Financial fuckery thread

[Cain]

If EA are really smart, they'll implement RNG with a freemium system.

That's kinda what they did with ME3.  You could spend money for Bioware points, to purchase packs to unlock content faster.  The trick is, with the packs, the contained goods are randomised and so there is no guarantee that, for example, you will get a black-listed weapon if you open half a dozen arsenal packs (as I've found from experience).

The only difference is that with ME3, none of the content was available to paid subscribers only.  If you had the patience and the skills to pay the bills, you could afford to unlock everything for free (minus the 900 hour average it has taken to do so thus far).

[Junkenstein]

Don't even suggest that to them. Others are already doing it with a large degree of success. "Banned in Japan now" levels of success.

Familar with the term "Kompu Gacha" It's essentially Mcdonalds monopoly - Collect X ammount of Y to win Z. Only your ability to collect X is based on RNG rather than any kind of skill. Oh yeah, it costs every time you try too. Remember the various tales of kids racking up silly levels of debt on their parents credit cards and such? The vast majority of instances involved a Gacha style game.

Related stuff for the interested:

Both gashapon and gachapon are Japanese onomatopoeia, made up of two sounds: "gasha" or "gacha" for the turning of a crank on a toy vending machine, and "pon" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. It is used to describe both the machines themselves, and any toy obtained from them. Tomy, another major player in capsule toy market, uses "Gacha" (ガチャ gacha?) instead of "Gachapon" for their capsule vending machines and toys.[citation needed]

Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside of grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. While American coin-operated vending toys are usually cheap, low-quality products, sold for a quarter, 50¢, or sometimes 75¢[dubious – discuss], Japanese gashapon can cost anywhere from ¥100–500 (approx. US$1–6) and are normally a much higher quality product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BetableBlog/20120525/171124/Why_quotKompu_Gachaquot_Was_Banned.php

The Japanese social gaming market is substantial, worth $1.4 billion in 2011, and it is dominated by two major players: GREE and DeNA. When rumors began circulating that the "kompu gacha" reward system that GREE and DeNA utilized extensively was going to be made illegal, their stocks were pummeled by over 20% in two days. Now, kompu gacha is illegal in Japan and both companies are swearing up and down that the new regulation will not cripple their businesses.

Hint - It did.

It's interesting legally, as you're essentially banning a game mechanic. Imagine how that would play out in the US.

[Junkenstein]

Much more detail compared to my crude description above:


http://www.slideshare.net/altnate/kompu-gacha-examplesofcompletegachaen

[Telarus]

What's going to happen when some games go the way of cell phone games, and you can only beat some levels through either endless grinding, or spending real money on special super-awesome equipment that will make that level super-easy.

Oh, did you not hear of the absolute disaster that the mobile re-make of Dungeon Keeper evolved into?

[Junkenstein]

No, do tell?

Never mind
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/reviews/10956-Dungeon-Keeper-Mobile-Review-Wallet-Reaper

It started in the game's very tutorial. The grasping. The harassing. The demands for money. As I was being taught about how gems can speed up the building and excavating of dungeons, the game's narrator - a twee redesign of the once iconic Horned Reaper - openly mocked me, making fun of how "polarizing" in-app purchases were before shamelessly telling me how spending my real money will grease the wheels and get things accomplished. This is how it begun, and it only got worse from there.

The most positive thing I can say about that is that none of the original Bullfrog team seem to be involved at all and likely didn't have a choice. IP laws and developer deals being what they are. EA as well so no shock there.

I think it may be worth a broader look at this in general. While not on the same level as the banks, there's assuredly all kinds of evil shit involved in the games industry as it stands. We've not even mentioned Blizzard yet.

[Raz Tech]

Man that was one of my favorite computer games of all time, and here it is being bastardized

[Aucoq]

the now accepted idea that you can put out a full-priced game that you only completed half of and then just put out the rest of the game as DLC to squeeze even more pennies out of people. 

That's what drives me up the wall.  How about Blizzard releasing Starcraft II in three fucking parts?  My head damn near exploded when they said that's what they were going to do.

[Junkenstein]

Starcraft 2 in three parts? Still nowhere near as horrific as Diablo 3 with it's always online DRM (No single player game for YOU. Ever. Even Simcity figured this shit out. Eventually.) and consistent failure to understand the basics of game design. They're about 2 and a half years into game+expansion at this point and it just looks like a total mess.

The community management isn't exactly wonderful either. These were the chaps that thought RealID (Your REAL ID! Tied to your account! With your address and everything! What could go wrong?) would be fine. Then were surprised when the announcer was immediately pizza bombed. Needless to say, that escalated but the company is far from smart and has a noted position of "We don't give a shit unless it will make $1 billion +". Bobby Kotick understands business in ways I never will.   

If a bored Mod gets the chance, a split on this gaming stuff would be appreciated. There's plenty that warrants it's own thread between developer/publisher fuckery, horrible monetisation models and outright cash grabs, it's a huge industry that I don't spend nearly enough time kicking the ankles of.

[Junkenstein]

Please put down any hot drinks and ensure you are not eating.











Seriously.












You were warned.


















http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28535001

In a new report, ResPublica called for an oath for bankers to "fulfil their proper moral and economic purpose".

Director at ResPublica, Philip Blond, said: "As countless scandals demonstrate, virtue is distinctly absent from our banking institutions.

"Britain's bankers lack a sense of ethos and the institutions they work for lack a clearly defined social purpose."

He said an oath would "finally place bankers on the road to absolution".

He apparently said this with a straight face.

"But meaningful cultural change in an industry as complex and diverse as banking takes time."

You know what inspires a meaningful cultural change in any complex diverse industry? Laws. And enforcing existing Laws. Both of which are utterly lacking and there's no political will to change this.

I guess we're all supposed to cheer for the side which agrees to get the bankers to read the bit of card saying "I won't be naughty".

That this is the best suggestion a think tank can devise is quite frankly laughable. Or at least it would be if it wasn't so fucking tragic.

[Salty]

 

[Salty]

Oh, it's laughable. I can't stop!

[Pæs]

PROMISE RINGS FOR BANKERS. OH YES, THIS IS WHAT WE NEED.

[Pæs]

"I swear to fulfil, to the best of my ability and
judgement, this covenant:
I will do my utmost to behave in a manner that
prioritises the needs of customers. It my first duty
to provide an exemplary quality of service to my
customers and to exhibit a duty of care above and
beyond what is required by law.
I will apply myself to ensuring that the work that
I perform is in line with values that engender the
responsible creation of value. It is my duty to conduct
my business in an ethical manner and to ensure that
my actions impact positively on the wellbeing of
people both inside and outside my enterprise.
I will confront profligacy and impropriety wherever
I encounter it, for the conduct of bankers can have
dramatic consequence for society. 
I will remember that I remain a member of society,
with special obligations to the financial security and
wellbeing of my customers, their families and the
communities they reside in.
If I do not violate this oath, may I benefit from the
prosperity that comes from serving customers well.
May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions
of my calling and may I long experience the joy that
comes from supporting the needs of society.
This oath I make freely, and upon my honour."
The Bankers' Oath

[Cain]

The "bankers bonus" meme has been fantastic for the banking industry.  It moves the terms of debate away from dangerous territory, regarding illegal and quasi-illegal banking practices and concentration of money and power, towards a kind of soap opera politics of envy, which in turn assures the bankers that hatred towards them is nothing more than jealousy.  Everyone wins...well, except the public good.

[minuspace]

That's why I was thinking this Offerings to Cthulhu, OFF, crypto currency thing might be interesting.  Like one of those things that's so wrong, it might just be right?  Let me know if we talked about this already, I'm experiencing a little time slippage after my last jump.