It’s also a little dismissive to assume that this is just like every other game. There are so many psychological tricks going on to add a “feeder pellet” aspect to some games today that they are truly designed to be addictive. Games with in app purchases or ads, are usually built for it. Games that have timed reward systems to incentivize you to keep coming back at that same time every day are also part of it. You see these systems with most of the “free” games on touch screens and as a parent I can tell you that my children are significantly different playing them vs playing any other game with their friends (even online). It’s a noticeable enough and shocking enough behavioral change that you have to remove it.
When not having access to a game for a certain period of time creates anger or tears, it’s no longer just a game.
So they introduced timed challenges (get so many headshots in one life, get a skin as reward) into BF1 as an update and then expanded that in BFV.
It doesn't even have the MMORPG hook where if you don't play, your character is weaker then of people that play more then you.
Imo the shop isn’t as much of a dark pattern. The game is just constructed in such a way that it’s constantly engaging and fun from beginning to end, and very good at playing with friends.
You're character isn't weaker, but it will have fewer cosmetics. I'm not sure that that's a less harsh incentive, personally.
Apex Legends has re-introduced me to gaming (after being AFK since the Halo 3 days), and I very much appreciate that the only 'perks' of grinding are cosmetic. As an adult with less free time, if I knew that a game would punish me stat-wise for not playing as often as my competition, I probably wouldn't play at all since I wouldn't stand a chance. But cosmetics don't affect gameplay.
Try experiencing what your kids experience and judge for yourself.
Minecraft is the replacement - no IAPs (as far as I know), online community is pretty varied but pretty decent for the most part, and the game is lots of fun even completely offline.
You don't mean Enterprise Resource Planning, do you?
Unfortunately, no. ERP as in erotic role play.
But Roblox is essentially a game development platform. Anyone can build a game on top of Roblox, and that player-created game could have slot machines in it.
Don't forget the late 90s Doom scare, the sole cause of Columbine.
It's real. It's happening.
"I get that these concerns are sometimes misguided and overblown, but I also think that it's bad practice to assume that present fears are wholly illegitimate simply because you can think of analogous concerns in the past that in retrospect appear 'ridiculous' to you."
I don't think we're ever going to truly get rid of this sense of "this thing is bad for my kid, we need to get rid of it!" Since ultimately some bad thing happens to a kid/parent and they feel more validated amongst others who feel the same way about that thing. That's an incredibly powerful emotion.
We probably just need to be better at getting people to be generally more open minded and to see the world in less black and white terms.
Statement for the ages right there.+1
You are playing in someone else's sandbox and I have no doubt that it stunts developement in the real world.
-someone who spent far too much time playing these games.
Once the game is gone you will have nothing to show for it. It's worse than any hobby because it demands so much time with so little return.
That's not to deny that you can avoid doing those things, or that many games don't provide those same opportunities, but rather that it's not a fundamental property of games that you gain nothing beyond the game. I gained a lot from my time in WoW.
I think this also ignores that the alternative for a lot of people would be watching TV or using social media.
It's possible there is a problem with games like Fortnite in that you're communicating almost solely by voice and there's a very limited complexity, but it might just be that there's something about it that I don't get.
By the way, the cost of doing a server first kill is tens of thousands of hours of a person's life. For what? A virtual high score?
Video games are more addictive than TV. It is the evolution of technology to be so.
I remember being so confused with the term rendezvous with 006, ha!
I played a lot of Warcraft 3. It sets you up for strategic thinking, understanding the difference between micro and macro management, creating training schedules to become better.
Like most hobbies: meta skills are transferable.
As for the specifics: games made me realize that computers are amazing machines and gave me good hand eye coordination. When I program something easy, I program like a gamer playing Warcraft 3 because typing and mouse speed are the biggest bottlenecks.
It wasn’t the best use of my time but I can think of worse things.
Judging gaming by WOW is like judging literature by 50 shades of gray.
edit: and I want to say more. WOW is hardly a game, it is more of a reward delivery mechanism to keep you paying that monthly subscription. Nothing with a monthly subscription should be called a game, because it just doesn't match the incentives.
Because that's not what I said and any honest reading of my post would back that up.
I just can't imagine what kind of background you have to think this is an insightful or clever addition to the conversation.
The fact that we care as much about the life and opinions of celebs or nobles is one of the weirdest human traits.
We are not that far from tribal cavemen yet.
Point being it's a generational concern. It isn't something a new generation of parents are concerned about in the same way.
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-harry-takes-quite-a-sh...
Its not such a big deal from one person but if it's something that is a significant part of your life and you are constantly bombarded that it is negative then yeah its gonna have a negative effect on you.
Everyone has hobbies that are time-wasters to an extent. It isn't the end of the world if someone has the opinion that this one habit might be addictive.
I find this hard to believe. I was 12yo when Carmageddon and Postal came out. Both were widely covered in newspapers and cable news as excessively violent, and bad for kids. I still played the hell out of both. Why would I have cared what Prince Harry thought?
Someone like Prince Harry saying that Fortnite is a waste of time, is seriously damaging to the image someone might have of themselves playing it. I doubt Prince Harry has got the first clue, and his opinion of it being a waste of time is totally subjective.
It took me probably a decade until I realized that the large chunk of my teens I spent logged in to World of Warcraft were not a blemish on my life. The game had so much depth, it was incredibly challenging, and the social aspect was a huge part of it. My family and our societies negative view of the game encouraged a negative view of myself, seeing as I enjoyed it so much.
Of course you should encourage variety, but let your kid play the fuckin game!