I worry about how I would raise a child in this landscape. Two of the people I know with kids, the kids don't care about video games. One of the kids is super into iPad games, and that feels like a haazrd brewing. Maybe I'd try to stick to real games for any child I was responsible for, but I don't think that would survive impact with peers.

And here my kid wants a tamagotchi for christmas. whatyearisit.jpg

Oof. Society peaked in 1999 and no one can tell me different.

Terrifying how when they grow up they will influence the gaming landscape to become even more hellish. Ill go back to my games before 2008 now bye.

See: Ubisoft. Pay for gane with own money, sorry fuck you games gone now.

My brother got minecraft to play with my niece and there are two versions now, from what I can tell one that’s like what I was playing a decade ago but updated, and one that has microtransactions. The old one lets you download skins and mods for free. It seemed like a no brainer but he went with the microtransaction one, and now my niece keeps asking for cosmetics. There must be a reason to yoke yourself to the pay-for-skins version, but I’m really not sure.

Actually my parents never bought me anything, PERIOD

there was no fortnite in 1999 tho 🥺

"Hey look at this loser he's using a Jonsey skin!"

sad panda

Hey I got an idea: what if we get all the kids addicted to smoking, gambling, and drinking!

90s are retro cool now. another few years and the 2000s will be retro cool

They probably won't play games once they go to college. They are very concerned with popularity and being cool, and once playing games isn't cool they will stop. They don't really care about video games as a genre/hobby anymore than they do about movies outside of Marvel films. They like what is popular because other people like it.


I understand that. But to be honest the value of these cards is in most cases much lower than the purchase price - so the *real* value is not what these cards are worth but the fun you have / had collecting them and playing with them. And I am willing to believe that the same fun can come from digital assets in a game. You're right that the company in charge can end this any time they want but usually this happens when nobody is playing it anymore. I don't like this development either but I nevertheless can imagine that a Fortnite gift card can bring the same joy as a booster pack of MtG.

Probably a decent investment. Haven’t checked, but the value is probably going up due to the amazing us economy and dollar.

I stopped at consoles when they became another enshittified always online tool of theft. I stick with pc, old consoles, or my old 360 as a new Gen console.

I think most games get shut down when they still have players. Plus they could release server code so people could host their own games, like in the olde days of the 1990s. They don't because they're primarily concerned with profit. That aside, "it brings joy" is not sufficient on its own as a justification. Heroin brings joy, but you likely wouldn't say that's a fine gift for a child. Why is that? Probably because we recognize the potential harms and unhealthy habits. Maybe you accept the risks and harms of digital slop are acceptable. I don't think I'd want to encourage that in children.

>There must be a reason to yoke yourself to the pay-for-skins version, but I’m really not sure. The MTX-filled version is the only thing you have on console.

In a roundabout way, yes, because it allows a player to player economy to form (outside of valve's purview), which other games prevent by preventing trading. However, the ability for items that have been purchased or acquired to be traded to people has a great effect of making common things more accessible to players as a whole, even those who don't spend money (Craft hats or unique weapons in TF2, for instance). I think that as a buyer, you would want to have something that isn't permalocked to your account, but I could see the argument from an abuse standpoint.