#LN rants and diamonds and universe tide

[theladythecla]

Rant: LN Whales Encouraging Spending Need to Quit Doing That

I’ve seen this attitude for a while now and decided now, at 1:32 AM, is the right time to rant about it. LN players who pay a monthly amount for diamonds or whatnot are fully in their rights to do so, but when they encourage others to spend money those players might not have, that’s where my problem lies. We know that all game developers use microtransactions to prey upon gamers’ sense of insecurity. Unsurprisingly, this nonsense has the impact of dragging gambling addicts back into the throes of their addictions. I don’t have the research on this, but the awesome Jim Sterling is always calling this crap out, and he’s right.

LN does the same thing other, predatory game developers do: make us fear missing out by making the suits seem exclusive (many times they are, if they’re collabs, and if they’re not exclusive, often we don’t know when/if we’ll get a given event back), make it seem like a particular pack is a good deal when it’s really not, baiting us in by telling us what an item is worth in the premium currency (diamonds). Now, I’ve spent some money on the game (a very large amount once that was close to $200, and yes, it’s money I didn’t have and money I fully regret spending even though I love the suits I got with it). I still think that regret is a good thing as it encouraged me to better budget and it’s a good wake-up call because this is a game, not a tailor-made commission from an artist I adore or a craftswoman on Etsy. In other words, I spent money on things that are not tangible. They are things I can keep as wallpapers and avatars long after the game is done, but I could also have just googled them for that purpose later on. The joy of those images is temporary and the utility of them is absolutely tied to the game (competitions and rankings in the arena).

If you can spend, life’s great and the sky is the limit for you on events. The rest of us aren’t that fortunate. My plea is simple: quit encouraging people to spend. The game does enough of that. To get an automatic completion button (”done 10″/”done 3″) on Maiden and Princess stages, you have to at least spend to a V4 status, which is around 260 diamonds, and as of this writing, that is $5.00. Most people would wonder what the big deal is about $5.00. If you’re making $12 an hour at two jobs, $5.00 is often a meal, and LN wants you to spend that money on fictional gems so you can buy nonexistent outfits for your avatar on a mobile game. Moreover, that’s not all they want you to spend. LN’s latest update put a recharge thing up at the top of your daily sign-in screen so that people without a V status are sure to be reminded that they should be spending by misclicking that “recharge now” button on the way through their dailies.

“But the poor corporation must earn money.”

The poor corporation makes more than enough money from the debutantes with cash to burn. I seriously can’t stress this enough: you, the individual and occasional $5.00 recharger is a drop in their vast bucket of money. They just want to milk more from you (i.e., they want you to be a whale). Their company will not go bankrupt from you not spending.

“It’s your choice.”

I hate this logic. I understand it, of course, as this is how the world works, but it’s… patently untrue when in this situation. You have to pay to complete sets, and often you never have enough of a free currency during a free event for a suit (the recent brushwork suit comes to mind with its ridiculously difficult selections between outfits and themes). Moreover, LN knows this and they know how people work (ad execs are paid to figure out how to milk money from us to keep us enthralled). They are counting on you not wanting to leave a suit unfinished until or if it ever returns for crafting. They are relying on your impatience in crafting the last item in that lifetime suit or whatever else you have in your queue. And yes, that’s why they always have those “recharge now” or “user boutique” popups in the lull between events. They want your money and then some more.

“What about shareholders?”

Corporate boards must be more realistic about returns. Seriously, that’s the problem with this whole model: shareholders are given unrealistic expectations, which leads to them demanding more as money rolls in, and the corporation then has to try wringing pennies from the rest of us consumers.

“Would you rather the game be a PAID game?”

Yes? It’s a product, not a service. Or, it should be a product and not a service for many reasons. It should be a product because shit like this just shows how badly things go when a game tries to be a service (it’s not like legal advice or a doctor’s appointment, after all… it’s a game and other games, such as tabletops, are permanently yours once you buy them). The way we used to do things was you bought a license for the game and it was yours through the accompanying hard disk. I think mobile games should follow this model… but that would require having a finished product as opposed to something barebones they are constantly updating (and charging us all money for in the process, essentially making this a paid game anyhow but worse as it’s potentially a subscription).

“Haven’t you spent money?”

Yes, and the $5.00 I spent recently to get Royce and Neva’s suit in the present event was well spent. However, even if I hadn’t gotten that suit, I would’ve been able to quit because I don’t have a gambling addiction. (I reigned myself in after that shockingly large purchase a year or so back... and that was just about $100-$200, not the thousands some people spend on this game.) An addiction means that the choice is literally not yours to make as addiction is a disease that you should be treated for, rather than encouraged in. That’s my problem here: people with money are basically encouraging anyone to spend money on this game (including the addicts and people who don’t have that money to spend). It’s such a selfish, naïve worldview that we really need to staunch.

“Should whales be ashamed?”

Yeah. No one should spend a $100 on this game or $200 or, as I know is the case, far more than that. It’s a mobile dress-up game. Let that sink in. It doesn’t mean I’m going to shame you personally if you are a whale, but objectively, someone who spends loads of money on this game should be personally ashamed. I was ashamed and I haven’t spent half what some people have on this game.

“Isn’t it just like the opera or Broadway?”

Are you comparing a mobile game to a work of musical theater? A show is an experience. A bunch of pixels in a game is a bunch of pixels in a game that you will, likely, store and forget about until/if this game goes offline.

“But... quarantine means I’m bored.”

I am too, but I’m also broke and scared shitless for my future. Don’t make your financial situation worse by burning money on this. I’d say, take this time to indulge in a hobby you already had (and/or one less expensive than LN… knitting or macramé or hand-sewing a quilt out of old t-shirts) or pick up a language on Duolingo (Spanish, French, German, anything but Klingon and High Valyrian, unless you’re after nerd cred and even then I’m going to side-eye you). Now’s a good time to network too, since people are actually answering emails. Phone your buddies… text them… Zoom/Skype them. Don’t just spend money because you’re bored. That is the worst decision to make now.

“Any tips?”

Delete your card/Paypal from Google or Apple. Laugh at people who are spending $100 on that ridiculous recharge (our only recharge suit, I might add)… just not on the Reddit since you can’t shame people for making bad decisions there (or for relentlessly bragging about their purchases [it’s not an investment, that’s something different, JFC]). Never feel bad for not being able to spend or being unwilling to spend or both. It is what it is, and frankly, you should be proud that you have a low/no V-level.

I am sorry if this is incoherent. It’s 1:30 AM. If you disagree and have cash to burn, good for you, go ham. This post isn’t for you; it’s for the rest of us who are normal people. My main message to people with money to burn is to quit encouraging others to spend money on this game as that’s not healthy and often is more harmful than helpful.