FTC orders Fortnite's publisher to issue $245 million in refunds

[boingboing]

Originally published at: FTC orders Fortnite's publisher to issue $245 million in refunds | Boing Boing

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[Mister44]

I wish I could use the excuse that I’m under 13 and don’t know better as to why I’ve bought X amount of V bucks

[MerelyGifted]

I wish my mom hadn’t kept spending money on BS in online games, and delayed much-needed vet care for our cats.

[Nicholas_Marshall]

It doesn’t look like this bans dark patterns… I’d like my games to be just games not skinner boxes that demand attention.

[MagicFox]

My well wishes to your cats! I hope they are feeling better!

[MerelyGifted]

They are, thanks very much

[MagicFox]

[Mindysan33]

[Mungrul]

I can get behind that. I managed to finally extricate myself from Guild Wars 2’s greedy clutches at Christmas after being sucked back in during the pandemic.

Ostensibly, the game can be played without spending a penny (apart from on the expansions). But the way the economy and end-game equipment are set up, there’s constant pressure to buy gold to bypass the grind. That’s without touching on the fact that the majority of interesting cosmetics in the game are available through the “gem” shop.

There is an exchange mechanism where people can convert gold earned in game in to gems to spend in the store (but not cash; noooo, can’t have people taking their money back out of the game), but the exchange rate is so blatantly balanced in favour of the developer/publisher, it takes hundred of hours for the average player to earn enough gold to buy even the cheapest thing from the gem store.

I can’t guarantee I won’t ever play the game again (or other skinner boxes like it), as I genuinely enjoy the way it plays (it’s got the best combat of any MMO, and the best mounts of any game).
But my wallet is definitely breathing a sigh of relief, and I’m in that honeymoon period where I’m catching up on lots of interesting games that came out while GW2 was monopolising my time.

[BakerB]

There are plenty of games that say you can play for free, they just never say that you can’t win for free.

[Wounded_King]

While this is true it isn’t true for Fortnite. Fortnite only sells cosmetic items, none of them have in-game effects, except maybe blending into certain terrain better.

Fortnite does have a lot of the usual shady methods to encourage buying items though, not to mention the effects of peer pressure on their younger demographic. I haven’t encountered the ‘dark pattern’ issues describe with unwanted purchases but I very rarely purchase anything in game so maybe I’ve been avoiding those confusing UI elements.

Maybe I’m just old and stingy but I thought paying once for the battle pass was enough. After that you can earn enough in game currency just by playing to get it again if you want.