The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization (The Jimquisition)

Watched this one with my mom. When it was over she said "this has got to be shown to a wider audience, everybody needs to know about this", and I agree. Real excellent episode.

I think your strongest argument is on how these monetization methods deliberately target people with existing vulnerabilities and cite studies to backup the claim. Addiction as a general subject is hotly debated in the medical community, there are real, legitimate questions about the relationship between addiction with and without a chemical substance, for instance. There's a real debate about the quality of the data on addiction, and how to interpret the results of the many existing studies. TLDR: you can argue on the science that companies are targeting already vulnerable people better than you can argue that they are creating vulnerable people.

Iochannon

High profile games will always be able to be made. For every team just trying to use the maximum might of their hardware there's occasionally one out there that figures out how to create software and tech that achieves the same effect with less cost. Normal mapping and the like. Chronicals of Riddick brought the game industry massively forward. The next console generation is going to show us triple aaa quality games at a much lower effort. Mark my words

Harry Moore

I feel a small need to remind that CEOs making enormous bonuses isn't necessarily a sign that the company underneath isn't deeply sick. I've watched as the credits after video games have gone from single screens to fifteen-minute-long crawls backed by multiple licensed song tracks. Every one of those people pulls a paycheck, from the lead texture designer to the person voice-acting guard #3 in the Italian version. To say "They can continue doing it and paying for it because they did it in the past" feels like a gross oversimplification, in that regard. Without a real look at a company's books- not just the numbers they're reporting, or the fragments that third parties try to cobble together- it's actually rather difficult to assess whether a product would be profitable without its microtransaction schemes or not. BUT. Many worthies would point out, with some truth, that most of us aren't asking for most of the "chrome" that makes "AAA" games so damn expensive to produce. Most of us would rather have games that worked when they were released, rather than the latest HDR bloom technique, or facial motion capture for characters we never see closer than a sniper scope. And more to the point- as Jim implies, later in the episode- is it even worth these companies and products existing, if THIS is what it takes to make them financially solvent? Even before lootboxes and "whale"-exploitation mechanics started making headlines, we were getting an awful lot of stories of "expand and contract" cycles where companies were filling their ranks with expendable talent when game production got into gear, keeping them on through the grim days of crunch, and then quietly shuffling short-timers out the door just before anyone might start inquiring if a bonus could be expected for making a hit. The only good thing to be said for such shady dealings is that it's contributed to talented people deciding to try their stakes with the independent market, some in the process creating some awfully good work. That upper-tier executives, particularly at publicly traded companies, can be unimaginably greedy and short-sighted is nothing new. But I have to wonder if what we're seeing isn't more than that- a sign that, as we enter yet another console generation (with its own inevitable higher expectations and still longer credit rolls and higher costs), the process of creating high-profile games is itself becoming untenable and unsustainable.

Kraken

Thank you so much for shinning more light on this topic. I especially loved Hbomber and Casey's narrations. Those stories are important and need to be heard by all who try to defend AAA companies.

Masha Gazizova

I feel like the end of the 1st testimony is a jab at the Extra Credits videos where they talk about loot-boxes since they use the excuse about them keeping game affordable.

JoshingWitYa

If you want to take a glimpse of what kind of market these "AAA" game companies want to create, look no further than South-Korean mobile game industry. Every-single-game title is riddled with pay-to-win mechanics. Every-single-game title is literally the same game with different skins. And still, they make at least 10 billion dollars every year. I have a dreadful feeling that this is the game industry we will about to see in near future.

Thank you Jim Sterling. This video is incredible and wonderfully done.

Perpetual Noob

This is an incredible video and i immediately shared it with all my family members who have kids that i know play these games. My one sister actually wanted to show it to her sons, but i had to warn her that the language is not appropriate for all kids. It would be great if you could edit a PG version of this video that could be shown directly to younger more vulnerable players.

Nicholas Kutsop

Big Thank You to Jim, and all who contributed to making this possible.

Igor Levine

Yep, can confirm from firsthand experience this is being used in mainstream consumer software. Consider what is happening in AAA games a preview of your experience with ANY consumer product, 5-10 years from now.

Igor Levine

Coincidentally, this GDC talk was also released today and details some of the "dark patterns" used by tech companies to maximize "user engagement" https://youtu.be/V3PiM1y3jRI

James Hull

(obviously that score was a joke)

Harry Moore

By the way... this may be your finest work yet, Sterling. Could not find a flaw in the presentation. Editing is tight, it was emotionally resonant, and the pacing was great. It had weighty subject matter that was presented in an entertaining but impactful way. A near perfect video. 7/10

Harry Moore

Thank god for Jim Sterling!

IcyKag

As if to respond to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3PiM1y3jRI

Lasse T. Stendan

Hey Jim just want to say thanks again for all you do.

I am somewhere in the middle...a dolphin, I guess. I give in to microtransactions occasionally, have even spent hundreds of dollars on a single mobile game, but fortunately it hasn't ever gotten out of control. There has been at least one occasion, though, where I impulsively tried to buy something and my card didn't go through. And just that little hindrance shook me out of it and I decided not to buy it at all. It's a little thing, nothing like the accounts you had in the video, Jim, but that's my response to the mantra that if people didn't want them they wouldn't buy them.

Ben L.

Ughhh, and rereading this makes me realize just how much I feel like I gotta apologize for not liking these mechanics. As though I feel I'm the bad guy. Trying to explain with multiple reminders I'm "a forgiving dude". They really fucking condition us to feel as though we're in the wrong if we refuse their bullshit. I hate it. I just want to buy a game, and play that full game, and if there's dlc... I wanna buy that outright too.

Harry Moore

That second story is exactly like ME :'(

Ronnie

(Might repost this to reddit too) I don't know if mine story counts for anything, but I thought I'd add to it. I had a step dad that would pawn my shit for weed and lottery tickets. I ended as an adult with a revulsion for both. Can't stand gambling. This has put me in a weird place with games sometimes. I don't mind micro-transactions if I think they're reasonable. Fallout 76 sold a pack of atoms that came with extra atoms and an Elder Coat for ten bucks. I thought "Fair play, I get a nice cosmetic with the atoms". I'm pretty forgiving on cosmetics if they got some solid stuff in the main launch or the path to earning them free is easy enough. I remember playing Overwatch, however, and quitting. I was having a blast with the game. Then they throw an event. "Special loot boxes limited time and gone forever after".... before, no matter how grindy, I was good with the loot boxes. I could earn them just by playing so no matter how long it took, I could get the stuff I wanted. Now they were telling me "you gotta gamble or you're not getting these limited skins" ... Overwatch was now forcing me to gamble, to spend money, or I'd be barred from getting something. Again, I am pretty forgiving... League of Legends would occasionally release temporary skins with a limited time run. The difference here is you bought them outright. I could look at it and say "alright. I can buy 20 dollars in RP, and decide which skins if any are the most important to own". Maybe I couldn't get em all, but I was given a fair chance to get the exact ones I wanted for an exact price. Where this left me with Overwatch was now seeing people with the skin I wanted made me feel bitter. I'd bought the best edition of the game, I'd preordered, I'd bought a friend the game. I'd been a consumer and a good fan. I played regularly, I earned my outfits. I refused, however, to roll the dice with my money and risk not getting what I wanted. I fucking hated playing the game I owned because I knew the developer was denying me content if I refused to gamble. I haven't returned all this time later. As I said, I'm a forgiving dude. I'll spend a lil money on a game. I'll grind a bit to get the stuff I want. I work from home and about 50 hours or more of my time is dominated by gaming (My job is such that I rarely am "On" until the moment I am, then I'm working 72 hours straight". I see this practice more and more often. I've quit a few games since that I really liked.... and it's frustrating. Even when I try to continue, I just can't enjoy it anymore. It's almost a reverse gambling addiction. If I'm being forced to gamble to get my content I CAN'T enjoy it. It's not as bad for me as those with gambling addictions. All I can say is at this point I've lost somewhere over 500 dollars in games that decided to pull this shit. Games I really enjoyed. Games I wanted to play for a long time and if they'd released proper DLC I'd have bought it. I rarely buy AAA games (outside 2 publishers) now. I think the last one South Park: Fracture but Whole I got everything for 20 dollars DLC included. Other than that I stick to the INDIE/Small publisher scene. I spend most of my recreation budget on video games. Fallout 76 has a wonky launch? I'm still having a blast. Saint's Row releases a billion cosmetic packs? Hell yeah dude lemme help fund that next Saint's Row game... lemme pay that fan service. I want to give games my money... but more and more my enjoyment in games and my love of them is diminished as I see them barring content from me if I don't keep paying to roll the dice to get it. I don't want to be punished for refusing. I probably won't ever play a Blizzard game again. I definitely won't play a Bioware game after they decided to skip Mass Effect DLC in favor of multiplayer gambling boxes. Meanwhile I'm buying every decent Capcom release that comes out because I trust they're giving me full experiences and I'm loving their games. Like I said, my lot isn't the same as those with a gambling addiction. I've lost hundreds, they lose thousands.... but if AAA games can kill my love of playing their games... as forgiving and as happy as I am to spend... then it goes to show you just how vile their practices have become.

Harry Moore

I understand how people hooked on these mechanics are suffering. I never had issues with gaming, primarily because my tastes aren't in the industry's lushest pastures (for now), but I've had problems with shopping and "collecting" transformers. The instinct to pre-order out of fear it might not be physically available if I exercised a little GD restraint and waited until I'm fiscally comfortable is very real. If I didn't have the fortune of living with my family, I would have been broken long ago. If I didn't have the added pain and depression of their physicality swamping me I don't know if I would've stopped.

shadowscribble

Jim you did it again! Just when I thought I’d seen so much of the beautiful content you make, you go & do it again! One of the most important videos you’ll ever get to watch about the video games industry. Please everyone watch & share.

Great work, mate!

Thomas Riemer

Thank you. It's not equal to this work, but here is a new $ at least.

I think this might be your best episode yet, and you have some truly great episodes. very well done!

walt m

My anxiety spiked just from reading the description.

Ben L.

This sounds chilling. I went to college to be an addictions councilor, and I'm already feeling on edge... and I just read the description.

Trevor Bond