Steam has created a problem and used that problem to generate billions of dollars.Want to support me further? I now have a Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/Ki...

Impressive investigation on the addictive side of Steam games

  • Snot FlickermanEnglish
    23•4 months ago

    I love Valve, but let’s not mince words: They invented and created the problem of Loot Boxes, which were the first true iteration of modern gambling mechanics in Valve games. They hired none other than Yanis Varoufakis to help them research and roll out their “digital markets” in 2012.

    To be fair, however, gambling and psychology have been abused in games for decades. I’ve said for over 20 years that Diablo II/World of Warcraft and offshoots like them are glorified Skinner Boxes.

    It’s time for some god damned rational gambling laws in regards to “gaming” and fast. And I don’t mean the idiots who overnight re-rated Balatro as an adult game because they assumed based-on-poker-rules-means-Gambling. Idiots.

    • @vinyl@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12•4 months ago

      Not to downplay the fact that valve has popularized and continued on with this trend, but to be technical, FIFA was the first major game to introduce loot boxes in around 2008.