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A comment on U.S. adults are spending big on video games, playing mostly on smartphones. Parent comment

Re:U.S. adults are spending big on video games, playing most... by ThrowawayR2 on Thursday May 09, 2019 @03:54PM (#19871710)
> Or people could not buy microtransactions or support games and studios that use them.

That's about as helpful as telling people to solve their gambling issue by not gambling. The problem is that many of these microtransaction-based games use the same mechanics as gambling to make them addictive _and_ they're targeting minors with it.

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Re:U.S. adults are spending big on video games, playing most... by jtms on Thursday May 09, 2019 @04:07PM (#19871860)
If you are talking about real money loot crates/boxes/packages (as opposed to in game earned virtual currency) you are quite literally talking about gambling. In the case of some games, marketed directly to minors. I am about as free market solution as it gets, but I definitely draw the line at exploiting children (and defrauding their parents simultaneously)
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Re:U.S. adults are spending big on video games, playing most... by watwut on Thursday May 09, 2019 @04:53PM (#19872316)
The people who have most issues with gambling addiction play competitive online games. Microtransactions or not, it is competitive online that has people spend all time in game world and their partners wish a new partner.
[ Parent | on HN ]