Web browser games are such a waste of time and money

[CaffeineAddict]

I've been playing several web browser games, mostly strategy games because that's my favorite genre,
Few examples of my favorites are goodgame empire, forge of empires, travian, grepolis, imperia online but there are many more genres and games out there including non strategy games such as farming.

Web browser games aka. pay2win are very much different than PC games, that is, games which you buy once and play without restrictions.

All web browser games have the following in common:

1. When you start you get plenty of free resources (e.g. stone, wood, iron, wheat etc.) by the game to develop your castle, empire, military or what ever you're controlling in the game, however as the game progresses it demands more and more resources, soon enough this are ridiculous amounts of resources to upgrade just 1 more level of a building.

2. Also, when you start, in-game development is fast, completing tasks is quick, but as the game progresses, to level up your holdings such as buildings it takes almost exponentially more time to level it, e.g. 5 seconds when you start, and over a week in late game for 1 more level for just 1 building alone.

3. Since development of your holdings soon enough takes ridiculous amounts of time and resources the game ofc. offers you to buy resources and speedup items for real money to progress faster.

4. Usually game UI is fully usable to you at the start of game, but after some time you figure out that was so because it was "free" or a gift for you as a newcomer, soon enough game will ask you for payment to unlock various UI features such as attack planner or various assignable advisors or heroes that increase bonuses vs other players. (all of which is only for a limited time)
You can continue to play with limited UI and without paid features for free of course but this is such a disadvantage to you compared to players who sink their money into the game.

5. In these types of games the game owns your life literary because shall you dare to be offline for too much and not come back to check your account, other players will spy on you and attack your empire, burn your buildings, kill all of your military and loot all of your accumulated resources all of which is such a huge set back it usually takes days to recover.
Of course you can pay to recover faster but be ready to pull out up to 100 bucks if not more, depends on how much you lost, to replenish your combat loses.
So even if you're paying player that doesn't save you from other players, it only makes you pay even more if you're defeated.

Philosophy from game company stand point is that not everybody has enough time to constantly play, so they offer paid features to catch up with players who don't spend money but instead all their time on game.
However this is nonsense because paying players will have major advantage even if playing only for few hours, and normally they face other paying players rather than free players due to score restrictions.

---

I've been wondering how much money top players spend on such games, and you won't believe it but figures go to several hundreds or even thousands bucks a week!
Many of them quit after some time for obvious reasons, it's not hard to calculate their scores and turn it into cash required to get to that point. (I know also because I've been reading reviews and also heard from other players in-game)

My conclusion is that web browser games are addictive in same way as casino if not worse, one has to control himself to play these games.
Many players play for free and don't pay anything, however even if not sinking your money into game be ready to spend hours every day to play, you'll need plenty of time and according to some people they don't even sleep in full because these games are PvP, you can't save and continue like with PC games. others will attack you while you sleep and then you wake up really unhappy.

I've spent not more than cca 300€ in total over the years (didn't count) and I'm grateful I didn't, however many of them were deceived and spent their fortune, just like dice addicts.

I hope after reading this you'll not fall into a trap to play pay2win games and loose all you have, even if you're not spending you'll lose a lot of your valueable time in life that could be better spent elsewhere.

Of course PC games, no matter how expensive, even if 100 bucks is much better than pay2win, at least you keep the game for ever and don't face any restrictions on your gameplay. and you can go to sleep and wake up when ever you want, not when game tells you to.

 

[f33dm3bits]

It sounds like you miss the times of Flash browser games

 

[CaffeineAddict]

It sounds like you miss the times of Flash browser games

Not sure I do because didn't play them, the only flash like game was on chess.com, however their game required java plugin.
They did ask for optional subscription but that amount was very low compared to what modern browser games ask for.

You gotta be rich and retired to have that much time and money.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Not sure I do because didn't play them

lol you're ruing tje joke, that's why I had the

 

[Trenix25]

This reminds me of Rise of Kingdoms and Asphalt 8 on Android. Rise of Kingdoms, formerly Rise of Civilizations, took forever to build up and you could be attacked even when you weren't on. There was another Android game that required you to send ships out to collect titanium over and over again just to level up your buildings. Some people need to get a life instead of playing a video game 24/7. Asphalt 8 kicked me out for not buying anything, but I did let them run ads, which apparently wasn't enough for them. This says a lot about such developers. They see manipulating people and ripping them off as a legitimate way to make money. Yandex is a search engine in Russa and is quite popular in Europe and Asia. Yandex has web browser games and I have never paid them anything. You might want to create a separate user account on your Linux machine so you can sandbox it so you can keep your browser cookies so you can save your progress in their games. I normally clear my browser cache, cookies, and history after each web session. I have played Long Haul Trucker a handful of times. The subway game was really boring though. Yandex has a multitude of browser games. That trucking game got kind of boring after a while too.

While we're on the topic of games, does anyone know how many levels Doom in Linux has? I played it for a while on my Linux desktop, but it never seems to get done. I have to start it from the command line instead of the .desktop file or it drops me in this big room without exits or monsters all by myself. It could certainly use better video quality. Just in case anyone wants to know, I know some of the cheat codes for Doom. idbehold for a quick menu for added perks. iddqd for God mode. idclip for no clipping mode. idfa for full ammo or idkfa for keys and full ammo. I hope those help.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[MikeRocor]

It sounds like you miss the times of Flash browser games

I know you're kind of joking, but that's the only thing I'm still doing with my 32 bit WIN7 box - other than that, it's powered off.

 

[KGIII]

This may interest some of you:

Flashpoint Archive

A community effort to preserve games and animations from the web.

flashpointarchive.org

Alas:

Linux Support - Flashpoint Datahub

flashpointarchive.org

 

[truckerDave]

I've been wondering how much money top players spend on such games

Not saying he's a "top player", but I have a cousin that let's those games run his life.

He's a 54 year old that still lives with his parents and rarely pays anything to help out. He works a decent job 5 days a week to support his gaming habit.

And, yes, he's addicted. Ever seen a grown man with 3 cell phones going at the same time? He plays the same game on all 3 using different names so he has "allies" to make it easier.

I've never actually seen one of his cell phone bills. However, my aunt has said he's had phone bills over $3000/mo. It's really sad.

 

[KGIII]

And, yes, he's addicted. Ever seen a grown man with 3 cell phones going at the same time?

What they're doing is predatory and they know it. This stuff operates on our lizard brains and is quite effective with a large percentage of people. These are our basal instincts they're triggering and endorphines are one heck of a motivator.

You and I like to think we're immune and we just might be, but there's likely a set of triggers that'd get us as well.

I did a couple of things in my youth. One was work in sales and another was take some psych classes to get some prerequisites filled. I was also quite curious.

The sales techniques we were using were 'high-pressure' sales tactics and they were very effective - even on people who are otherwise intelligent. I'd later use some of that in my career, but that's a long story. We modeled traffic and eventually took that same math to model pedestrian traffic. This included optimizing retail space.

I won't get into the details for the sake of brevity and to remain on topic, but there's a good reason why the milk is in the back and usually to the left. It starts with a human trait which is to take a right when entering a space. Also, to the right they like to show you bright and simple colors - and then have things like the bakery which smells nice. Like it or not, you and I still have our lizard brains and they haven't changed much since before we climbed down out of the trees.

Well, then again, this is pretty much on-topic. The folks behind these games know exactly what they're doing.

 

[f33dm3bits]

What they're doing is predatory and they know it. This stuff operates on our lizard brains and is quite effective with a large percentage of people.

Even most modern games operate like casinos now and they use your own psychology against you to get more money from you.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Even most modern games operate like casinos now and they use your own psychology against you to get more money from you.

This video is so true, it explains the problem much better than what I did in my OP.
Pay, pay, pay, extract money from gamers until they're totally broke.

 

[f33dm3bits]

This video is so true, it explains the problem much better than what I did in my OP.
Pay, pay, pay, extract money from gamers until they're totally broke.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

@f33dm3bits
Didn't watch til the end but I'm glad to have watched these types of videos, for first time ever, and this is confirmation how game companies of this style make more money than casinos.

This also explains another interesting fact, which is that modern PC games suck and good old fashioned games are very rare, because modern games are geared toward money spenders.

DLC's are another example of monetization, DLC's can be compared to when you order a pizza but pizza guy brings you only half of the pizza, you ask him where is the rest? and he tells you you can buy additional pieces for additional price. Pizza DLC's lol

 

[KGIII]

Yeah, the whole paying for additional items, subscriptions, and 'DC' stuff isn't good for people. These people are often kids and their parents don't know better - or don't care. (I'd say that this is still sociology and not politics.)

As I'm slowly returning to gaming, I'm sticking mostly with retro games. So far, I've only given GOG money.

 

[Trenix25]

I really think such greedy developers deserve to be totally boycotted.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[Trenix25]

What they're doing is predatory and they know it. This stuff operates on our lizard brains and is quite effective with a large percentage of people. These are our basal instincts they're triggering and endorphines are one heck of a motivator.

You and I like to think we're immune and we just might be, but there's likely a set of triggers that'd get us as well.

I did a couple of things in my youth. One was work in sales and another was take some psych classes to get some prerequisites filled. I was also quite curious.

The sales techniques we were using were 'high-pressure' sales tactics and they were very effective - even on people who are otherwise intelligent. I'd later use some of that in my career, but that's a long story. We modeled traffic and eventually took that same math to model pedestrian traffic. This included optimizing retail space.

I won't get into the details for the sake of brevity and to remain on topic, but there's a good reason why the milk is in the back and usually to the left. It starts with a human trait which is to take a right when entering a space. Also, to the right they like to show you bright and simple colors - and then have things like the bakery which smells nice. Like it or not, you and I still have our lizard brains and they haven't changed much since before we climbed down out of the trees.

Well, then again, this is pretty much on-topic. The folks behind these games know exactly what they're doing.

When I go to the store to buy milk I go straight back to the milk. I keep the shopping list in my mind and I don't walk around first. That's exactly what stores want, they want you to walk around and buy more stuff. Some websites are like that as well, they demand that you buy enough stuff or they don't want you to buy anything at all.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[KGIII]

That's exactly what stores want, they want you to walk around and buy more stuff.

That's exactly the goal. The longer you're in there, the more you'll spend. This is what the data (and real world) says and it's why stores are the way they are. We had one client that paid us well enough to set up a retail space lab that we could change around for testing. Those test results went into how their retail space was developed. The differences in their profit were large enough to justify our fees.

Some folks are able to ignore some/all of it, but enough folks aren't. You can even tell them how it all works and it still works on them. There's only a minor difference when the shopper knows what's going on. It's more than a rounding error but not nearly as high as you might be thinking. Our basal instincts are pretty potent. In other words, it's capitalizing on human nature.

We also had access to their security videos and were able to process the videos to get meaningful data. The math behind it, and the techniques used, weren't all that dissimilar to modeling vehicular traffic. We started with vehicular traffic but were contracted to do the same for a 'walking city' in another country. That led to working with the retail space and in other areas of high foot traffic - such as how quickly and safely a large building can be evacuated in an emergency.

Pardon the lack of detailed information. The NDA I signed was draconic, but worth it. Though, the non-compete has expired. I'm happily retired, however.

This is the same thing the games are doing, at the basic level. The difference is essentially that they have you at home - or anywhere else you can access the game. My understanding is that the games are essentially unwinnable without paying.

Retail outlets do it too... Go through the cereal aisle and hold your head at kid-height. See all the pretty colors, large images, and fancy packaging? Yeah... That's there for the same reasons. Most of the cereal brands, the big ones at least, advertise to children, for obvious reasons.

 

[Trenix25]

That's exactly the goal. The longer you're in there, the more you'll spend. This is what the data (and real world) says and it's why stores are the way they are. We had one client that paid us well enough to set up a retail space lab that we could change around for testing. Those test results went into how their retail space was developed. The differences in their profit were large enough to justify our fees.

Some folks are able to ignore some/all of it, but enough folks aren't. You can even tell them how it all works and it still works on them. There's only a minor difference when the shopper knows what's going on. It's more than a rounding error but not nearly as high as you might be thinking. Our basal instincts are pretty potent. In other words, it's capitalizing on human nature.

We also had access to their security videos and were able to process the videos to get meaningful data. The math behind it, and the techniques used, weren't all that dissimilar to modeling vehicular traffic. We started with vehicular traffic but were contracted to do the same for a 'walking city' in another country. That led to working with the retail space and in other areas of high foot traffic - such as how quickly and safely a large building can be evacuated in an emergency.

Pardon the lack of detailed information. The NDA I signed was draconic, but worth it. Though, the non-compete has expired. I'm happily retired, however.

This is the same thing the games are doing, at the basic level. The difference is essentially that they have you at home - or anywhere else you can access the game. My understanding is that the games are essentially unwinnable without paying.

Retail outlets do it too... Go through the cereal aisle and hold your head at kid-height. See all the pretty colors, large images, and fancy packaging? Yeah... That's there for the same reasons. Most of the cereal brands, the big ones at least, advertise to children, for obvious reasons.

And then some of those games insist that you keep playing the game at all hours and lose sleep over it. Other games kick you out because you didn't take the bait and spend, spend, spend. How much do you want to bet that all of those sugary kid's cereals are set exactly where they are so that kid in the shopping cart can see then from their little perch?

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[PuppyHome]

Doom in Linux

This might be the right place to ask......Doom on Linux? How to get it but that's something I'm very interested in although I am not a gamer.

Gee, I'm getting old. Remember just about anything in this topic.

 

[KGIII]

How much do you want to bet that all of those sugary kid's cereals are set exactly where they are so that kid in the shopping cart can see then from their little perch?

I don't want to bet as that was the point.

As an aside, a kid crying is a sound that we're programmed to find irritating. Most humans find it difficult to listen to. It's very much human nature. Kids cry, as a general rule, when they need/want something, such as to be taken care of. We didn't have things like baby monitors for most of our existence. Heck, we didn't even have general physical safety for much of our human existence. So, we aren't meant to like the sound of kids crying.

A subset of us humans will just buy the cereal (or toy, or game) just to keep the kid from crying but let's not let this devolve into a 'right way to parent' type of thread. That there would be a whole bowl of apples that we don't want to open.