I have been avoiding multiplayer Valve games like Counter-Strike 2 and Team Fortress 2, due to their in-game economies that have created an underage gambling gray market, which Valve has done little about. However, I am on Linux, and the choices for multiplayer shooters are few. Besides, my small boycott is not stopping Counter-Strike 2 from being the most played steam game. Are boycotts really the best solution to stop this epidemic in gaming? How can we best prevent these gambling grey markets and the gaming to gambling addiction pipeline?
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Definitely boycott paying real money for lootboxes or games with real money lootboxes.
If you’re not paying, then it’s just a factor to consider, the companies won’t care about you much
Don’t pre-order and don’t buy games that have loot boxes or other in-app purchases.
Imo, yes.
Already do.
I started my protest a decade ago.
While you can argue that nothing happened and we still have loot boxes, I’d argue that my life is greatly enriched for not feeling any motivation to play in those looty skinner box games.
I’ve been boycotting them for years yet we all can see how that turned out
Yeah the problem with boycotts and “vote with your wallet” is that one whale can offset the boycott of thousands of low-spending players 😐
You should not put your time or money into anything doing something that you don’t like in the marketplace, because that’s the only way it changes.
This is a very smart and thoughtful perspective. One should consider their time and money as valuable, and not put it in games they disagree with. Do you have any good alternatives to recommend for the most popular Valve FPSs?
I like a FPS but I have the most fun with the PVE sub genre of FPS. Left 4 Dead 2 and Deep Rock Galactic being my two favorites. Playing against other humans can be annoying if the skill balance isn’t right and if they’re cheating then it makes it no fun, imo.
I haven’t been into FPS for several years, but if I was going to play anything current, I’d give The Forever Winter a look. It’s still being worked on, but the early access gameplay is really cool looking, and it’s bringing a lot of ideas to the table creatively.
You might not like my answer, but I haven’t really played new FPS games in years, because basically none of them are doing what I want. I’m well served in basically every other genre right now, but these things are cyclical. We’re just getting through the era of indie FPS games inspired by Doom/Quake and other more maze-like shooters, and we may soon be entering the era where FPS games are inspired by my favorites. My multiplayer these days is usually fighting games, and the only ones that will give you trouble on Linux are Dragon Ball FighterZ and the upcoming 2XKO, both due to anti cheat.
As an aside, I’ll also say that where you put your time shouldn’t matter, if the product is free, for instance, but it does matter in online video games. Your presence in matchmaking is adding value for someone else who might spend money in the game, so you’d still be helping the causes of CS2 and TF2 just by playing on the official servers. For TF2, I think the code just went open source and there’s a revitalization project to bring it back to what it was like at launch? If so, that might be pre-loot-box, and playing that version of the game would help send the message you want to send. The same might apply to old versions of Counter-Strike.
That’s a fine answer, thanks!
I myself am against fomo. So we are sort of similar a little bit at least. We both dislike dark patterns.
I second that fighting games are mostly a mecca for us. I recommend Guilty Gear Strive, basically the only complaints people have about it nowadays is that it and it’s lobbies can load kind of slow, and some subjectively don’t like the gameplay, but that is up to you to decide (personally I love it’s gameplay). The new Virtua Fighter also looks incredible, maybe when it releases it will suit you well.
I also agree that tf2 classic looks great. It’s like the tf2 we grew to love but without the bullshit. When it releases on steam hopefully it gains traction.
Other games that are extremely pro consumer that I enjoy are Due Process and Straftat.
Even when deep discounted to a dollar, I have a hard time calling Due Process pro consumer when it doesn’t let you host the server yourself.
Yes
Just don’t play them. You’re not going to convince millions of players that lootboxes = bad so they shouldn’t play the games they love. But you can just play games from companies that respect their customers.
Yes, have been from the start.
The only good lootbox game was Borderlands 2
Are boycotts really the best solution to stop this epidemic in gaming?
Yes, but not if you don’t convince others to join you.
How can we best prevent these gambling grey markets and the gaming to gambling addiction pipeline?
Educate people on the dangers. Show them why it’s gambling, because there’s a lot of apologetics out there to trick people into thinking it’s not. Point out the same slot-machine-tactics they use to get people hooked.
And then convince them to boycott. The CEOs that put this shit in games know how to read sales numbers, and if sales start dropping (or player counts), they’ll soon figure out that it’s because of their lootbox/gacha systems.
Lastly, give people alternatives. I usually point people to Deep Rock Galactic, but there may be others that are better suited to people’s tastes. “Just leave” isn’t really effective if they don’t know where to go.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Deep Rock Galactic looks amazing!
It’s a blast! The devs listen to and are involved in the community, you can go back and play earlier season content at your discretion, and all the paid content is optional cosmetics that exist primarily as an additional revenue stream for the devs, so no pay to win or praying to RNGesus to get that one ultra rare drop everyone needs.
LootSkinner boxAnd absolutely
Are boycotts really the best solution to stop this epidemic in gaming? How can we best prevent these gambling grey markets and the gaming to gambling addiction pipeline?
No, boycotts do fucking nothing. The only thing that could make a difference is regulations to properly label these type of thing as gambling and even that is not very likely to succeed. They make a lot of money with gambling.
Should we boycott games with loot boxes?
Do if you want to do it.
Yes. And you should boycott Steam because they practically invented gambling for underage. Watch the coffee-something video about it.
Now, 3,2,1 watch all the so-called gamers rip their shirt to defend this evil soulless capitalist business because “they offer a good service and care about gaming blablabla ubisoft bad blablabla”.
Do you prefer GoG?
Yes.
Fut existed for a couple years before TF2 added loot crates, which was 3 years before CS added them
I dont know what Fut is and I don’t really care. Steam is the most profitable business per employee in the US, they shouldn’t get kids addicted to gambling is my point, nor should any other game.
They shouldn’t, but Valve didn’t invent it, and they’re definitely not the most profitable business in the US.
They have been the most profitable business *per employee" for a long period, and they definitively are in still in the top. They have under 200 employees and generate billions in revenu because of loot boxes and because they take 30% on every games, while many studios have hundred of employees on a single game lol.
Now I had that conversation dozens of time with gamers and I won’t do it again, but steam fucking sucks. At this point, it’s basically like arguing with a trump voter, nothing anyone can say will make them change their mind.
Most profitable per employee is a different metric, and yes, they may very well be that, but that’s not what you said before. Boycotting all of Steam because some of Valve’s games do the thing they don’t like is a tough sell, rather than just not playing or paying into the offending games. I certainly don’t take issue with them taking a cut of every game sold on Steam, given all that they’ve built with those proceeds.
yes, if for no other reason than that they’re tricking you into thinking they’re more fun than they are. you can have more fun playing other games with actual mechanic designs
I don’t play CounterStrike or Team Fortress 2 because I’m not a god damned masochist.
In the end, I’m technically already boycotting them.
