triock: Groupees - Yarrrr! A Pirate Bundle - reserve for $1
https://groupees.com/yar 3 games + 5 albums + 2comics ($2 minimum)
hummer010: $1 reservation is usually a pretty solid indicator that the bundle is garbage.
I completely and totally agree with you on that. You gotta think, why would they not tell people what is in the bundle? For "fun and excitement?" No, some people might feel excited but that isn't why the company does it. They do it because many people get a thrill out of the mystery of gambling phenomenon and it is a profitable thing to do. In other words, they will sell more copies of something like this to people speculatively hoping for something awesome for their dollar and being excited to wait and find out what they get, than if they sold it outright honestly by telling everyone in advance what they are getting for their dollar. Bottom line: They make more money making it a mystery grab bag purchase, and since they don't actually tell anyone what is in it, they can change what is in it to whatever they want based on how many people buy it since nobody would know either way.
This is something you do when you have garbage you want to offload and know if people know what it is they'll be less likely to buy it than if you put an air of mystery around it for marketing purposes. It's entirely a psychological game. That's fine to do, but I totally wont go for that personally. I'd rather pay more for something and actually know what I'm getting when I buy it if need be.
I feel similarly about service provider contracts too. Some ISPs for example will make you a service offer at a specific price point and set of features but only if you agree to a 1/2/3 year contract or whatever and with penalties to buy your way out of the contract if you change your mind. Cell phone companies do this probably more than anything else out there for years now. My take is that these are always a bad deal. They want you under contract because they don't want to lose you when you find out about a better deal somewhere else or otherwise become dissatisfied with their service. This tells me that they are pricing their packages intentionally knowing that their customers are going to be dissatisfied with their service or that someone else out there will probably come along with a better deal and they don't want to have to match it too.
A good ISP/cell provider that truly thinks they have the best service should think that if they really do have the best service it will speak for itself and customers will come in droves and bring others with word of mouth. They wont need to tie you down with contractual obligations to keep your money coming in because you will send it to them voluntarily by the truckload and want to remain their loyal customer if they're giving you the best product and service at the best price compared to the competitors. But they know they aren't doing so and they know people wise up to this and will hop ship easily, so -> contracts.
I will never agree to an ISP/phone contract at all period ever, nor will I buy a "grab bag" of unknown games or products gambling to hope for something good. Others are free to do so if it works for them of course but for me:
"I'm on to that" and "no thanks" :)