There are enough whales to keep games like this going strong and making the developers a lot of money. The better known companies, like Blizzard, just have to endure the negative press long enough for people to stop reporting about it. These kind of games aren’t new at all but they do seem to be new to developers of…

Have you followed none of the conversation? I’ve already addressed those points. Oda was said to supervise other things that were revealed false by the manga, therefore it’s not a proof.

First Subscription unlock is the Battle Pass. Exactly what you expect.

Hours later, you unlock the ability to buy “The Boon of Plenty” subscription for 9.99 for 30 days, with rewards missable if you miss a day.

Finally, you unlock the ability to subscribe to Prodigy’s Path for $19.99, which is like a personal pass,…

Yes. ‘opfanpage’ is truly the informative bible of all that is One Piece. Fucking troll. 

The same cards that said yasuie did NOT have a smile fruit when he actually did? Sure.

Ahahaha, you really think a random piece of merchandise is more canonical than the actual manga? Yeah, you’re not grasping at straws at all.

Hmmm. I’m a guy that is basically winding down his decades-long gaming hobby. I just got a Series X and I’m reasonably certain it will be the last console I ever buy...so that’s my perspective.

Microsoft just killed it. A true-gamer’s games showcase. Other than one choose your own adventure, it wasn’t about wannabe movies, it was about gameplay. Pure gaming goodness. Starfield went beyond the years of hype, it’s the real deal!

We already got an animated Simon

Sorry, John, but I did read your entire article. And yes, many of our opinions do run counter to your own because the argument isn’t simply “Diablo is exploitative” which you clearly understand, it’s that the exploitation it contains, the skinner box that ActiBlizzard uses to hack the brains of neuro atypicals who can…

It’s not based on any kind of desire to keep the game alive.

What people winning vast amounts of money?

The rich whales are only there to show off to the free-to-play players. That’s the only reason they play. To show off and brag. If the game is dead, why brag about spending thousands in a game no one plays?

Because the game dies without F2P players. Without the lower spending playerbase the whales have no one to show off to, no one to destroy in pvp, no one to play with, no one to talk to, no clan wars, no anything. These games need people to play it to make it more alive and show others how fun it is so they can flip…

This is “Woe is me, I’m cancelled” levels of whinery

The title is actively encouraging people to take the first hit for free and risk getting sucked in though. Like you see the problem but you’re still flippant about steering people into harm’s way. I understand where you’re coming from—I played the game and didn’t spend anything either. And if I wrote about games…

Casinos are regulated (whether you think that regulation is adequate or not), and have a higher barrier to entry. This stuff is the wild west, on a device you carry around with you 24/7. Shunning isn’t going to be an effective strategy as long as these predatory practices bring in more money from whales than they lose…

“Sure, they’re giving out <addictive substance> for free, but we can just stop once they start asking for money. We probably won’t be addicted by that point...”

Many people can do what the article describes, play the fun free parts of the game and then walk once they start asking for money. A smaller percentage will…

Yeah, gatcha games are VERY successful at exploiting people. I consider myself to have decent self-control when it comes to traditional gambling (if I go to Vegas, I have $200 in my pocket to play with win or lose), but when you add cool unit assets and people’s love/nostalgia for a particular property/setting (e.g.,…

He had been a side character in the comics since the mid 80's I think. Turtles fans like him. He’s also shown up in every reboot of the franchise I can think of. Guy’s a staple of the series, even if he isn’t a central character all the time.