custom proprietary software that you can log in and see your bill and all that stuff but they will still send you the crap in the mail. And cannot get them to stop
Hard to believe it's been 24 years since Y2K (2000) And it feels like we've come such a long way, but this decade started off very poorly with one of the worst pandemics the modern world has ever seen, and technology in general is looking very bleak in several ways I'm a PC gamer, and it looks like things are stagnating massively in our space. So many gaming companies are incapable of putting out a successful AAA title because people are either too poor, don't want to play a live service AAA disaster like every single one that has been released lately, Call of Duty, battlefield, anything electronic arts or Ubisoft puts out is almost entirely a failure or undersales. So many gaming studios have been shuttered and are being shuttered, Microsoft is basically one member of an oligopoly with Sony and a couple other companies. Hardware is stagnating. Nvidia is putting on the brakes for developing their next line of GPUs, we're not going to see huge gains in performance anymore because AMD isn't caught up yet and they have no reason to innovate. So they are just going to sell their next line of cards for $1,500 a pop for the top ones, with 10% increase in performance rather than 50 or 60% like we really need. We still don't have the capability to play games in full native 4K 144 Hertz. That's at least a decade away Virtual reality is on the verge of collapse because meta is basically the only real player in that space, they have a monopoly with them and valve index, pico from China is on the verge of developing something incredible as well, and Apple just revealed a mixed reality headset but the price is so extraordinary that barely anyone has it so use isn't very widespread. We're again a decade away from seeing anything really substantial in terms of performance Artificial intelligence is really, really fucking things up in general and the discussions about AI look almost as bad as the news about the latest election in the USA. It's so clowny and ridiculous and over-the-top hearing any news about AI. The latest news is that open AI is going to go from a non-profit to a for-profit company after they promised they were operating for the good of humanity and broke countless laws stealing copyrighted information, supposedly for the public good, but now they're just going to snap their fingers and morph into a for-profit company. So they can just basically steal anything they want that's copyrighted, but claim it's for the public good, and then randomly swap to a for-profit model. Doesn't make any sense and just looks like they're going to be a vessel for widespread economic poverty... It just seems like there's a lot of bubbles that are about to burst all at the same time, like I don't see how things are going to possibly get better for a while now?
As someone who grew up playing games like *World of Warcraft* and other AAA titles, I’ve seen how the gaming industry has evolved over the years—and not always for the better. One of the most disturbing trends is the rise of gacha games, which are, at their core, thinly veiled gambling systems targeting younger players. And I think it’s time we have a serious conversation about why this form of gaming needs to be heavily restricted, if not outright regulated. Gacha systems prey on players by offering a sense of excitement and reward, but at the cost of their mental health and well-being. These games are often marketed as "free to play," making them seem harmless, but in reality, they trap players in cycles of spending and gambling. You don’t just buy a game and enjoy its content—you gamble for the chance to get characters, equipment, and other in-game items. It’s all based on luck, with very low odds of getting what you want, which leads players to keep spending in hopes of hitting that jackpot. This setup is psychologically damaging, especially for younger players who are still developing their sense of self-control. Gacha games condition them to associate spending money with emotional highs, which is the exact same mechanism that fuels gambling addiction. You might think it's just harmless fun, but it’s incredibly easy to fall into a pattern where you're constantly chasing that next dopamine hit, just like a gambler sitting at a slot machine. Over time, this not only leads to financial strain but also deeply ingrained mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and a lack of self-control when it comes to spending money. Countries like Belgium and the Netherlands have already banned loot boxes and gacha systems, recognizing the dangers they pose, especially to younger players. The fact that these systems are still largely unregulated in many other regions, including the U.S., shows just how out of control things have gotten. The gaming industry has shifted from offering well-rounded experiences to creating systems designed to exploit players’ psychological vulnerabilities. We need to follow Europe’s lead in placing heavy restrictions on gacha and loot boxes. It’s one thing to pay for a game and know what you're getting; it's another to be lured into a never-ending cycle of gambling for content that should be available as part of the game. Gaming should be about fun, skill, and exploration, not exploiting people’s mental health for profit. It's time for developers and legislators to take responsibility and start protecting the players, especially the younger ones, from these predatory practices.
Honkai Star Rail, a free-to-play gacha game (basically, gambling game of chance) in which players spend anywhere from $5 to $10,000 to get characters, gear, equipment... is now releasing a disc version of their game on PlayStation 5. First issue with this is that many people don't have a disk drive in their PlayStation, and the new PS5 pro won't either. The game is also downloaded to the PlayStation store digitally anyway, so I'm not even sure what the heck the disk supposed to be for. Second, it doesn't appear to be a steelbook, just a regular old plastic PS5 game case from what I have read from other sources. This is incredibly wasteful and frustrating because these always end up in a landfill anyway. Third and finally, it appears that the things that you get in game are silly little cosmetics. Spending money on this doesn't actually get you any characters. It's not like Apex Legends where you buy the starter bundle and you get several characters to start off with, no. You get nothing, absolutely nothing to help you in game. But if you take that $40 and go in game and spend it on rolling for overpowered characters, you could definitely get one of the best characters in the game right now. Just seems very strange to me that a free to play pay to win game is going to come out with a physical copy that doesn't provide any actual benefit to players in their gameplay.