I play Two Dots semi-regularly. It’s a good game and it’s free, so trying to get people to spend money on it is fair enough IMO. I agree that some levels are very hard but you can get booster boxes for free, either from the daily mystery prize or daily quests. I’m up to level 385 and currently have 32 booster boxes, without ever spending a penny. I admit though that I’ve been stuck on this level for ages and will need a very helpful booster box to clear it.
As for the dark pattern in the video, it’s weird. I totally understand it and it definitely looks like it should be a problem but for me I never tap the ‘buy more moves’ button and instinctively tap ‘x’.
So FlightNetwork.com got back to me and said they wouldn’t refund the cancellation insurance fee due to the insurance being activated at purchase, whatever that means.
Here is the UI that cost me $63.83. Before clicking purchase, the cost was listed as $0.62. For some wacky reason they couldn’t total until after I clicked pay. Fuckers.
The catch is that fine print at the bottom. It’s 62 cents per day.
So they weaseled me out of $63 but have lost me as a customer forever. Considering how much my gf and I travel internationally being dicks about $63 is very short sighted but apparently that is their business model.
Is there such a thing as a trip cancellation protection, cancellation protection program? For a mere $60 more you can protect yourself from our trip cancellation protection.
Wait… $0.62 turns into $63 dollars? Are you planning on a 100 day trip or something?
I got super far in Dots, and was steadfast in my refusal to buy anything. I would have happily paid for the game, without the annoying monetization, but after a phone update, I accidentally deleted my score and level and was too discouraged to plow through all that again.
I later was going to re-install but it looks like the Dungeon Keeper business model has taken over completely.
When I looked up the company after all of this happened, I found endless bad reviews about multiple problems. One common complaint was that getting them to accept a cancellation was difficult and then when they do accept that a cancellation as qualifying, then they dick around with partial refunds.
No, I didn’t do my due diligence before using this company and consider $63 a pretty cheap life lesson all things considered.
This is known as a business model. If they made it solvable for free, then few would buy it. If they require people to pay for it, again, few would buy it. If you dangle something “free” in front of a person, the require a small microtransaction or six to just get you past this hard spot and that one, you’ll make overall more money. And remember, the point of making the game in the first place is making money.
I know you know all this, but it bears repeating. Before all this microtransaction stuff was discovered, I used to try and buy lots of games. Now I simply don’t play.
