I’m sure if Dan could give away r2 copies for free then he would do so, but we don’t live in that world. You yourself noted that they were broke while waiting for the first paycheck, and the way they make money really isn’t something that prevents people from having fun without paying that price

Blaming Aether studios and calling their practice predatory when they are trying to make money in probably one of the most honest ways (optional cosmetics, no gameplay locked behind money) by citing the fact that CUSTOMERS can’t control themselves is extremely unfair

Following this logic shouldn’t we just close down marketplaces in general because people with impulse control would buy multiple products and empty their wallets? Criticize grocery stores for having snacks that people might buy too much of rather than the people who need to keep themselves in check?

i'd call it manipulative if it held back gameplay aspects from the player but it does nothing of the sort and you can simply choose to not get items via the coin shop, while enjoying the actual meat of the game immediately after buying it off steam

while i do agree with everything you're saying, i think the final label of "manipulative" is rather harsh no? because at the end of the day we're still talking about cosmetics, nothing related to actual gameplay like characters, game modes, etc. it's completely optional so why be so harsh on it

hey i watched the video and you have some extremely strong opinions. what exactly did you mean by gambling in the coin shop? i play the game regularly and interact with the coin shop every once in a while but i've never "gambled" in it. could you clarify?

half.alive used to be one of my favourite artists! haven't checked up on them in a while, gonna do that now

i could never use threads bc all my IRLs follow me there