2013-09-21, 01:57 PM
I read through the article about the "whales" and it was pretty interesting. Gambling in free-to-play games was basically compared to the gambling industry. And spending was also compared to spending on physical items that aren't really useful, like a handbag.
But here's what wasn't mentioned- look as far as any online F2P game's terms of service, and you'll see that the moment you drop a dime on the game, it's gone because you literally bought nothing of value. All ingame items specifically are said to have zero real money value in your hands, despite that you may be required for fork over $20 to obtain it. Okay, perhaps some people have used eBay or some other site to sell their ingame characters/goods (premium or not) for cash, but that's completely illegal.
At least when you buy a real world good, be it a handbag or new pair of shoes, it depreciates the moment you walk out of the store with it, but at least it still has value. Until you damage or wear it out or use it all up, that handbag you paid $200 for might still be worth $100 if you decided you didn't like the color and wanted to sell it to someone else. Or you could even give it away and let someone else appreciate it as a valuable gift.
And for gambling? Real machines/lotteries/etc have an average payout based on odds and prizes, which statisically mean each time you put a dollar in a slot machine with an "80% payout" rate, that spin is still worth 80 cents on average, as opposed to the 0% that Nexon guarantees you since your cubed item is worth $0.00, despite that gamers "value" the item on how much someone had to spend to make it.
When you think about it that way, it's pretty wrong.
But here's what wasn't mentioned- look as far as any online F2P game's terms of service, and you'll see that the moment you drop a dime on the game, it's gone because you literally bought nothing of value. All ingame items specifically are said to have zero real money value in your hands, despite that you may be required for fork over $20 to obtain it. Okay, perhaps some people have used eBay or some other site to sell their ingame characters/goods (premium or not) for cash, but that's completely illegal.
At least when you buy a real world good, be it a handbag or new pair of shoes, it depreciates the moment you walk out of the store with it, but at least it still has value. Until you damage or wear it out or use it all up, that handbag you paid $200 for might still be worth $100 if you decided you didn't like the color and wanted to sell it to someone else. Or you could even give it away and let someone else appreciate it as a valuable gift.
And for gambling? Real machines/lotteries/etc have an average payout based on odds and prizes, which statisically mean each time you put a dollar in a slot machine with an "80% payout" rate, that spin is still worth 80 cents on average, as opposed to the 0% that Nexon guarantees you since your cubed item is worth $0.00, despite that gamers "value" the item on how much someone had to spend to make it.
When you think about it that way, it's pretty wrong.