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Please remember to be kind, courteous, and respectful to fellow members, unless your Kris apparently.I still cant believe this forum post is still up. I wouldda assumed they'd delete it with my account but nope! I deleted the responses to keep those users safe but my original post might still be on site so go find it yourself I guess, lol.
Viewing Topic: Gambling and Spending addiction: It's effects and relation to the Goatlings economy (Added source on the harmful nature of loot boxes)
11th Aug 2024 - 08:58 - Favorite
I myself have brought this up quite a bit in the Goatlings Discord. But since the current one is getting shut down, I thought it best to share my thoughts and experiences here, as I find the subject matter important. I am generally drawing from my own experiences to express my concerns, but if anyone else has their own experiences or input, feel free to share.
Gambling addiction comes in many forms. From the traditional casinos, to gacha games and even loot boxes. It's presence and effects aren't always apparent and that's what makes it so dangerous. Goatlings dose have gacha aspects. Though, those are quite minor and generally don't require real world money to participate in, such as gone fishing, goat token, and the gachapon machine. Though, it wouldn't hurt to have the fishing become an easy skill based game.
People have voiced their concerns on the loto tickets as well, which is also a form of gambling. I feel these are also of concern, as they more resemble a form of real life gambling. The lottery in real life is just publicized gambling. Imagine having a roulette wheel on site?
Now, where my main problem lies is the diamond dust openables. They are a type of loot box, being a digital object one pays for with real money in order to gain rewards. As fun as they are, this is a problem. Even if it doesn't seem to be. Loot boxes are one of the gateways to gambling addiction and even though under law it isn't illegal, loot boxes are considered a "deceptive practice". It prays on one's desire to obtain whats inside without the certainty of knowing what they'll get. This leaves people to getting things they often wouldn't want or are not worth the cost that was paid.
This has led to people like me, to buy more and more simply for the reward. Many do argue that we can just not spend, which is true, but this is just another form of gambling addiction, which is a mental illness on its own. Just like mental illnesses such as depression, it will take lots of time and effort to overcome it.
Not only do the loot boxes fule current gambling addicts, but can lead to future ones as well, just as other games with loot box and gacha aspects do. This is especially of concern due to the fact that Goatlings is a site for all ages, meaning children have access to this as well.
Now, I'm not mentioning all of this as some sort of "puritan" type. I'm saying this as not only a current gambling and spending addict, but as an older brother as well. I don't take pride in my addiction, and as much as I love the site it's made my own addiction worse which is why it concerns me and why I feel it should be addressed, especially considering the other things happening.
I've had younger siblings spend hundreds on a game due to not understanding the concept of money, but understanding that cool container has cool items inside. I've fallen victim to it as a child as well! This may not be the case for everyone, but it is indeed still a problem. This also leads to my worries of addictive spending habits. I have mentioned before that when my mental health was supper bad, that I spent hundreds if not THOUSANDS on crown accounts and pawned them just to get ss.
"Don't get me started on the currency conversion. I did some math a while back since I don't have a problem spending money on the site.
By pawning ONLY crown accounts, the highest pawning item in the dd shop, $30 can get you 10mill ss. This is how I calculate how much items in ss are worth in $. This is mainly for comparison but just to put it in perspective, 800mill ss aka 1 dotd is over $2,000 using this method.
I don't recommend it. Don't be irresponsible like me but it really puts into perspective how much stuff costs on site."
Again I do accept I was irresponsible and I don't expect the money back. That isn't the point of this thread, but the fact ANYONE had to result to this is very telling of not only how bad the goat economy is, but how predatory the monetization is too. Also please do NOT try the crown account method. It is in no way worth it. If you feel the need to spend, check this thread or commission an artist to help them out!
The luck based and limited time nature of the DD shop containers are both a deceptive monetization practice, and detrimental to the site as a whole. It can be seen with items being lost apon accounts being deleted. Which is it's own problem entirely, and is part of the supply and demand problems the goat economy is facing.
Not to mention the transparency issues, which this thread here goes into more depth with, and I definitely recommend looking through it if you haven't already.
We don't know where the money is going or what it's being used for. If I was allowed to pay the artists myself, I would. I myself haven't been much of help due to my addiction and I'm working with a therapist in order to fight it but not everyone has that luxury. Not everyone believes or even understands that they could have this addiction, and that's what worries me. As a man standing in the fire, I know it's heat, and I don't want it's flames to spread.
There's probably a few things that could be done to help with this problem. Like allowing people to choose what items they'd want from a set instead of having the box. This would not only help curve the rate of gambling addiction, but help people spend less. This would be more of a quality of life change for the user's. This would mean less money for the site but considering the situations, that'd probably be for the best.
I've been working with my therapist on my own mental illnesses and addictions. This will not only help me spend less on the site, but on other things as well. I'm also putting money where I can't get it to prevent relapses. I don't want your pity or your sympathy. I just don't want people to fall into the same trap I have.
If anyone else is facing gambling and spending problems, the best I can recommend is to seek professional help. I'm in no place to give solutions, I'm only trying to warn people about the potential consequences.
Australian government
Last Edited on 04-09-24 07:22:26