I used to have this problem years ago. After switching to a system wide adblock like PersonalDNSFilter and adguard(now), alongside Firefox and ublock-origin, I don’t have this problem at all. This and getting premium games and apps instead of crapshoots saves a ton in the long run. Anyway, fuck false advertising
Play Pass has been amazing for this; it’s not expensive at all and anything included in it gives you no ads + all unlocks.
Annoying that I need a subscription to do that. But I’ve definitely gotten my money out of it and then some, especially when I was commuting.
“For agencies like the FTC to seriously consider action, there has to be harm to customers. But the sneaky formula that mobile developers have pioneered is one where the app itself is free, and the gameplay technically does exist in the application, so where’s the harm? Any rEaSoNaBlE viewer won’t be harmed. They will see and uninstall, and there’s disclosures, so who cares? But these companies aren’t targeting ‘the reasonable customers’, they are targeting the people with addictive personalities who get easily sucked in from a deceptive ad to a predatory product.”
Damn, that’s insane and evil. Like a drug cartel distributing free candies after school, with crystal meth inside. They just weather the storm, well knowing a few “customers” will stick.
I still don’t understand how this can work so well, which apparently it does given the numbers and scale. I have questions:
- Why bother making a “main product” at all, if people come for the mini game? Why not make the mini game addictive and predatory, save even more development costs and get less negative reviews as a bonus? Like, why bother with the candy when you can legally sell meth?
- Why is this exclusive to the mobile market? The same games, ads and arguments could be made for any other platform with “free”, downloadable content like PC. Why don’t they share their crack candies at college?
Why bother making a “main product” at all
My guess is legally protecting themselves against potential new laws and regulations, so they have more time to make changes or continue making money if these practices get outlawed.
Why is this exclusive to the mobile market?
It’s not; it exists in computer and console gaming too, just to a lesser extent. As to why, my guess here is that mobile has a lower barrier to entry, and they’re always accessible where a computer or console might not be. There’s probably some sort of “cultural” aspect here too, where it’s already prevalent in mobile so people are more accepting of it, but computer/console gamers had their own culture where this didn’t exist for many decades and so won’t be as accepting.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/watch?v=03I_a5cVoS0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
