Posted August 14, 2017
high rated
I’ve just been reading through the comments on “The Piñata Madness” official topic and, as I haven’t found any figurative raised eyebrows, please allow me the audacity of opening a new topic to discuss what I believe to be a concerning issue.
I can understand many people would consider “a good deal” to pay 3$ USD for a chance to win a game of their liking and a sure payback in the form of a game they might not like. I do think it’s a good deal as well, after all, it’s a small investment with chances to get you more than your money’s worth and the certainty of getting a random game which usually costs more than 3$ anyway. It’s a win-win situation, right?
Well, even with the certainty of getting an outcome, the outcome is still uncertain, therefore I’d argue this practice is still gambling. I don’t pretend to state that gambling is bad per se, it’s legal in many countries and I don’t think it should be demonised without a proper debate (that’s why I’m writing this anyway), I don’t think either that gambling on a few digital piñatas will turn everyone into gamblers or people with a gambling addiction but I do consider it to be a shady practice which is meant to encourage one of the worst sides of our hobby.
What I’ve read on the comments I mentioned before were many people stating that they did buy more than one Piñata, most of them did get some games they liked but it seems that they also got many they weren’t especially looking forward to playing. I’m certain GOG is not doing this out of charity and I am also certain they considered the odds of people getting hooked up on that feeling of chance and a possible better outcome.
My point is, it really doesn’t matter if you are getting the games you want to play or if you’re getting games you’ll never play (bear in mind there’s no possibility of selecting Piñatas for Mac or Linux), this has nothing to do with games, valuing games, promoting gaming culture, entreating people or educating them (you know, good things games can do), it’s only about getting people to keep clicking that tiny dopamine shot that is the “Buy for 3$” button as many times as possible. I was hoping GOG would never do these sort of things, I was hoping it would keep selling games honestly and never becoming a marketplace for CS:GO skins and stuff like that, but I’m afraid it’s on its path of becoming so and that makes me feel utterly disappointed.
What do you guys think? Is GOG doomed? No, seriously, about the Piñata stuff, this seems to be an interesting debate worth discussing.
I can understand many people would consider “a good deal” to pay 3$ USD for a chance to win a game of their liking and a sure payback in the form of a game they might not like. I do think it’s a good deal as well, after all, it’s a small investment with chances to get you more than your money’s worth and the certainty of getting a random game which usually costs more than 3$ anyway. It’s a win-win situation, right?
Well, even with the certainty of getting an outcome, the outcome is still uncertain, therefore I’d argue this practice is still gambling. I don’t pretend to state that gambling is bad per se, it’s legal in many countries and I don’t think it should be demonised without a proper debate (that’s why I’m writing this anyway), I don’t think either that gambling on a few digital piñatas will turn everyone into gamblers or people with a gambling addiction but I do consider it to be a shady practice which is meant to encourage one of the worst sides of our hobby.
What I’ve read on the comments I mentioned before were many people stating that they did buy more than one Piñata, most of them did get some games they liked but it seems that they also got many they weren’t especially looking forward to playing. I’m certain GOG is not doing this out of charity and I am also certain they considered the odds of people getting hooked up on that feeling of chance and a possible better outcome.
My point is, it really doesn’t matter if you are getting the games you want to play or if you’re getting games you’ll never play (bear in mind there’s no possibility of selecting Piñatas for Mac or Linux), this has nothing to do with games, valuing games, promoting gaming culture, entreating people or educating them (you know, good things games can do), it’s only about getting people to keep clicking that tiny dopamine shot that is the “Buy for 3$” button as many times as possible. I was hoping GOG would never do these sort of things, I was hoping it would keep selling games honestly and never becoming a marketplace for CS:GO skins and stuff like that, but I’m afraid it’s on its path of becoming so and that makes me feel utterly disappointed.
What do you guys think? Is GOG doomed? No, seriously, about the Piñata stuff, this seems to be an interesting debate worth discussing.
