General / Off-Topic When micro-transactions goes bad: An EA tale..of greed!

Philip Coutts

Volunteer Moderator
Philip Coutts
Hold me down but I agree with oss133, your money your choice. If you don't like micro transactions don't buy them. If we all did that they would die a death but as long as people spend money on them companies will continue to flog them to death.
 

Andrew Sayers

A
oss133 said:
I am not sure I see what the problem is. Or, if I do, it is because the problem has ever been thus.
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I think there's a serious argument underneath the hubbub though. The science of getting people to do what you want is a huge part of modern game development, and when that means teams spending their days monetising children, it would be good for the industry to have some kind of written ethical code ready to show off when the next silly season scandal hits.
 

Cosmos

C
We need legislation passed to stop this sort of thing. As for EA, its not hard to understand why they are loathed. Pretty despicable behaviour.

Someone needs to petition MPs about this. We've also not heard anything back from Frontier about what they have planned for ED and given its over a year since kick starter I find the silence on the issue rather worrying.
 

KickahasTier

KickahasTier
Philip Coutts said:
Hold me down but I agree with oss133, your money your choice. If you don't like micro transactions don't buy them. If we all did that they would die a death but as long as people spend money on them companies will continue to flog them to death.
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Well it really depends on how the MT are integrated into the game, is not buying them going to be an option? Or does not buying them mean not playing the game.
 

Oss133

Oss133
KickahasTier said:
Companies without ethics.
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Companies don't have ethics. They have shareholders.

Andrew Sayers said:
I think there's a serious argument underneath the hubbub though. The science of getting people to do what you want is a huge part of modern game development, and when that means teams spending their days monetising children, it would be good for the industry to have some kind of written ethical code ready to show off when the next silly season scandal hits.
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My point was, the science of getting people to buy stuff is not limited to the games industry and it is not new. Ethics and profits do not mix. That is why there are laws governing how you go about advertising and selling stuff.
 

KickahasTier

KickahasTier
oss133 said:
Companies don't have ethics. They have shareholders.
.
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That's a very cynical perspective, never mind that you are comparing apples and oranges.

Companies do have ethics, here is an example Amazon Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

If you mean to say that some companies are immoral and ignore ethics to turn a profit, then you would be more accurate.

Also it is worth noting that while shareholders invest for profit, many do so ethically. forgoing the profit to be made on conflict diamonds, or chocolate companies that wont sign up to fair trade for example.

Your argument is nonsense. Some companies quite successfully self regulate. No doubt that government needs to step in and legislate when greed and exploitation run unchecked. But that's not the rule. In this case we have a chance to help things get set up properly.
 

-o-

O
What about some FTP for the original Dungeon Keeper ..

Based on their homepage, GOG are currently offering the original DK for free. As I write this, 8 hours before the offer is closed.

Ironically, the offer's timing is probably designed so that more people can be exposed to the original game and thus eventually possibly upgrade to the mobile version.
 

Memnoch

M
-o- said:
Ironically, the offer's timing is probably designed so that more people can be exposed to the original game and thus eventually possibly upgrade to the mobile version.
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Upgrade? Never has a word been used so wrongly. :D

I'm not laughing at you -o-, just the very notion of this travesty being somehow better than the original game, in any category.
 

Cosmos

C
GMcA said:
Or perhaps maybe people should just stop buying it? Instead of waiting for the nanny state to implement some bureaucratic legislation...
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I'm not a fan of the nanny state, and I agree people shouldn't buy them, but given this sort of stuff clearly targets children and companies can't act responsibly I don't think there is any choice other than to legislate.
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
GMcA said:
Or perhaps maybe people should just stop buying it? Instead of waiting for the nanny state to implement some bureaucratic legislation...
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The problem is that a lot of people just aren't smart enough to know that they're being ripped off. The old Nigerian Bank and UK Lottery scams are still running. People still fall for it; there's really very little hope for humanity.
 
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