I don't understand people who spend money on these games. Even if I enjoy it spending money just feels like some scam that I don't find it enticing with how the whole game feels like an advertisement.

[–] andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Kids. It's kids spending their allowance. Source: had to clamp down and say no more robux.

And probably also streamers who aren't spending their own money (donations and referrals probably) who make the problem worse by making it seem like everyone else has these pointless cosmetics.

[–] YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I wish this were the simple truth but it's not so simple from my perspective. I have a buddy who falls prey to the micro (and sometimes macro) transactions in games on PC, the worst one right now is Star Citizen I think but it's all sorts of different games with different kinds of content and cosmetics that they're selling. His girlfriend is the same way (or maybe worse honestly).

It's not just kids and streamers, these games and the devs who make them are exploiting the addictive qualities of gaming in my opinion and anyone can become a victim of that type of addiction (same as any other type). My friend already had addiction problems though so maybe it's more likely for people who already have that in them. Although his girlfriend isn't an addict, and I am but I don't buy any of that so it's clearly not just about that. I wish they would both stop, they're always struggling with money but I don't think they realize how much they spend on video games, not that I can (or would) say anything bad or judgy about that.