this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Games

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I don't have experience with Microsoft and Epic cash grab games but I used to be a League of Legends player so I have some idea what video game addiction looks and feels like.

Microtransaction peddling video game companies much casinos, social media, etc. are notorious for tweaking every possible handle and lever to eke out as much attention and money from their users as they can. Mobile games are especially infamous for this. They collect an obscene amount of data for analytics, use techniques like A/B testing to figure out strategies that would make them the most money possible.

Meanwhile there is absolutely no regulations in place to curb this behaviour. Epic Games was recently fined a large amount for using tricking children into spending money in Fortnite. But the industry as a whole has no oversight. Even in the "bastion of sanity", the EU, whatever regulations there are are lukewarm ones pertaining to lootboxes. Nothing related to the usage of dark patterns etc.

Two parents file a lawsuit against video game corporations that make billions out of this scumbaggery and reddit bros come out of the woodwork to chastise them.

The complaint is wild. The kid is homeschooled, plays 12-14 hours of games per day, and spends $350 per month on video games.

That doesn't happen because of evil corporations, even though we all know every company on the planet is doing their darndest to get you to buy as much of their product as possible, whether it's games, food, booze, or garbage bags.

"I admit that corporations are leveraging their obscenely large amount of capital to milk you but it's your fault for getting milked."

Bad parents apparently can't take any responsibility - instead it must be Microsoft and Epics fault.

"Oh no not a word against my sweet Macrohard and Ebic"

This dude went above and beyond in his bootlicking and defended Nestle and alcohol companies too in one fell swoop:

Yeah, they want whales, but they don’t make whales. If Microsoft or epic is responsible here, wouldn’t every cookie maker be responsible for obesity? Wouldn’t every liquor company be responsible for dui fatalities?

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[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

yea this is reddit nonsense but imma be honest, homeschooling should be illegal.

The lawsuit, filed on October 30, states that that Microsoft, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, EA, and others “use patented designs, algorithms and marketing containing addictive features and technology” leading to addiction.

microtransactions are the same as gambling except there there isn't even a minuscule chance of getting some of your money back. this shit shouldn't be sold to 13 year olds.

[–] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 1 year ago

I'm don't know homeschooling but I think most parents are just straight up not good at parenting so I think it's rare that it works out well. But the problem I have with capital r redditors is that they seem to think if a child has bad parents, it allows corporations free reign to siphon money and attention off this poor kid without any accountability or repurcussions.

[–] frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

yea this is reddit nonsense but imma be honest, homeschooling should be illegal.

I don't agree with this if only because if the crackers have their way, they're going to deliberately misteach my seed about what they did to his or her ancestors, and have done for hundreds of years; just like they did to me. I no longer trust the 'education' of the colonizers having experienced it myself.

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

its not just the education but also the social skills, interacting with diverse people etc. school wasn't exactly great for me (not from the U.S.) but i would still take it over being homeschooled. even if you are in school there is nothing preventing you from learning on your own but if you are homeschooled you can't experience school education.

I do not believe this kid would've gotten into this much gaming if they had to go to school.

[–] Odinkirk@lemmygrad.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gotta maintain that school to prison pipeline, amirite?

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not really, there are plenty of other x to prison pipelines in the U.S.

these are the people homeschooling children.

[–] TankieReplyBot@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] lil_tank@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What's really surreal is that those people are probably constantly being pissed off by the state of the mainstream game industry. They would probably be super happy if regulations stopped the predatory microtransactions, if video games were back to just delivering great experience. But the moment they see people actually do something to get that done they instantly start blaming them because in the end they don't even defend their own interests. They're just hateful. They saw one vulnerability in someone so they unleashed their hate because that's what they crave

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's really not surprising that the redditor libertarians don't see anything bad in preying on children's vulnerabilities.

[–] GarfieldYaoi@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

so-true: "You can sneak in algorithms to reprogram kids, but the minute you refrain from censoring undesirables from media? That's going too far!"

[–] TankieReplyBot@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 year ago

A Reddit link was detected in your post. Here are links to the same location on Teddit and Libreddit, which are Reddit frontends that protect your privacy.