Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dollar freefall

Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by lanfeust6 on Friday October 24, 2025 @07:58AM (#45693727)

You can monitor and restrict Steam usage with parental controls. This is no more unfeasible than WiFi and device time limits, and last I checked, children don't carry a credit card. What's the mystery here? An 8 year old is not accruing bitcoin to buy skins.

Meanwhile you have users here that will tell you that refusing to give their kids smartphone or even any video game is not that hard, but it seems needsly restrictive.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by gquere on Friday October 24, 2025 @08:14AM (#45693849)

AFAIK you don't need a credit card linked to the account, you can get in-store credit from selling the guaranteed drop items from playing a few matches, this is enough to get you started trading.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by lanfeust6 on Friday October 24, 2025 @10:55AM (#45695298)

That sounds like a pittance. Either way they would be playing with money they didn't put in themselves.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by mrguyorama on Friday October 24, 2025 @12:58PM (#45696567)

It isn't a pittance.

It's literally "The first hit is free". The sketchy gambling sites spot you bonus skins and stuff for the same reason. It doesn't matter, they don't actually have to ever pay out, so they can just give you fake money to get you addicted.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by lanfeust6 on Friday October 24, 2025 @01:17PM (#45696829)

Unless they're using their own money with the blessing of their parents, this remains in the realm of tin-foil-hat paranoia. There's no reason to believe we're in child gambling crisis because of fake money.

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