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Dark Pattern Games

(www.darkpattern.games)
350 points robotnikman | 2 comments | 16 Nov 25 19:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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deadbabe ◴[16 Nov 25 21:23 UTC] No.45948526[source]▶
Any game with any in-app purchase at all already feels unhealthy, even if its just a trial unlock.

The healthiest games are consistently ones where you pay one large amount upfront, and then are never bothered about money again, because there is nothing else to buy. The developers are so confident you will enjoy it they don't bother with free trial offers. If you really don't like it, you just return for a full refund. Feels good.

replies(3): >>45948552 #>>45948562 #>>45948722 #
efnx ◴[16 Nov 25 21:49 UTC] No.45948722[source]▶
How would you feel about a free game spending one frame per second mining a cryptocurrency? This would be as an alternative to a one-time purchase (and as an alternative to ads). So, you could play a full game for free, indefinitely, and have a small portion of compute do mining, and at any time you could pay a one time fee (purchase) to turn off mining forever.

(Edit: added stuff in parens)

replies(2): >>45949077 #>>45949116 #
1. AlotOfReading ◴[16 Nov 25 22:38 UTC] No.45949116[source]▶
I feel the same way about crypto as I do about those herbal supplements at gas stations. It's not that they're inherently problematic, but everyone involved turns out to be scammers consistently enough that automatic distrust is a fantastic rule of thumb.
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2. efnx ◴[17 Nov 25 02:58 UTC] No.45950493[source]▶
I think that's definitely a prevalent sentiment. There are enough scams that the stereotype is probably well earned.