Prez wrote on Jun 25, 2024, 14:49:

ZeroPike1 wrote on Jun 25, 2024, 05:35:

Cutter wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 19:25:
Of course predation is a common thing or we wouldn't have regional and surge pricing on things. Hell, ask anyone who's ever been married in a formal wedding ceremony. It costs you 10 times as much for the exact same shit simply because the word "wedding" is attached to it.

In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa

You got to stay at a spa while you were training? Must be nice.

I wouldn’t call it a Spa. It’s an American „village“ town. Meaning it’s a small population Center. The area is known and named around the water from there.

From Wikipedia:

The village was famous for its mineral water spring used for healing in sanatoria,[10] including the Hawthorne and Lithia springs.
The effervescent water, tonic, and cathartic from this city is also known as Ballston Spa. The liquid contains common salt and carbonates of magnesium and calcium.

In January and February it would get as cold as -30F. When it warmed up to 0F it felt like a heatwave. That's not like any spa I have ever heard of...

Gotta grow up there to understand that you were happy it even stayed around 0 degrees during the middle of winter.

ZeroPike1 wrote on Jun 25, 2024, 05:35:

Cutter wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 19:25:
Of course predation is a common thing or we wouldn't have regional and surge pricing on things. Hell, ask anyone who's ever been married in a formal wedding ceremony. It costs you 10 times as much for the exact same shit simply because the word "wedding" is attached to it.

In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa

You got to stay at a spa while you were training? Must be nice.

I wouldn’t call it a Spa. It’s an American „village“ town. Meaning it’s a small population Center. The area is known and named around the water from there.

From Wikipedia:

The village was famous for its mineral water spring used for healing in sanatoria,[10] including the Hawthorne and Lithia springs.
The effervescent water, tonic, and cathartic from this city is also known as Ballston Spa. The liquid contains common salt and carbonates of magnesium and calcium.

In January and February it would get as cold as -30F. When it warmed up to 0F it felt like a heatwave. That's not like any spa I have ever heard of...

GenXGamer wrote on Jun 25, 2024, 13:24:
I posted and shared this article on the War Thunder steam forurm.
came back the next day, the post was gone.
So i posted it again with the comment that my previous post disappeared and I don't know why. I wrote it off as a steam forum bug.
A minute later it was gone.

then I asked why are my posts disappearing when I referred to this article?

I then get banned for "contesting a moderator".

contesting what?

That article I think ruffled the feathers of those Gaijin moderators.

I appealed to steam after a steam moderator then gave me a global ban. For a ban by a developer who even steam support said makes their own rules.


It is crazy that Gaijin acts like they own the forums in steam and valve turns a blind eye to that. Its valve's platform and yet they are ok to let Gaijin make up thier own rules punishments to a user that affects them on all of steams community.

In short, that article hits the nail on the head.

Gaijin and Valve both benefit from the predatory tactics discussed in this article and they tried to silently hide my posts. And when I called them out for disregarding thier own rules to silence something they didn't 'like' they banned me.

It's my understanding that individual devs/publishers do in fact "own" comment sections for their games on Steam and have free reign to moderate them as they please. This has been a point of contention with gamers for years as inconvenient posts get deleted by diligent publishers trying to manage their PR. Of course Steam is going to side with the publishers against individual customers. They make a lot more money from them than they do from you. I suggest you try Reddit.

And yes, Gaijin is the poster child for predatory tactics in gaming. They were among the first to add gambling mechanics, and their game is among the worst in regards to forcing the player to spend money on the game if they want to make any reasonable progress.

I posted and shared this article on the War Thunder steam forurm.
came back the next day, the post was gone.
So i posted it again with the comment that my previous post disappeared and I don't know why. I wrote it off as a steam forum bug.
A minute later it was gone.

then I asked why are my posts disappearing when I referred to this article?

I then get banned for "contesting a moderator".

contesting what?

That article I think ruffled the feathers of those Gaijin moderators.

I appealed to steam after a steam moderator then gave me a global ban. For a ban by a developer who even steam support said makes their own rules.


It is crazy that Gaijin acts like they own the forums in steam and valve turns a blind eye to that. Its valve's platform and yet they are ok to let Gaijin make up thier own rules punishments to a user that affects them on all of steams community.

In short, that article hits the nail on the head.

Gaijin and Valve both benefit from the predatory tactics discussed in this article and they tried to silently hide my posts. And when I called them out for disregarding thier own rules to silence something they didn't 'like' they banned me.

Cutter wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 19:25:
Of course predation is a common thing or we wouldn't have regional and surge pricing on things. Hell, ask anyone who's ever been married in a formal wedding ceremony. It costs you 10 times as much for the exact same shit simply because the word "wedding" is attached to it.

In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa

You got to stay at a spa while you were training? Must be nice.

I wouldn’t call it a Spa. It’s an American „village“ town. Meaning it’s a small population Center. The area is known and named around the water from there.

From Wikipedia:

The village was famous for its mineral water spring used for healing in sanatoria,[10] including the Hawthorne and Lithia springs.
The effervescent water, tonic, and cathartic from this city is also known as Ballston Spa. The liquid contains common salt and carbonates of magnesium and calcium.

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 17:14:
In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa, New York, I was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Saratoga Springs. I lived off-base in a 4 apartment townhouse. I wondered why I was the only one occupying an apartment for months. Then horse racing season started (in case you are unaware, Saratoga Springs is the Mecca of horse racing in America. Or at least it was in '93 - no Idea if it still is).

For a month or two the rent for the other three apartments went up to 10 times what I was paying, and my landlord asked me not to tell the other seasonal tenants what my rent was, which she kept the same year-round. When I went into town, that sweater that I saw in a store that had previously been $70 was now $300.
This predation isn't a new thing, as that was over 30 years ago, and I have no doubt it goes back much farther than that. I've just been aware of it longer than most. At least in the real world the argument can be made for 'supply and demand' (I still think that is bullshit but at least it is a defense); in the digital world, there is no such thing.

If you shopped at the naval PX that was located nearby-ish back in ‚93 there is a super 1 in a Million chance you shopped there at the same time I did.

Of course predation is a common thing or we wouldn't have regional and surge pricing on things. Hell, ask anyone who's ever been married in a formal wedding ceremony. It costs you 10 times as much for the exact same shit simply because the word "wedding" is attached to it.

In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa

You got to stay at a spa while you were training? Must be nice.


I've bought DLC/expansions but I can't even recall a single MT I've ever paid for - except on Steam but that was paid for by selling virtual cards anyway. I've had zero problem with not spending dime one on MTs.

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 18:13:
With respect, you are indeed wrong. I don't blame you at all; it is after all intended to be deceptive. I don't mean to be argumentative, as I am not sure about many things that you know for certain I am sure, but this I do know. I know precious little else actually lol. 😁

I have definitely experienced it in real life, I am pretty sure Amazon tries to direct me to more expensive resellers to make a larger commission. Hmmm now that I think about it, I guess battle passes sometimes, if not often include buffs... Like a double XP buff or whatever. I think you can buy repair kits in Fallout 76.. LOL maybe that's why I suck at these games. I generally will not spend any money on MTX or battle passes. Maybe I am actually really good at these games and don't know it because I am being punished for not giving these company's more money.

With respect, you are indeed wrong. I don't blame you at all; it is after all intended to be deceptive. I don't mean to be argumentative, as I am not sure about many things that you know for certain I am sure, but this I do know. I know precious little else actually lol. 😁

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 17:58:
There have been patents filed by game companies themselves that have been discovered that illustrate, by the company's own admission, that this is being done. Take 2, EA, and Ubisoft come to mind, and I would be utterly shocked if Blizzard wasn't doing it. It is painful in how naive the notion that "we don't know for sure" is.

well I could be wrong, my Kill/Death ratio playing Call of duty is like 3/1 because I suck at games, the last MTX I bought was some skin of Rambo a few years back, it was like $20.. I don't recall anyone with a 10/1 or a 20/1 D/K ratio paying $60 for that same MTX. IMO the author failed to make the case.

There have been patents filed by game companies themselves that have been discovered that illustrate, by the company's own admission, that this is being done. Take 2, EA, and Ubisoft come to mind, and I would be utterly shocked if Blizzard wasn't doing it. It is painful in how naive the notion that "we don't know for sure" is.

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 17:35:

Riahderymnmaddog wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 17:32:

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 16:53:
Without reading beyond the headline, I have to say that predation in gaming isn't worse than I think, because it literally can't be. But I know I am not who the article is for...

The article is just an opinion based on speculation and failed to provide any real-world examples outside of a photo of some loaded dice guaranteed to roll a 7 or 11 every time. There was also a flow chart scientifically showing that if a player is good at a game, data analytics could be used to increase the difficult, resulting in microtransactions at a higher price. I have no doubt there is some truth to it, but if MTX were dynamically price based on the skill of a player as alleged, I am pretty sure there would be a ton of real-world examples at this point. Really it was just a manipulative headline to generate revenue by selling advertisement, and I was the mark.

Am I the only one that sees the irony in calling the article deceptive but at the same time the obvious tactics used in gaming meant to insidiously deceive to get more cash is downlplayed? It's not a question of "if it is happening - it is absolutely happening,and happening often.

I have no doubts it is happening; I am sure game difficulty can get ratcheted up to encourage spending, I just am unaware of anyone using dynamic pricing to charge more for a MTX based on player skill. I am sure that they would 100% do that if they could get away with it though.

Riahderymnmaddog wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 17:32:

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 16:53:
Without reading beyond the headline, I have to say that predation in gaming isn't worse than I think, because it literally can't be. But I know I am not who the article is for...

The article is just an opinion based on speculation and failed to provide any real-world examples outside of a photo of some loaded dice guaranteed to roll a 7 or 11 every time. There was also a flow chart scientifically showing that if a player is good at a game, data analytics could be used to increase the difficult, resulting in microtransactions at a higher price. I have no doubt there is some truth to it, but if MTX were dynamically price based on the skill of a player as alleged, I am pretty sure there would be a ton of real-world examples at this point. Really it was just a manipulative headline to generate revenue by selling advertisement, and I was the mark.

Am I the only one that sees the irony in calling the article deceptive but at the same time the obvious tactics used in gaming meant to insidiously deceive to get more cash is downlplayed? It's not a question of "if" it is happening - it is absolutely happening, (it has been demonstrably proven many times) and it is happening so often that it is the norm, not the exception. I think today's youth refers to that as "copium".

Prez wrote on Jun 24, 2024, 16:53:
Without reading beyond the headline, I have to say that predation in gaming isn't worse than I think, because it literally can't be. But I know I am not who the article is for...

The article is just an opinion based on speculation and failed to provide any real-world examples outside of a photo of some loaded dice guaranteed to roll a 7 or 11 every time. There was also a flow chart scientifically showing that if a player is good at a game, data analytics could be used to increase the difficult, resulting in microtransactions at a higher price. I have no doubt there is some truth to it, but if MTX were dynamically price based on the skill of a player as alleged, I am pretty sure there would be a ton of real-world examples at this point. Really it was just a manipulative headline to generate revenue by selling advertisement, and I was the mark.

In my first year of nuclear power training in Balston Spa, New York, I was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Saratoga Springs. I lived off-base in a 4 apartment townhouse. I wondered why I was the only one occupying an apartment for months. Then horse racing season started (in case you are unaware, Saratoga Springs is the Mecca of horse racing in America. Or at least it was in '93 - no Idea if it still is).

For a month or two the rent for the other three apartments went up to 10 times what I was paying, and my landlord asked me not to tell the other seasonal tenants what my rent was, which she kept the same year-round. When I went into town, that sweater that I saw in a store that had previously been $70 was now $300.
This predation isn't a new thing, as that was over 30 years ago, and I have no doubt it goes back much farther than that. I've just been aware of it longer than most. At least in the real world the argument can be made for 'supply and demand' (I still think that is bullshit but at least it is a defense); in the digital world, there is no such thing.

This comment was edited on Jun 24, 2024, 17:24.

Without reading beyond the headline, I have to say that predation in gaming isn't worse than I think, because it literally can't be. But I know I am not who the article is for...

So data analytics are not just being used to manipulate our world views and sell us shit by social media? There being used to manipulate our gaming experience to encourage microtransactions too. Shocked, Shocked I tell you. What's next? Dynamic pricing based on our hardware specs? LOL I already park my Raptor up the street when I need to hire a contractor/handyman/HAVC person because as I found out, there is a Raptor tax.