Everyone has choices. (Destiny)

by MacAddictXIV , Seattle WA, Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 12:30 (2589 days ago) @ Kahzgul

Dude, great reply, and thank you, too. I'm not quoting it because these posts are getting silly long, but I really appreciate it.

I would love to see professional help made available to gamers with a micro-gambling-transaction addiction. At casinos in Nevada, they have phone numbers you can call for gambling addiction help and you can reach professionals who specialize in just that. I would love to see games which contain gambles include similar notices. Nevada also has a state gaming commission that oversees all games and ensures that the odds are what the casinos say they are, as well as issues licenses to oversight companies to do the same. No such commission exists for video games, nor do any third party oversight committees.

In the absence of oversight, game devs have both motive and opportunity to bilk players and take advantage of any weaknesses they may suffer from, and since the devs also offer no in-game avenue for support or assistance to players who may be addicted, it is very unlikely that those people will ever get help on their own.

I wish everyone had the gumption and willpower that you have and is able to fight off their own demons. That would make these sorts of things trivial. Unfortunately, I've known too many who have given up on themselves or otherwise lack the strength to break their own destructive cycles. And I, cynically - I admit - believe that the gaming industry is preying on them right now, and will continue to do so until legally regulated. I also don't know if there is any real public support to help addicted gamers. They represent a very small fringe of an already maligned group, and they suffer alone, behind closed doors, where few can even see them. In-game they are gods. In real life, they are invisible. It's easy to see why they continue to spend whatever they have on their virtual avatars.

I think that your second point directly impacts the first. Public opinion of who and what a gamer is directly affects whether the public wants to do anything about it. Why spend state or federal funds to regulate what the general public doesn't care about? Which seems really odd to me because I would argue (although I don't have statistics) that a majority of the US plays digital games in one form or the other. And I would also bet that a majority of those people play a form that has MT's in them. The reason I beleive this is because of things like iPhone games and Candie crush :D

A lot of people don't understand games and gamers and the social mentality behind that. True story, I had signed up with some of the guys from DBO to do the raid blind when it first came out. I signed up for this weeks before it came out. We started on Tuesday and played every night until Sunday to finish it. Come Friday night, I was asked to go to another local friends birthday party at a pub. I said I can't go because I had already made plans that night, but if there was any way that I might be able to make it I would. My wife did in fact go and she knew exactly what I was doing. I later met up with a bunch of people that went to that party and they asked me what I was doing and I told them I was playing Destiny with a bunch of guys. The expressions on the birthday boys face when I told him that. He couldn't comprehend that
1. I would choose to play games over going out drinking with him
2. I actually had friends "online"
3. I found games to be more important than than hanging out with him

I'm sure lots of people have their own stories. He didn't throw a big fit about it, but I could tell he was confused and wondering what the hell I was doing with my life sort of thing. Some people don't understand. Heck, even the wife has a hard time sometimes, especially when I get frustrated, but she also hears the laughter and the joy I also get from it.

I kinda derailed a little bit... On the note of improving public opinion of gamers and the negative aspects of that, I think that things are indeed improving. One of the things that I think is helping a lot is ESports (mostly Dota 2). We are blessed in Seattle to have both PAX and The Dota 2 International in our city (not trying to brag) as well as being a very liberal place. We understand that there are a ton of different interests and large amounts of people that we didn't know flock to these things.

I think I've written more words in this subthread than I have in the last 6 months.