‘Diablo Immortal’ Shows Self-Regulation Is a Failure in the Games Industry

From Vice: "Just’ weeks after its launch, Diablo Immortal is getting slammed over how much money early adopters have lost to the game’s widely hated “pay-to-win” model, where players are encouraged to spend money on more powerful items.

Twitch streamer Quin69 made headlines after he blew NZ$25,000 (roughly $15,000) trying to get a 5-star legendary gem in Diablo Immortal—only to delete his character days later. “Fuck this dogshit game. Seriously, fuck Blizzard. Everyone, delete your accounts,” he said.

Other users have reported having spent $50,000 in a day. Even players who didn’t spend thousands on the game still say they ended up dropping over $600 between cosmetics and useful items to make their character more powerful. According to Kotaku, initial estimates that maxing out a single character could cost as much as $100,000 are very low—the actual amount can run upwards of half a million."

[Eonjay]

Self regulation is a joke.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Self regulation in my opinion Is the ultimate meme.

[z2g]

surprising no one....

i think at this point its safe to assume that when it comes to money/profit, self regulation is fantasy... just look at banks, lenders, for profit schools, privately owned prisons, investors and the list goes on and on.. remember when texas had the bad storms and the power grid failed? the people that managed to keep power ended up getting utility bills that were thousands of dollars. That's the result of self-regulation. it's locking a 6-year-old with no self-control in a room with the best chocolate cake ever made and expecting them not to eat it.

[Runechaz]

lol Pple are so stupid.. if a user spend 50k in a day on a vidéo game he deserve to lose his money

[Crows90]

No no. He may deserve it but that is not the point.
The point is that you're even allowed to spend that much and still not get the best stuff.....I mean ....how is that even possible? That's what happens when you go to a casino and gamble....but that shouldn't ever happens in videogames.

[Crows90]

But but....you don't have to pay. Nobody is forcing you! Lol

Who woulda thunk that if you keep saying MTX aren't a problem then they'll just increase in frequency and ridiculousness.

[Germaximus]

LOL Exactly. People that spend thousands of dollars on a game are stupid as f***. People that support microtransactions and defend them are even worse. Those idiots don't even have thousands of dollars to waste on this garbage and they still defend it.

[Eonjay]

These systems are purposely designed to take advantage of people on a psychological level so people who are more likely to have issues with gambling are drawn in. These systems aren't for gamers, they are for gamblers or rather seek to convert gamers into gamblers. That's why the systems exist in the way they do.

[Chocoburger]

This is shameful on both sides. Devs and pubs should never let this happen, and gamers shouldn't be doing this to themselves.

It's common sense (which we all know isn't that common) that if a game is free-to-play, then it's purposefully trying to screw you over. Have some will power, the bare minimum you can do is just play it for fun (as if these games are even fun, but that's another discussion), and don't give in to spending money.

An even better option is just skip mobile trash games entirely. Install an emulator on your phone and play older (as well as superior) games without spending a cent.

That $15,000 could have been used for something better, but instead some dunce decides to give it to a shit-tier publisher that actively hates them. That's how you reward their hate? By giving them your money?

We should all stop our online bickering, team up and stop supporting that worst publishers, actively try to put them out of business. Teach them a lesson, instead morons wish to reward them. What a shame!

[Chaos_Order]

I think a big problem is that, for many of these gamers who spend big, predatory business models are the norm. "That's just how games are these days!" They just aren't aware of the wealth of other options out there with more value for money.

[ecchiless]

lmao..... warframe still have one of the best systems to make money and dont rip off your player base....

[Good-Smurf]

If they keep this up eventually people will got tired of video games stop buying and just simply pirating games instead.
And I won't blame them for doing so like who's going to start over on a game that felt more and more like 9-5 job each passing year we can't play them for enjoyment anymore and have to pay up at almost every step.
Sound like there's complete lack of control, back in the 80s it was lack of QC now it's a lack of restraint on all parties involved and everyone suffers.

[PhillyDillyDee]

History has shown time and time again that “self regulation” doesnt mesh well with the profit motive. They are going to do whatever they believe is in their best interest no matter the consequences to everyone else. Its what happens when you have shareholders to answer to. The decision is always what makes the most profit in the shortest time. If its unethical they will just apologize for it later and possibly pay a paltry fine.

[senorfartcushion]

Exactly. There needs to be an authority to at least abuse companies for abusing their customers.

Usually that would be the journalists, but all of the gaming sites seem to get less abusive the higher any videogame’s A rating.

AAA. An do no wrong. The vast, vast majority of them are awarded simply by being AAA.

[LoveSpuds]

Unfortunately, here in the UK the gambling lobbyists hold huge sway over the Tory government and if this government are resistant to introducing more regulation to that industry, I don't see any chance of them tackling issues around gambling in videogames.

[NoLifeLoser]

Self-regulation is a joke in ANY industry.