Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Chaosium Suspends NFT Plans
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Malmuria" data-source="post: 8548449" data-attributes="member: 7030755"><p>With regards to Veve, I would say their business model seems <em>predatory</em> in the same way that video game monetization and loot boxes are potentially predatory. As I understand it, to own a Veve digital collectible, you have to convert real money in "gems," which is their internal currency. Then you wait for one of their "drops" in which you can purchase a digital collectible. These are similar to loot boxes in that you don't know the "rarity"of the item you purchase until after. You might have gotten a common version or an ultra rare version. Of course, the rarity is artificially produced scarcity. Then these items can gain in value on the Veve secondary market, where you can buy or sell your collectibles to gems. But there is no way to cash out these gems back into real currency.</p><p></p><p>So it's predatory in two ways</p><p>1. The use of loot box style gambling mechanics, particularly in products that are aimed at children (Disney, etc), have been shown to exploit those with compulsive gambling problems and children who manage to spend their parents money. </p><p></p><p>2. Through the artificial rarity of these items and the secondary market, they are ostensibly selling users investments, things that can increase in value. But there is no possibility to sell these investments for real world currency, you can only get more digital "gems."</p><p></p><p>Whether you think the above is predatory will come down to your view of consumer exploitation and responsibility. The traditional view might be that people with compulsive gambling disorders ought to be the only ones responsible for their decisions. Similarly, if others mistakenly view these products as good investments, then only they are to blame when their investing strategy fails. But I'm skeptical that the companies involved--from video game companies to veve--don't know exactly what they are doing here. </p><p></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/T-j5XWo1fPI" target="_blank">As Frank said</a>: "We used to make s___ in this country, build s___. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Malmuria, post: 8548449, member: 7030755"] With regards to Veve, I would say their business model seems [I]predatory[/I] in the same way that video game monetization and loot boxes are potentially predatory. As I understand it, to own a Veve digital collectible, you have to convert real money in "gems," which is their internal currency. Then you wait for one of their "drops" in which you can purchase a digital collectible. These are similar to loot boxes in that you don't know the "rarity"of the item you purchase until after. You might have gotten a common version or an ultra rare version. Of course, the rarity is artificially produced scarcity. Then these items can gain in value on the Veve secondary market, where you can buy or sell your collectibles to gems. But there is no way to cash out these gems back into real currency. So it's predatory in two ways 1. The use of loot box style gambling mechanics, particularly in products that are aimed at children (Disney, etc), have been shown to exploit those with compulsive gambling problems and children who manage to spend their parents money. 2. Through the artificial rarity of these items and the secondary market, they are ostensibly selling users investments, things that can increase in value. But there is no possibility to sell these investments for real world currency, you can only get more digital "gems." Whether you think the above is predatory will come down to your view of consumer exploitation and responsibility. The traditional view might be that people with compulsive gambling disorders ought to be the only ones responsible for their decisions. Similarly, if others mistakenly view these products as good investments, then only they are to blame when their investing strategy fails. But I'm skeptical that the companies involved--from video game companies to veve--don't know exactly what they are doing here. [URL='https://youtu.be/T-j5XWo1fPI']As Frank said[/URL]: "We used to make s___ in this country, build s___. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket." [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Chaosium Suspends NFT Plans
Top