The Insidious World of Fake Mobile Game Ads

[@Number1laing]

I think the key to these ads is that they show a very simple game concept and they show the player playing it badly. When the guy goes through the divide by 3 instead of multiply by 2, you groan and have this instinctual urge to download the game and play it correctly.

[@nikolaisedov2295]

If you allow me a bit of arrogance, only mentally challenged people get that urge and follow it. I think it’s instantly obvious insulting bait to anyone with a brain

[@Randyplaysguitars]

Yes I have thought this many times myself and downloaded a couple games only to delete them after a week or so. And never spent a penny on these 😅

[@nikolaisedov2295]

@@Randyplaysguitars bro it’s such an insulting bait don’t fall for it

[@MachinedFace88ttv]

So ÷3 isn't good?

[@tvctaswegia497]

I saw that too. Even in this video you can see the player deliberately screwing it up where a 5yo would've done better. It's a clear psychological ploy.

[@defearl]

I remember a friend of mine from college got a job at a mobile game company. He said the pay was great and he was so excited to get started there. 3 weeks later he told me he quit. He said every day he had to go to meetings where everyone brainstorms about how they could exploit the users, especially children, and get them to spend as much money as possible. He couldn’t bring himself to continue doing something so soul-sucking and degrading.

[@favoritemustard3542]

Good for him! 👍 A lot of ppl wouldn't - w/o a cut of the profits.

[@CMBell1985]

Ive been there in a door to door sales / charity fundraising company (different contracts). I did it three days and quit because it was so exploitative. I want to provide a service or product that is at worst benign, at best positive. Not strategise about how to target vulnerable households.

[@RTU130]

😂

[@Dragongaga]

at the point where these companies openly start targeting children, the lawmakers should really take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves why they're trying so hard to ban sex and violence from video games and yet these companies who are deliberately creating addictions are completely fine. I know there was an attempt to ban loot box mechanics by categorizing them as gambling, but that went nowhere for some reason

[@FirstLast-vr7es]

@@Dragongaga You're suggesting that lawmakers actually do something. That's an automatic non-starter.

[@ch3p3p3]

I try to exit out of mobile ads, but they have a fake X in the ad itself, so you end up clicking on the ad when you think you're clicking on the X to get out of the ad.

[@gel13a]

Plus, even if you try to press the correct X and miss it by a single pixel, congrats! you clicked the ad. Plus, Plus! If you use gestural navigations on android, instead of the three button navigations, if you try to use gesture to close what you are playing, you are first transferred to Play Store, then you have to close two apps.

[@InimicalWit]

Or there’s (or there might also be) a timer that must pass, not just for the ad to end, but for the X to appear, and sometimes that X takes you to a screen where you have to make the decisions *not* to download, *again*. I finally just quit downloading seemingly “small” games like these

[@jawstrock2215]

I find when the x clickbox is so small, it's made so you would miss it, while the "take me to store page" is the whole screen.

[@SomeVRKid]

Thor from piratesoftware said it pretty well: "Full screen ad, i uninstall the game Ad at the bottom of the screen next to a menu hoping you fat finger it, i uninstall the game The best kind of ad is the one where there's a little fairy or something like that going across the screen, and when you click on it it asks you would you like to watch an ad for something"

[@favoritemustard3542]

I don't touch anything I'm not interested in, bc I don't want their cooties or cookies 🍪👄🍪

[@Mochichi-fuwa]

I worked at a company that owns multiple games in the top 25 highest mobile games of all time. I quit last month. First, let me tell you straight away - this video is pretty well done. One thing is that most people think the whale is the highest paying demographic, but if you're dealing with a billion-earning company, there's usually one above it. I can't disclose the term my former company used, but normally they all use a term for some mythical/ancient sea creature bigger than a whale. A whale will typically spend 100-600$/week, but the highest paying demographic spends a minimum of 1000$ per week. Everything the game does is focused on three goals: 3. Push the whales+ to keep spending 2. Push the spenders to become whales 1. Push the non-spenders to start spending. You might think that games come up with content/ideas and develop new features from there, but it's usually the opposite. The example shown in the video about how they come up with the ad AND THEN they create the minigame is how it all works. The team will come together to come up/"copy" strategies to get players to spend, and them implement that into an existing feature/create a new feature. If you think the guy in the video is Satan, you'd cry yourself to sleep every night after working in a management position in one of these companies. It's sad to see that an industry that could be mostly consisting of art has become basically a big casino. Monetization is above all and player experience and content quality only comes into play when things go south. I've loved videogames all my life and I was excited to join the industry, but it was a big disappointment. I have to say though, I worked at a another company before that has a very well known social game and they were great with their players, although they still monetized content (cosmetics only). My top 3 pieces of advice: 3. Make your peace with playing casually. Most mobile games nowadays are pay2win, so unless you're ready to give up A LOT of money, the chances of you making it to the top are very slim. A non/small spender will never reach a whale+. A very simple example: if you have an issue or are disappointed in the game and reach out to Customer Service, you will be dismissed with a generic answer. If a Whale does the same, CS will send the whale gifts and immediately send their feedback to liveops. The game is designed so that it's not possible to reach the highest ranks without spending. 2. Avoid free games and read reviews in depth. Most free games are not really free, and you can get a good idea of how it works from the reviews. You'll get the best gaming experience from games that come from studios where they don't follow these strategies, so they have to sell the game for a price to make money. Buy the product once and enjoy it forever. Best to pay 4.99 for a game and avoid ads, predatory monetization, etc. If you're going to play a free game, check that only cosmetics are monetized. And most importantly 1. DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN PLAY THESE GAMES.

[@jaycobobob]

Kraken?

[@ryllharu]

@@jaycobobob Leviathan is the term a lot of gacha players use internally within the communities. The regular whales are very aware of the terms used, and use them too.

[@jaycobobob]

@@ryllharu oh yeah that makes sense too. Thank you!

[@mariomario1462]

It's not that deep. Most people playing aren't spending that much money if any at all and the "think of the kids" is nonsense since they don't spend money and play a fun game. No wonder you couldn't hold the job 😂

[@savo4ek228]

​@@mariomario1462 Your comment shows a lack of perspective. Firstly, kids do spend and a lot. Maybe they don't in Eastern Europe where I am from, but in more affluent regions kids have pocket money from early days that they are free to spend or attach their parents credit cards into their play accounts. Google "kid spend thousands" and see how many articles you get. Secondly, it's not about just buying, it's about getting addicted from the early age. If your kid plays, they will get hooked and when they become older and start having disposable income, there will already be one place they can think of putting their money towards to.

[@NikTek]

The fact that Mobile Games have gotten this far with these fake ads without any legal consequences should be studied

[@dracoborne2648]

Welcome to capitalism baby

[@urphakeandgey6308]

It's not that deep. It's just a case of regulations not keeping up with new tech. There's always shady stuff going on, but 99% of the problem is just regulations not keeping up and dinosaur politicians being completely clueless about these very modern issues.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

​@@dracoborne2648The majority of the problem is just regulations not keeping up and dinosaur politicians being clueless about these modern issues. Also, regulations vary by region as well. Blaming capitalism for everything is such an intellectually lazy cop out. You don't even know what you're complaining about. You just know "capitalism = boogeyman."

[@seriouslyWeird]

so you're going to sue every single desktop/xbox game developer for cinematic trailers too?

[@dracoborne2648]

@@urphakeandgey6308 When a capitalist wants a law changed or adopted there is a 60-70% chance it will be successful. When the population wants a law changed or adopted there is less than a 30% chance of success. The system isnt broken its working exactly as intended to maximize profits by introducing a superfluous bureaucracy that acts as an artificial speedbump to changing policy.

[@RootSystemHash]

I used to work for a gaming company and the customers were literally classified into fish, Seal, Dolphin, Whale, Bluewhale, etc.

[@Sc9cvsd]

What was the demographics? From what I gathered most of the regular whales (like rank 10-30 on the server) are average joes who are spending way too much but the bluewhales (I'm assuming thats your term for top whales, like top few players) were just rich bored dudes. Like all the ones in the game I played spent insane money, like $10,000-100,000 over a few years but they all owned businesses that made them a ton of money and it wasnt that much to them

[@dankduck2209]

Those are not fish, they're aquatic mammals. Anyways, would love to hear the spending brackets associated.

[@greebj]

Kraken is a term I've heard for the insanest buy-everything spenders

[@Sc9cvsd]

@@greebj ​honestly I think some of the krakens in every game like that are developer plants, seemingly spending and leveling up causing real players to spend more to keep up with the developer plant jones

[@joeblow229]

When I worked with Google Play, I could see everyone's in-game purchases, and yeah, there were people spending tens of thousands of dollars. Some were ultra-rich, and would call to get a refund for one purchase that legitimately didn't go through occasionally. At first I thought one woman who spent $50k on a Hello Kitty game was going to say all of the purchases were made by her kid, but she just wanted a $100 refund for one purchase that didn't show up.

[@artembaguinski9683]

Every time a mobile game ad pops up, I get this urge to support ad-blocker creators. Looks like I'm turning into a full-blown ad-blocking whale.

[@furry216]

Ad block is free, ř3tård

[@Exxeron-ob3tv]

@@furry216 You apparently missed the humor AND the point. What does that make you? Feel free to use the same metrics you apply to others, yeah?

[@Great-Griff]

@@Exxeron-ob3tvits a bait account

[@juanmanuelrobin3345]

What if the ad-blocker creators are behind the game ads and their goal is to make people download and pay for their ad-blockers? 😹

[@DrizzyB]

​@@juanmanuelrobin3345 Whenever I'm prompted to spend money on something, I back out. Easy as that.

[@frateradamanteus]

I always hated those ads because they always show a very idiotic gameplay where every choice is clearly stupid. Also the whole design, the content etc. was always very cringy or confusing.

[@Ozzshow]

Its on purpose. Same reason characters in horror movies stumble and fall when the killer is chasing them. So you can yell at the screen "You idiot don't fall!", "Stop fumbling for your keys and open the door!" It taps into an animal part of our pattern seeking brains, we see a pattern that's obviously egregiously bad and its addicting because we want to fix it. It commands our attention. This also applies to most things you'll see as headlines and most big tweets on twitter. Its not there to inform but to enrage or incense you into engaging with it.

[@Galaxius2117]

​@@Ozzshowbasically they have mastered the art of psychologically manipulating us for their gain.

[@Davie03q]

Good thing Roblox ads are nonexistent

[@GiggaGMikeE]

Its like a restaurant dousing all its low quality food with liquor hoping that an alcoholic takes a bite.

[@pleasureincontempt3645]

Interesting word you used, “dousing”. I’m a professional locator and am very vocal about the Dousing community. Nobody wants the chicken wings at the local rippers until they’re there.

[@Kaizykat]

That's a really succinct metaphor!

[@GabeHandle]

Fast food pretty much does that except instead of alcohol it's sugar and fat.

[@TheGoddamnBacon]

This is what separates us drinks from the alcoholics: we still have a decent sense of taste.

[@Robynhoodlum]

More like dousing it in Speed.

[@DEWILL]

Mobile game peaked on early 2010s. Now it's nothing more than a shitfest

[@DarthBiomech]

Hot take: mobile games were NEVER good. Phones shouldn't be gaming devices.

[@Djiimon]

@@DarthBiomech Smartphones are small computers with touchscreen controls and portable consoles are just small computers with button controls, so there is no reason they should not be gaming devices outside of subjective opinion.

[@alaeriia01]

​@@DarthBiomechThe Room series, Galaxy on Fire, the Infinity Blade series, Asphalt 8, and Monument Valley were all excellent games.

[@diamondhamster4320]

@@DarthBiomech BASED

[@diamondhamster4320]

@@alaeriia01 They could have been even 100x times better if they were PC or Console titles.

[@MrPedros1989]

When I see those ads, I report them as scam or dishonest marketing. Every time I get a report back that "this ad is OK according to us"

[@kuilu]

Same, also over something that's over sexualized you get the same exact response.

[@ChineduOpara]

​@@kuilu Exactly. But then you post an innocent comment about DJT, and it gets auto-deleted.

[@Durgenheim]

“They pay us money so therefore they are a legitimate business with real products.”

[@AG-iu9lv]

Same with those "get $4800/month for signing up for obamacare" ads, I reported those scam ads every time I saw them, then they took away the ability to report ads.

[@Nusamadecom]

same for me on facebook/insta, even a scam ads like 'get $7.000/hour job' is not violating any of their policies.

[@EyeBallTank]

Fate is a weird example because that series doesn't need false advertisement since it's already popular and people know what it is. It has character designs people like and that's enough to draw people in.

[@saberiskawaii]

It bothers me how he makes it look like a false advertisement game when it isn't at all

[@RenerDeCastro]

Not only that. FGO's KZbin ads are actually accurate and show what the game does look like.

[@walterwhite4398]

Same with hsr, Genshin and wuwa Some Gacha actually do show the real gameplay and everything.

[@phillynott6811]

The worst part is no matter how many times you report these ads to google they do nothing about it all and just run even more ads

[@tomlxyz]

Given that Google shows even more shady ads by now that's not surprising

[@NatrajChaturvedi]

From the perspective of gaming, Google and Apple both are the 2 worst companies that could have ended up as gatekeepers of Mobile app platforms. Apple has historically dismissed and neglected gaming even on the mac and Google well they are so hands off that they couldn't be arsed to cough up money and required effort even when they launched their own Games Streaming service Stadia. They really thought users would "purchase" games on Stadia for full price just to stream while the subscription lasts. Talk about madly delusional!

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

Any site or service I can't adblock, I stop using. (Adblocking is very powerful and sophisticated nowadays; I don't miss out on much.)

[@devikwolf]

Google exists to serve you these games.

[@duplicitouskendoll9402]

Google and Apple take a large cut of the scam proceeds so...

[@ThePickelSurprise]

Man I still remember when Evony ads were just pictures of sweaty naked women saying "come and play my lord". I guess they've always been on the bleeding edge of utterly bizarre adverising.

[@ClydeDatastruct]

There's also the line "Play now secretly" in some of their old ads

[@CityVoltProject]

That sounds like most ads for games in Chinese

[@Majorwindy]

I’d totally forgotten that, but yeah you’re right

[@jiaan100]

Yeah like 20 years ago

[@DanielSaner]

I remember it well, that was a perfect example of where A/B testing can lead. They started out with medieval/fantasy imagery and all the "my lord" talk, then the women's outfits got skimpier and skimpier, less and less related to the game's theme, and I believe some of the last ones just had a photo of a woman in a bikini with the game's name below. They clearly zeroed in on the part which got the clicks.

[@aaronshutts1024]

As a adict and whale myself, I thank you for posting this. I am actually recovering and have deleted many games recently that are shown in this video. Recovery is a hard road.

[@Killerfox512]

Best of luck to you. I honor your bravery. Keep taking it one step at a time. Therapy + a support network are key.

[@jiaan100]

GL. Stay away from gambling

[@stevecarter8810]

Read "atomic habits" which is about making good habits and breaking bad ones, and "evil by design" which is a bit old now but talks about how interaction design hacks your unconscious

[@vinvenus4581]

Good luck for your way!

[@MonteCarloVA]

Wait till you try heroin 😂

[@StrongMed]

What I don't understand is that the game as it is advertised looks so dreadfully and mindless stupid that I can't imagine anyone over the age of 5 looking at it and thinking "Yeah, that looks fun!". The actual games, as lame as they may be, are almost certainly more interesting than the garbage that's disingenuously advertised.

[@sonicseducer69]

All the "idle" games are pretty mindless and dreadful though. You're just clicking and waiting for something to be built or made or some attribute to increase. They're addicting as you mindlessly escape reality for a few hours

[@StrongMed]

@@sonicseducer69 Sounds like the original FarmVille (EDIT: And presumably its sequels. I've only seen the first one)

[@WaterKirby1994]

Sometimes we need simple puzzle games & what we're shown through Hero Wars & Evony seems like that. Besides we assume those are early tutorial levels with the game getting much harder. Games like Puyo Puyo & Tetris are simple yet insanely popular for the same reason.

[@yokaipinata1416]

In addition to what has already been said, the other thing is that it's not just the advertised content itself, but the way it is advertised. See, they're using one of the oldest tricks in the book: Correction bait. More often than not, the ad features the "player" making obvious mistakes and losing as a result. The viewer is then provoked into thinking "I would have done it correctly!" and wanting to play the game to show that fool how it's done... and indeed, many will download the app just to solve the puzzles themselves. I don't know the details of the underlying psychology, but the fact is that a lot of people can't resist the impulse to correct others even when it would be detrimental to do so. It's been done many times before. Scammers, spies, pranksters and others can often get information out of someone simply by stating something untrue so the target instinctively corrects them.

[@julieross1984]

Sometimes I like mindless slaughter games. Dynasty warriors was one of my favourites.

[@ThisisForTheTV]

KZbin mad about adblockers but also constantly pushes these BS ads.

[@AG-iu9lv]

Yt ads are so bad. I miss the days when you could comment on them. Comments got pulled shortly after Factor's gratuitous ads of their alpo-looking "food" garnered a few million 🤢 emojis, I've always been curious if there was a direct connection.

[@Snookbone]

Those are not two mutually exclusive concepts

[@manuelg8050]

Because they make a lot of money from those ads. One thing in that video was not mentioned. Placing those ads is not cheap: To get someone to download your game they spend a lot of money, so I don‘t know if that mobile game companies get so rich as described. But google gets filthy rich out of that, for sure

[@Andreas-do5ql]

Technically, the whales are funding your KZbin consumption.

[@HappySpanker2016]

YT: omg don't block ads, you hurt CREATORS! Also YT: look at these blatant Evony lies again!

[@BlueSR]

I’ve seen that let’s go whaling video- the idea that mobile game studios have psychologists on payroll to figure out how to get you as additcted as possible is so perverted and evil. Deeply haunting stuff

[@htwo1]

Yeah its legit horrifying. Like abusing the human condition for profit lmao

[@ThersNoFudgeHere]

​@@htwo1 Ya'll new to capitalism?

[@knivesron]

@@ThersNoFudgeHere THIS! Its up to us plebs to educate ourselves and try to spot and avoid these pitfalls. Supermarkets do it, banks do it The whole $14.99 instead of $15 is a great example of using psycological tricks to get ppl

[@Soydrinker999]

Every company has these people, supermarkets are laid out in a certain way to get you to spend more money

[@dominikfrohlich6253]

It’s everywhere just look at ads for burgers or kid’s toys. It’s all trying to lure you in. And it’s working.

[@SkylerLinux]

Fun fact, the Whales term comes from Casinos and Gambling. So yeah all of these publishers are saying that their games are just Gambling machines

[@Sorrelhas]

Yeah, I was watching Casino, with Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, and a lot of terminology they use is similar to mobile game terminology

[@darkwinter7395]

Except casinos do, actually, on occasion, pay out an actual cash prize (yes, on the whole, the house *always* wins, but...). Mobile games don't. Ever.

[@SkylerLinux]

@@Sorrelhas Strike that, reverse it. As Mobile Games use use the terms of Casinos. They've been around longer

[@yoongzy]

Slot machines, to scam the most amount of money based on a rigged probability.

[@BPMa14n]

Worse cuz in the casino sometimes you'll get lucky hit a prize and you can spend it on other things. Mobile games have no cash out

[@roymorgan276]

Now that I think about it, most of the ads show something that the products never do - men’s perfumes making women go mad, energy drinks giving you superpower, clothes making you look like celebrity models and what not. It is the psychology of advertising to deceive people.

[@baranxlr]

"Anti-human" is the only way I can describe this kind of strategy

[@agxryt]

This term needs to be used more honestly. Totally works for this kind of advertising. Also works for: religion, automatic weapons, alcohol, narcotics, a number of political ideals, etc. It should be a proper word, being considered by people when they talk about things, and it should have weight. Anti-human things should be addressed

[@karlandersson8652]

@@agxryt You sound pretty anti human to me tbqhwyfam

[@agxryt]

@@karlandersson8652 based on what? Did I offend you because I labelled religion anti-human? Think about it... The entire idea is worshipping something that isn't human? Or is it the assault rifle thing? It's pretty straight forward that assault rifles are anti-human, whether you like them or not. Back up your statement Also wtf is that acronym lmao

[@thescrewfly]

@@agxryt It's probably "to be quite honest with you, fam" or possibly "to be quite honest with you, f***** a***** m******"

[@Ultrox007]

"Sub-human" is the only way I can describe addicts.

[@dbzmaster1213]

My hatred for fake advertising really cannot be fully measured, but my own personal philosophy when looking at any game that I'm interested in playing is ALWAYS to first read the reviews. You can almost always tell immediately if something is a scam or dishonest to players by the reviews left on it. So people who write 1 star reviews for sh*tty games: Keep doing it! You're helping others out!

[@och70]

That's the strategy I use. I sort the review by "Most Recent." There are a suspicious number of copy-and-paste four and five star reviews for all of the games with the type of deceptive advertising covered in this video.

[@mati.benapezo]

To add more on that, you know the game is trash when most reviews are 5 ★, and the rest are 1 ★ reviews. Like, no in between.

[@l0remipsum991]

It's either 1) Game got overwhelmingly positive review which I find sussy 2) You're right. Always check the low star comments. Those are the real reviews.

[@VanguardDragon]

It has become a sadly familiar thing to see a game that looks great and then see the Steam reviews are mostly negative and give it a hard miss. Very glad that people take the time to give their feedback either way; forcing devs to be better is the entire point of a review system, after all.

[@Chazulu2]

But reading takes longer than just trying it... Usually they are free and you can quit anytime. The permissions and TOS are much more important to read of you're planning on running the software imo.

[@vercoda9997]

These Evony ads have *not* been discontinued years ago - I've endlessly seen variants of these Evony ads, here in Northern Ireland, throughout this year, last year, etc. They're very much still active.

[@jaz21-e9w]

Probably they are discintinued in countries with more strict regulations. Here in Chile I have seen them like yesterday. But it’s simply not profitable to sue some of this companies in our countries for false advertising.

[@asp7772907]

Those ads I saw just yesterday here in Australia

[@christhefella]

saw the ads a couple of weeks ago during a physics class here in poland

[@eddie5774]

I see them here in California

[@ErichZornerzfun]

They might have regional ads for different markets based on how the ads are doing in each market.

[@JC_923]

I once met a guy from the mobile gaming industry at a machine learning summer school. He said his job is to get people to play as long as possible in a sitting. Basically his goal was to use machine learning to create something that the player cannot leave and would waste all their time glued to their phone. He said it was unethical, but he didn't care. He was an absolute soulless human being.

[@vegamineral207]

I honestly had no idea the games in these ads were fake because I never even gave half a shit to check them out

[@kevinmach730]

They don't look for or entertaining at all. I tried on called the The Office based on the TV show, which I was a fan of and it was free to download. It was the dumbest most pointless thing I had ever seen in my life. I think the call them Click Games (not to be confused with point an click games, which can actually be decent) and there is absolutely zero strategy to them at all.

[@josegaspar813]

Next you're going to tell me that there aren't a bunch of lonely singles in my area looking to have good time.

[@marihencita]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@MichaelSnyder1776]

Well maybe we are in the same area 😈

[@philipreid2542]

There are, just not with you

[@samholdsworth420]

​@@philipreid2542your mom was fun last night

[@warriorlink8612]

"Our studies show that we can fill up 80% of the player HUD with ads before inducing seizures." - Ready Player One

[@SmallPaul.]

How long before you can no longer pay to remove ads

[@DrRussian]

@@SmallPaul. Just like how you can never truly get rid of pirates, there will always be a group dedicated to not having to see ads.

[@dax3m]

That's why Indie game developers are taking a larger and larger share as more time goes by. Gamers are getting sick of scammy tactics by established companies, and by the time an indie developer becomes an established company, there's another indie developer to take their place

[@SammEater]

@@DrRussian Piracy is more necessary than ever in this era. They are the ones truly conserving games.

[@zebedeesummers4413]

@@SmallPaul. already the thing on many services (like prime video) was ad free till a few years ago. The less ads we watch the more desperate they are to get us to watch them

[@SuperHansburger93]

8:15 The main reason why they don't make the ads into games, it's becaus they would actually make for bad games. The ads look nice and fun because they're short, but games like these have been made, and they quickly get boring. They succeed at giving a short burst of fun, but they fail at keeping people engaged. And like you said afterwards, what these companies want is to keep players addicted.

[@russoft]

got a cousin who worked in the art department for these mobile game developers. He told me a story about one of these "whales" who stopped spending money. The company callled her up and found out her phone wasn't working. They sent her a free phone which could run the game because they were aware of the importance of this particular "whale". The art department spent inordinate amounts of times developing animations for buttons that made clicking the buttons satisfying to keep a player drawn in. I don't know if I 'd feel really good doing that kind of work.

[@MattWanchap]

Making an engaging user interface isn't all that bad by itself. I mean, most enterprise software could use a little more attention to having more satisfying buttons! Although I'm sure it's a lot more exploitative than just having cool buttons

[@davidsykes6584]

Some of these games have employees who's job it is, is to be in contact with the 'Whales' and make sure they're happy, all to insure they keep spending more and more.

[@MattWanchap]

@@davidsykes6584 most businesses large enough to have sales & marketing teams will have roles like that, called "account manager" or "customer success manager" etc, whose job it is to keep in touch with important customers and keep them happy. Considering the profits of these mobile gaming companies, is it unusual that they have the same kind of role?

[@Phyrre56]

I have played some gacha games that have whales, I personally do not spend a penny on such games but they can be fun to play for a while sometimes. Anyway, I can tell you from experience becoming a member of these gaming communities and getting to know some whales that the successful games have Whale Managers whose job it is to communicate with their top spenders and make sure they are happy and keep spending. Even when there isn't a problem, they will regularly reach out and make that whale feel special. The people making these games are one step away from actual con artists.

[@gumpyoldbugger6944]

Think I would feel rather dirty if it were me........

[@thefulchman]

The worst part is the timers. They show you a timer giving you the impression that once the timer is over, you can bypass the ad, but then another timer pops up. It’s all designed to get you to accidentally click the App Store link. Sad.

[@Craxin01]

The number of people that works on is profoundly small. Most of us just get frustrated and refuse to play that game.

[@Zimmy_1981]

Or the little "x" is tiny 😂

[@Craxin01]

@@Zimmy_1981 Oooh, I HATE that! I have fat fingers, and have to tap that spot a couple of dozen times to make it realize I'm hitting the cancel button!

[@Zimmy_1981]

@@Craxin01 IKR!!!!!! I fed up misclicked myself only tp be redirected to the store, annoying af

[@ash36230]

With the smallest ever skip button designed to suck you into their dark patterns

[@maqaroon]

There's a mobile company using one of my Shorts as their ad without permission. It shows a real clip of me playing with a DIY Suica/Watermelon phone case where all the fruits are made from polymer clay. The game is a knockoff of Suica Game. Unfortunately the ad is not available to view on demand so it's almost impossible to report them.

[@account-now-closed]

Can't you report it to OFCOM or whatever advertising regulator is in your country?

[@kinsan89]

I'd advise screen recording when playing, especially if there's a game that allows you to view an ad on demand, just in the off chance you see it while recording for evidence

[@ahmednematallah]

Can you try to put the name of the game or ad instead of the URL? You can even try the link that the ad leads to.

[@skanvak]

Take a lawyer to sue them.

[@megabigblur]

I saw the longer video of yours that the case in that short came from and have to say it was really cute and creative!

[@JamesLawner]

I once downloaded GardenScapes after seeing an ad, but the ad had actual game footage in it and it convinced me to download it. After some time I quit the game because I got too addicted to it (same thing happened to me when I downloaded Travel Town).

[@Ziggyhere57]

How you got addicted to that crap game 😂

[@HorizonAkon]

I haven't clicked a single time in these ads , but looking at these ads every time is very frustrating

[@ErickTavianRefundini]

That's the point, they want you to get frustrated so that you download the app

[@HorizonAkon]

@@ErickTavianRefundini but that's not the end , even after the downloading , you will see these ads again and again , only KZbin itself can do something , but they will do nothing , ***** KZbin

[@MadMetalMacho]

@@HorizonAkon yo, adblocker

[@thebigdog2295]

The ad for me before the video begins; Evony return of the king. 😅😂🤣 How's that for irony.

[@sylvian777]

Theres a good side to the "lets go whaling" presentation - insider information into how mobile game companies try to manipulate you

[@MakusinMeringue]

I genuinely liked that presentation. The dude realizes it's shitty ethics at the start by saying he'll put ethics aside

[@ethangames5189]

These people disassociate from the people that are playing their games, seeing only the bottom line ​@@MakusinMeringue

[@blackm4niac]

It's kinda the same logic as "if you know how to defuse a bomb you know how to build a bomb". Knowing what tricks these developers use to get you to spend absurd amounts of money on their free to play games could make you less prone to falling for those tricks. If you were prone to falling for those tricks in the first place though. Personally, I'd like to think I'm not one of those people who could be tricked into spending lots of money of a free to play game. Yeah sure, I bought some lootboxes and shit for Overwatch, but my total expenses for Overwatch are probably less than 200€, which I'd say is fine considering that I play the game since the first public beta. So 200€ over the span of 8 years is less than what I would've paid if I were into FIFA or Madden an bought every new iteration for full price every year.

[@Sorrelhas]

​@@blackm4niacThinking you're immune to something is exactly how that something gets you I used to think I was too smart to be scammed, until I was almost scammed

[@vascofernandes295]

@@Sorrelhas I mean, Musk has got to be the best example of that, RIGHT?

[@monkelifegood]

The most fucking annoying thing that should be illegal is that in some ads they pretend like they’re the good guys. “Aren’t you just tired of those games who rip people off in their ads, and never have those little mini games?! But don’t worry! Our copy and paste match game is different, even though our previous ads did this, too!”

[@shcdemolisher]

Those are the absolute WORST!

[@Kspice9000]

​@@shcdemolisher"Who goes for the ax" "nice that was good decision" he says, as he clearly plays a phones black screen.

[@belphegor_dev]

They're made by the same people who run the ads they're "criticizing."

[@monkelifegood]

@@belphegor_dev Yeah. Like I said at the end, happens too many times. Started with Evony, then fucking Hero Wars starting riding that fucking meat train.

[@MyNokiaN73ME]

One thing I expected to hear and I didn't, is the fact that those ads always make stupid mistakes which motivates you to get it right.

[@darajoyce5514]

yeah

[@PtylerBeats]

I think that’s a more surface level tactic. It’s one that a lot of people might even catch watching the ad themselves. They might feel angry and wonder why they would push an ad that makes you angry and then you realize it’s SUPPOSED to make you angry. But the tactics in these videos are a bit more in depth

[@titaninsane]

They literally mention it at the beginning

[@thehalfbloodprince-nm8uk]

Yeah it bugs me quite a bit seeing those puzzle game ads doing silly mistakes

[@cim888]

Yes many "Adults" are now immune to these kind of ads, but literally 100s millions of young people are getting mobile phones for the first time, they are the most vulnerable to predatory ads.

[@lloydlego6088]

If you give your kids access to your bank account so they can buy things in game that would make you carry foolish. Before I would let my kids install games, I would preview it. I never let them play games where they could buy upgrades. You don’t have to let children make those decisions.

[@Robynhoodlum]

@@lloydlego6088This! Parental locks exist for a reason. However, many teens may go hog wild as soon as they get the money and freedom to buy these upgrades. A great option is to not connect a card, just use gift cards (from birthdays and stuff). It will teach them to understand a fixed budget and evaluate weather the upgrade is worth it to them. I have ADHD so I still refuse to connect my card to my account. Having to actually go and buy a gift card is enough of an inconvenience that it makes me mindful of how much I am spending.

[@hyperbolic3833]

It's not just kids, adults are at risk too because it's about being susceptible to addiction. There have been gambling addicts far longer than computer games have existed. Also there's a lot of evidence that being susceptible isn't just a genetic trait, it can be created by exposure to gambling and these types of games at a young age

[@Mr.Septon]

​@@lloydlego6088I don't preview the games my kids play. They can relatively play whatever, but they don't have access or the power to make purchases in the game. So if they want to do that, then it either involves myself or their mother. So my son has definitely also downloaded and come to the conclusion that most ads at this point aren't the game that they show and that the ad is usually more entertaining than the game ever will be. I'm okay with him downloading and finding that out. Granted, it still comes with risk as many of the games still do, even without spending real money, develop that gambling-esque sensation. So one still must be careful, of course.

[@Kspice9000]

​@@hyperbolic3833it's typically created by winning a lot and chasing those streaks.

[@gmitchell5000]

When my brother was whaling in Evony, I found out that he paid money to the game to freeze his assets and prevent others from attacking his base. You literally have to pay to not play the game

[@tomlxyz]

Isn't it pretty much always pay to not play?

[@walter3953]

@@tomlxyz no?

[@marcpaulus6291]

@@walter3953 It is. Pay to win means you are paying the game for not playing it. So you dont have to grind resources, lvl up etc. So you jump over the gameloop thus Pay tp Win is = Pay to not play.

[@hezytatez]

​@@walter3953it is in all the predatory games like clash of clans for example. Pay to leave and not be raided is kinda regular.

[@darajoyce5514]

WHAT

[@Rishikotenkirama]

Appreciate you taking the time to expose this. Things like this are truly insidious when it comes to manipulation. I haven’t blown that much money but I have felt the pressure and spent money when I didn’t need to. Luckily I realized what was happening but it’s nice to know that it was targeted and I’m not only a fool.

[@JP-hr3xq]

I can't even give my children a game to play on their phones because there's always an ad that takes you somewhere you can spend money by tapping a shiny button. So I downloaded a PSP emulator instead.

[@ramireznoy]

Disconnect from the Internet before opening the app. No ads

[@wnwkrodb3b]

Smart

[@JP-hr3xq]

@@wnwkrodb3b Hey, no game on the app stores is better than super mario world etc

[@Thornbloom]

Solitaire. Can't even play goddamn SOLITAIRE because it's got ads in it. And Mistplay just straight up needs to be banned from everything.

[@JP-hr3xq]

@@Thornbloom it sucks, man. Truly.

[@st_oop]

society if mobile game ads werent misleading as fuck

[@Nik1_]

Sadly there are still a lot of bad things in this world. Luckily we can remove some, and sadly some are impossible.

[@Telugahairyjigga635]

real💀

[@BinknotLink]

@@Nik1_ we just need world peace, get rid of global warming, and make plants taste like meat. that seems good enough

[@Slayerlord13]

The fake gameplay in most mobile game ads with fake gameplay still looks awful, even if the actual game is usually even worse.

[@vascofernandes295]

I'd rather say society if ownership of companies was not based on just having money Because come on, THAT has to be the problem(since the more money they have, the more companies and the more OF those companies they can own, and the more money they make, until the US collapses because that's the only thing keeping this bitch afloat)

[@kenohere]

There's a game called "YEAH! YOU WANT "THOSE GAMES," RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!", which is based on these fake mobile ads.

[@ponivi]

published by the same publisher for edf, funnily enough.

[@mattevans4377]

Could you provide a link somehow?

[@CuntreeMylz]

@@mattevans4377 🤣

[@tyrannysend]

Also try Arrow A Row

[@twinmill53]

​@@tyrannysend you mean archero?

[@SomeDudeOnline]

You answered every question I had about this nonsense before I knew this concept existed and throughout the video as I learned more and more. Wonderful video.

[@Se7en2107]

There is a game on Steam that is just collection of those fake mobile ads but you can actually play them. It's called: YEAH! YOU WANT "THOSE GAMES," RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!

[@ethanbrown5253]

And it’s sequel just came out!

[@kunalkashelani585]

Name?

[@SetsunaTheFandom]

In an era where false game advertisements run rampant still, that game is a blessing. Hopefully I could buy it sooner or later.

[@DanielDorn-tr7tw]

@@kunalkashelani585 Didnt you read the comment? It's called: YEAH! YOU WANT "THOSE GAMES," RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!

[@kunalkashelani585]

@@DanielDorn-tr7tw That's the name? 🤯😂

[@23h9ubsn31dd]

namco actually published a game where its entire gimick is that its gameplay loop consists entirely of mobile game ads it's called "YEAH! YOU WANT 'THOSE GAMES,' RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!" it actually hasn't performed particularly well partially because it costs ten dollars and because ive never seen a single advertisement for it. I do wonder how well it would have performed if it had been given the proper marketing.

[@User-d6l6t]

What game?

[@rfgnmf-nmesofuehsdjfnrmeowfsdz]

What game

[@dudemp4]

Yall that literally is the name of the game

[@rfgnmf-nmesofuehsdjfnrmeowfsdz]

@@dudemp4 holy shit you're right

[@thinkublu]

I really have been wanting to play it but just not for that price..

[@Durandalski]

My wife has an addictive personality. When we got her first credit card she put $1000 on it in less than a month from micro transactions on those stupid basebuilding mobile games. She didn’t even realize she’d done it. I had to shred the card and spent years helping her learn self control. She had me to protect her from herself, I can only imagine how spending like that on a mobile game could’ve destroyed her finances and life if she didn’t. These “games” are insidious!

[@LordSiravant]

I have an addictive personality too, but I ironically was saved from falling into this trap by two things: one, I'm very patient and am willing to wait for things to happen because I have other means of entertaining myself and occupying my time, and two, the base builder game I had on my phone ended up taking up so much space that I was ultimately forced to delete it anyway. (getting an SD card didn't help because the game couldn't read your profile data from an external hard drive)

[@dieseldragon6756]

She's lucky that she had you there to help! I also have an addictive personality (My YT viewing history makes this all too clear!) but because my country has a strong institutional prejudice against persons with multiple diversity (In my case: LGBT and Autism) from ever forming relationships, I'm actively kept out of sight of _anyone_ I'm likely to get on well with, and universally shadowbanned. 🔇 But having said that: I suppose _letting_ myself get addicted to mobile games, running out of cash, and then engaging in certain behaviors to fund that habit might at least stop all the shadowing... ⚔💰💡

[@Franimus]

​@@LordSiravant Had to check twice you weren't me 😅 OP: You're a great husband! I know it takes a lot of love (and patience) to go through that. You're showing what marriage is about.

[@mariosuarez3411]

People with addictive personalities are so difficult to live with. My wife too is one of them, but not with phone apps, but rather with food, drinks, smoking, etc. If she drops one of these, it's only because she's quickly replacing it with something else. There's no reasoning that can help her understand. So frustrating. Fortunately, she's ok with money.

[@Agg1E91]

Here! Let's place a small casino, with a single virtual "slot machine", at your beck and call! You don't *have* to spend anything, but it *sure would* be oh so helpful to you if you did! And you don't even need to leave the comfort of home. Just fire up the "free" app, and start WINNING!!! It's like someone obtaining a list of well-off people who were known to have had debilitating issues with alcohol, moving in next door and then hosting and inviting them to every-day, all-day booze parties. They, of course, supply the booze if they want more than your swill. Get them messed up, take advantage of them, destroy their lives, and then move on after they've lost their usefulness.

[@jumbo4billion]

Good to see you are sympathetic to the people who get addicted, nice work

[@jacobduhthrowbak3226]

Don’t forget that just by downloading you’re also giving them your data to sell. Great video!

[@Carewolf]

Only if you agree to them using your data, but yes, you might not be able to play it if you reject it.

[@MadelynnTurner-nx8vt]

I've literally seen an add saying "tired of all the fake adds??? This game is not like that!!!" When it was literally a *gardenscapes* add!!! 🤦

[@carylgibbs6094]

My first thought too.

[@mickieg1994]

The ones where they are trying to show you the game isn't fake by fake reacting to the exact same footage of the game used for the ad already

[@nickfifteen]

I "tolerate" the fake ads that at least never actually claim that "this is the actual game"... rather they are just showing you a vision or interpretation of the game, or "what it feels like to chew 5 gum". The ones that piss me off are the ones that literally say "this is the game, I'm actually playing it right now", THAT is false advertising. It's the kind of shit where legit companies need to state "not actual gameplay footage". I report those fake ads claiming to be actual gameplay footage as often as I can... I know it's useless but it's a lot more fun than those game ever will be to me.

[@bkrgls]

​@nickfifteen 🤣😂🤣😂 I like the ending of your comment. I'mma start back doing it too just because of your reasoning. 👍🏾

[@squirlmy]

​@@nickfifteenbut, dude, that is just the tip of the iceberg of the sleazy things this company does. I don't get mad at whether ad is deceptive or not because I just don't ever click those ads! That's the point. Because it gets sleazier and more manipulative, as you spend time and money on it. Avoid them altogether!

[@critterjon4061]

The irony of me seeing one of these ads when I clicked on this video is amazing

[@JamieBu77]

Me tooooo

[@allandnothing5338]

Same here

[@vicolin6126]

Was always curious about these "fake-game-clones" you see everywhere, but never enough to actually click or find out for myself. Thank you for the video, this should be mandatory viewing as part of the much-needed "internet driving license". Insidious is just not enough to describe this practice of praying on the weak, and/or gullible.

[@henroriro]

The South Park episode "Freemium isn't free" illustrates this strategy incredibly well. It draws parallells to the alcohol industries which make a lot of money from alcoholics alone, a very small percentage of their customer base.

[@wallacegrommet9343]

The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule. 20% of drinkers consume 80% of alcoholic beverages

[@spankyjeffro5320]

You don't blame alcohol or the people that make it, you blame the ones who drink it. Only YOU are to blame for any addictions you have, nobody else.

[@LuaanTi]

@@spankyjeffro5320 You absolutely blame alcohol and the people who make it, and _especially_ the dishonest advertising. Does that mean you're not to blame? Of course not. There's plenty of blame to go around :)

[@MADLADGAMINGCLIPS]

Haha that's exactly what I thought of when he started talking about whales. Terrance and howard or whatever their names are haha

[@LuKaZz420]

Dopamine receptors

[@GebrilTheGamer]

It's so easy to forget these videos have background music, but then you hear the one tune you recognize instantly and go 'Oh right! These have music'. I mean the moment I heard 'The fire is gone' by Heaven Pierece Her I instanly got all my focus on trying to hear if it actualy is it or if I'm hallucinating it.

[@sylvian777]

lol i had the same effect and in this exact moment scrolled down to see this as the top comment

[@deadclawh3851]

Rain world OST is banger aswell!

[@regularpineapple8918]

for me it was the celeste theme at the end

[@DagooberismsTM]

Wat? Never heard of him/her, and I never bothered to check it.

[@Viceroy44101]

bro i thought ultrakill was open for a sec and checked steam

[@WillClapp420]

Hi, past whale here. Just wanted to say thanks for the video. I've been struggling with mobile games for a couple of years, always being prone to spending money on them but I never thought that much about it since I was still doing more than okay. But recently I did think back about it and decided to stop spending on them completely or at least for a while. Now, after seeing your video I understand that I just need to continue on not spending and just never look back on it again!

[@cookicrumbl]

good on you!! :3

[@WillClapp420]

@@cookicrumbl Appreciate the support thanks!

[@queenkitty6119]

Well said and good luck for your recovery😊

[@WillClapp420]

@@queenkitty6119 Thank you Very much!

[@ivaldi13]

Most hope-building thing I've read all week, right there.

[@stormbroke]

There are also ads that promote door cameras or dual lens glasses (like “prima focus”) that seem to tell variations of the same story that some cared about helping people out, designed a product, got sacked or kicked out of school and now you can buy their product for a limited time. The marketing on KZbin seems to seem like a scam and your video explains how/why.

[@darkforge4004]

Evony is also the game that had those "play with me my lord" horny banner ads.

[@Fluoman_]

We've come a long way. What a time to be alive!

[@TheZodiacRipper]

Wasnt there a game when some woman wanted you to penetrate her armor or something like that?

[@xenxander]

yep I remember those. EVONY has been around since MY college days, as far back as 2007 or 2008. It is the same game, build up a city on timers and insane waits and only being able to achieve lv.10 if you pay or conquer an NPC city. I spent a long while in the free mode and realized there was no real point to the game anymore. oh sure it's gotten a face lift in the last 15years but it still hasn't changed. No reason to every play it. Oh and in the global chat, you have to pay for 'horns' just to post.. and once out of horns, you can no longer chat.. They make you PAY to CHAT, for all the F-SAKEs.. *sigh*

[@humpteedumptee8629]

I love the rise of kingdoms ones lol. Like yea buddy I’m get a a million power and suddenly woman are chasing me. It’s like the old axe commercials. They’re so bad they’re good. Just knowing that works in someone makes m ehappy inside in a doubious f em kinda way lol.

[@SergeantTeabag]

​@@xenxanderAh, yes, the good ol' days where I played Evony with my brother. I think you only got one of those special scrolls required to build a level 10 structure. Age II was pretty interesting, but it was a game that wasn't worth sitting around for while something wasn't being built or raided.

[@ultimomos5918]

Thank you for explaining this. Ive worked in ad moderation for social media for 5 years and never understood the marketing tactics behind this business model. You've broken it down in an incredibly easy to digest way that i might just share this video with my team. This is truly some insidious shit and it boggles my mind that some people just have zero moral quandry abusing others in this way

[@tapejara1507]

I always think "who tf is playing this sheet" and then its like 10+mill downloads.

[@gametech4101]

Most likely people who fell for the fake ads. I'd be surprised if most of them have stuck around after a couple of days of playing.

[@fikkitchen]

It's important to differentiate the download count versus the daily active users count. Shame the Play Store isn't publicly showing that info

[@Ekitchi0]

​@@gametech4101days? Hours or minutes...

[@frankvandendool882]

@@fikkitchen That is because they make money of off it too. All of it is just one big pile of crap.

[@MintyArisato]

A lot of the games have people make multiple accounts to optimize their play. when I used to play Granblue Fantasy just about everyone I knew had alts so they could scratch the itch of being able to roll the gacha more with the free currency made by playing that account/the seasonal free rolls the game gives. I’m glad I quit, especially since now they aren’t even trying to hide that they just want as many men to gamble on new units with very little clothing and provocative poses. For the record I don’t think there’s anything wrong with scantily clad women or even men in gaming, but it’s obvious they’re banking on the fact that men are the ones gambling the most, as a study was posted in Japan (it’s a Japanese game with a mostly Japanese audience) that men are more likely to roll and women prefer buying goods like keychains plushies etc

[@happyzahn8031]

Amazing. I think they are still showing those old puzzle ad's though, at least not too long ago. The barrel ad just makes me mad at his 'choices' so I can easily click away from it. The guy with the sword (and the beautiful woman/witch/depending) who gets tossed down and has to level up, is a cute little movie but then gets boringly repetitive. Thanks for this super good video. Now I know they are all the same thing, just different front-ends to get the click to the game.

[@Exilum]

It's even worse than you think. I once interviewed for a "game dev" position that was just developing the game in the ad. It wasn't actually making the game good or even remotely playable, it was modifying an existing open source minigame and making a single gameplay path that would seem interesting in an advert... I didn't get accepted and by the end I was almost relieved. I felt like I lost my soul doing the test (doing one in 48h), it felt horrible. EDIT: They don't make the full game simply because they can't. It's built around a single extremely simple gameplay loop that can be fully conveyed in 10 seconds max. You can't really add variation or make it actually fun to play.

[@CainXVII]

Was thinking that too. Sure, it might be fun for 10 min, but after that?

[@leonlowenstadter9223]

I wonder what would happen if some angry developers take the open source game and turn it into a full game fun to play. 😊😊😊

[@ambidexterity1]

I hope they paid you for the test at least

[@Exilum]

@@ambidexterity1 Nope

[@Exilum]

@@leonlowenstadter9223 In my case, it was the repository from an online tutorial, so plenty of low skill devs made variants on the app stores. But as for making it a good game, as I mentioned, it's really difficult. The base isn't expandable, be it from a game design or programming standpoint, and it'd literally cost less time and efforts to make another game from scratch than to do anything with it. All those that did something with it essentially changed almost nothing and published it as their own.

[@chetacheese2789]

Another reason why these false advertisements aren't illegal (such as the Top War ad) is because they are advertising something free. If the app costed even a cent, they could get sued. But the app is free, so if they ever face legal action, they can say "oh well we didn't even make them pay, so it's not really scamming." That's how Top War survives to this day.

[@tappydani9378]

So, it’s a loophole and should be illegal on principle, it’s just lawmakers have been asleep at the wheel.

[@ExtraThiccc]

​@@tappydani9378I bet perfect utopian Europe is making laws to save everyone and be the bastion of humanity

[@Safersephiroth777]

@@tappydani9378 Yeah but well think about this. All big corporations are either Chinese or American. So if for example USA says to these companies that are based on USA hey no lootboxes and microtransactions and such these companies will tell them hey man you know how much money I pay on taxes because of these things and how many employes I have because of these? Do you really want to loses all these tax money and fire so many employees? So this is why they do nothing. They just say well TECHNICALLY they are fine. Probably.

[@owlobsidian6965]

@@tappydani9378 The problem is that they've done you no harm. What would you be making it illegal for? Did they steal your money?

[@heinrichagrippa5681]

@@owlobsidian6965 Predatory business practices exist. It's not somehow ethical just because they're not literally robbing people at gunpoint. In any story with the deal-with-the-devil type of trope, is the shady devil-esque guy blameless because he technically gets consent by coercing others to sign his disingenuous one-sided contracts?

[@blownupfishnchips9071]

I literally got this exact advertisement trying to watch this video. Bruh.

[@XterNuLL]

SAME bro😅

[@jothain]

Maybe the most annoying ads I've ever seen

[@iamgroot4080]

You don't believe in AdBlock or what?

[@FortWhenTeaThyme]

uBlock Origin my man

[@blownupfishnchips9071]

I actually made this comment on the phone but I do have ublock origin on the laptop I use.

[@Gtaninja]

You know what has shielded me from this kind of thing? The notion that every ad is a virus, and never nothing exept that. Im not imune to gambling, but I'm imune to ads.

[@irgendwieanders2121]

"...but I'm immune to ads..." Don't think that - it is a weakness 🙂 Maybe go with "I am very, very, very suspicious regarding ads and I do my effing best to not get infected by those mind viruses" Because (as shown in the video), ads evolve

[@SR-de8rd]

I use a different mechanism, ads have the opposite effect on me, the more something is advertised to me the more I develop a hate towards the product and will go out of my way to tell people to avoid it

[@IIIVI]

"Im not immune to gambling" brother loves his blackjack

[@irgendwieanders2121]

@@SR-de8rd Which, in theory, makes you a target for native / embedded advertising, like KZbin review videos... Not that I think you aren't sophisticated. I just think that they are sophisticated, too (and quantitatively more), and letting your guard down gives them an advantage.

[@bobxyzp]

@@irgendwieanders2121 I mean at the end of the day we are consumers and like to buy stuff and have experiences. Our buying choices will inevitably be influenced by outside factors. But for most of us, shitty ads ain’t it

[@Backyard.Ballistics]

This is the best video I've watched on YT in a while. Hope it reaches the widest audience possible!

[@moneyman2236]

Whoah, didn't think I'd run into Backyard Ballistics here!

[@Nichrysalis]

Definitely one of the most unforgiving parts of those ads as a gamer is them clearly playing the game poorly to try to motivate the player to download the game because they think they can play it better.

[@georgep.burdell7237]

The South Park episode "Freemium Isn't Free" sums this all up.

[@bodypilot2006]

Nothing worse as a business person than looking into other industries and seeing how little a company contributes to the good of humanity and instead scrounges their way into wealth for the sake of selfish gains with little tangible return.

[@ChineduOpara]

You read my mind

[@afterburn2600]

I'm an engineer and totally agree. I take massive satisfaction in making this world a bit better for the people living in it.

[@RamoneKemono]

This is literally just capitalism at its essence

[@RoninMike-DR]

​@@RamoneKemono I want welfare capitalism, let the corpos apply for hand outs😂

[@ExtantThylacine]

I just started watching the video and I so nearly clicked the "Skip Ad" button on one of the examples you were showing.

[@LuKaZz420]

Same

[@BeanBag343]

The South Park episode Freemium Isn't Free explains it perfectly. Mobile game ads like the ones shown here use the same model the alcohol industry uses. A lot of people will buy alcohol here and there, like when they go out with friends, or go to a party, or to a restaurant. But the way alcohol companies advertise their product makes it more and more enticing to people with addictive tendencies. Not everyone who tries it will be an addict, but they will work their hardest to get heavy drinkers addicted to their product and keep them wanting more and more of it as long as possible. It's from those people they make the most money, and it's the same thing as these mobile games.

[@Cheezitnator]

I think you mean gambling and skill machines. I'm sure some of alcohol revenue comes from addicts but not the majority of the market. Plus because it's a controlled substance there are far more limits in how and where they can advertise.

[@MelancholyRequiem]

​@Cheezitnator I think OP is referring more specifically to an article that came out in 2022, "WHO highlights glaring gaps in regulation of alcohol marketing across borders". I would post the link, but comments including links tend to get deleted. A lot of the lines for the legally allowable controlled substances advertisement guidelines are being blurred because of social media marketing being able to bypass them entirely. Alcohol and tobacco advertising rules BECAME strict because these companies were targeting addicts and young people. OP should have been more specific about the time period they were referencing, because you're absolutely correct in that alcohol companies have to follow many rules to advertise in the US today, but this is usually because networks will refuse to run ads that don't follow them. It's all very interesting and only going to get more complicated as more ad-pocalypses are started over such. Hope this helps! Much love! 🙏 ❤

[@dying101666]

I could never be added to alcohol. Doesn't feel good going down.

[@him050]

See also, gambling, fast food, fizzy drinks, and beauty products. It’s all about making you not want to live without their product.

[@k2k905]

But I'm helping rebuild Canada!

[@ClumsyToast]

I get disgusted to think that either youtube doesn't care whatsoever how lewd or unethical the ads on their videos are OR they are happily in cahoots with these companies, just out to earn money or, at the very least, they are using these ads to bully you into buying youtube premium, the more annoying and unrelated the ads the better.

[@darthbiker2311]

I wish KZbin and Facebook gave users a way to block advertisers.

[@wasshisface]

YT and FBK are there for those companies spending money on advertising, not you the viewer. You're the product, the advertisers are the clients.

[@RootVegetabIe]

Adblock and revanced

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

I never see ads on KZbin - just browse with Brave. Pi Hole is a decent way to squelch ads on your home wifi, too. Oh, and delete Facebook: you'll feel better!

[@brinckau]

@@wasshisface Absolutely. And the job of youtubers consists in creating the content for youtube, in exchange for a share of the profits. And unfortunately, the youtubers are worse than those gaming companies. The gaming companies show a fake game. The youtubers show fake friends.

[@louquay]

The only way that would ever be possible is if you paid for a premium membership. Nothing in life is free - if you're getting something for free it means you are the product

[@LuckyStarTF2]

I would like to correct your math: whales are usually not the top 2% of all the players, but 2% of paying players. Assuming that POP (percent of payers) is around 2-5% of all the installs, you get just ~1000 whales out of 1M installs. It's my job to calculate all that stuff in such games after all (: The rest is correct, good job!

[@alexandregermain8011]

What a world to live in

[@Qwerty10254]

2% of all players seemed in fact too much

[@LuckyStarTF2]

I would like to expand the comment a bit. Saying that 2% of payers are whales is technically correct, but it works differently. Each company decides what players they call 'whales'. It could be the one who spends more than $1K per month or $5K or $500. The threshold is set by the company and USUALLY it's top 1-3% of payers so you can ALWAYS say that 2% of your players are the whales. Like the government can say "we don't have poor people" if they set the bar of being poor to $10/month of income.

[@boiledelephant]

Very interesting. Please shit in your boss's coffee and then find a nicer job that doesn't exploit people

[@Sc9cvsd]

Yep and they dont just offer the game in the ad as the whole game because no one will spend $1000+ a month on a javelin that clears NPCs but they will spend $3000 to buy a level 125 javelin that beats some other whales level 110 javelin they only spent $1200 for.

[@redfield7389]

I love how even these ads are calling out other fake ads while still showing their fake ads XD

[@dragonbane44]

They know they are a degenerate pos but they are unabashed about it.

[@Dropintheocean17]

God I’m so glad this video was in my recommendations. I’ve already sent it to three people. Incredible work!

[@sammylee9331]

When your so conditioned to skip ads anytime you see that skip button, that even though I’m aware I’m watching a video I still tried to click the skip button on it 😂

[@Demopans5990]

Ublock and Revanced. If you have a iPhone, well, guess you're buying a Samsung next

[@Panzer_Runner]

*you're

[@bobsanderz3005]

Same. 😔

[@tregoboing]

same!

[@dakotareid1566]

@@Demopans5990or just get premium and never worry about ads again 🤷🏻‍♂️ plus having premium helps the content creators more as they get more from premium views.

[@jjhbball]

I once considered a job as a behavioral scientist for a EA. I closed the job post and did not apply after I read the job description. The objective of the position was to get people addicted to their products. The pay would've been incredible. But I value my soul more.

[@deathnokage]

unfortunately not all of us have the means to be able to choose, we all have to pay our rents. If you're not up to the job, someone else will...

[@jeffbenton6183]

​@@deathnokageI'm hoping that someone qualified to be a "behavioral scientist" can afford to pay rent working at a hospital or university or something.

[@Khronogi]

​@@deathnokagethat is an excuse to be unethical.

[@watchandjewelryloft4713]

It's one thing to be a salesman or figure out what customers demand. But to openly find ways to addict customers, just wow. All these game ads give me bad vibes.

[@elidas1008]

Strong decision of the OP writer.

[@augustvonmackensen9785]

Aaaand I almost clicked “Skip Ad” at 00:11 🤣

[@peanutbutter7721]

I literally tapped it and your comment popped up right as I did

[@b3tth0l3]

Amazing video, really opened my eyes to what's going on in the mobile gaming industry. Just wanted to add that Rise of Empires is like this too, I ended up downloading that game because of the ads and played it for a good 2 years. I didn't spend much money on, no more than $50 total, but I'll never get those years back.

[@Immortal..]

"You´ve probably seen this ad or others like it a million times before" *Laughs in adblock*

[@RingoLoadagain]

Doesn't work on mobile. Instagram is absolutely FLOODED with these fucking ads.

[@Immortal..]

@@RingoLoadagain Lucky me for not using Instagram I guess. As for KZbin I run it through my mobile browser (Brave) which means no ads and I can shut the screen off with audio still playing

[@account-now-closed]

There's an adblock for apps?

[@Immortal..]

@@account-now-closed No. Open whatever site you wanna use in a browser that has adblock.

[@HAWXLEADER]

​@@RingoLoadagainyes it does if you have Android or if you're with an iphone on wifi

[@wellwhatsgoingonhere]

I love how the narrator held back when describing Torulf Jernstörm. 🤣

[@mrvomit101]

To be honest, whaling is a fitting name. Whaling was a good trade two hundred years ago, lots of money, so it fits perfectly with this scenario

[@DarthBiomech]

And it also was recklessly destructive and immoral, similarities just keep piling on, don't they?

[@mrvomit101]

@@DarthBiomech Yeah, it's kind of poetic to be honest, I guess history does repeat itself.

[@Aquelll]

@@mrvomit101 Hopefully, because the whaling of old was made illegal. Just like the modern iteration should be...

[@Sammysapphira]

That's not what being a whale means. Being a whale means.. you are the whale. You're big. You take up most of the space of the revenue share. It has nothing to do with the act of whaling. Whales are just simply the largest animal on earth.

[@TrySomeFentanyl]

Still sadly is good money.

[@MusicalArmageddon]

Quality video. More people need to know about this.

[@ezekiel1999]

You are doiing some important work here, sir. Great video, now I finally get the whole picture, it's as disguisting as I imagined.. Very funny as well, you just got yourself a new subscriber

[@rock082082]

Having to wait to skip a fake ad game ad before watching the fake ad game video is poetry

[@imigratingbox]

The ads for these games show such braindead games i dont even know how anyone would find them fun

[@tiqosc1809]

people just like playing braindead stuff

[@Nik1_]

People built different. Some don't care about this game, some do. Some see the bait, others don't. This is just how this works

[@thinkublu]

The bait seems fun .. my brain is small..

[@zchris13]

like one of those old flash games, you play it for ten minutes and you're done with it

[@notuxnobux]

People are tired after work and want to turn their brains off

[@ARescueToaster]

Shooting barrels is enough to bring 100M+ kids to a shit game? Jeez.. I guess I was overthinking everything.

[@Llortnerof]

How much do you want to bet that number was artificially inflated?

[@RedbadofFrisia]

​@@Llortnerof yeah 100% that, and if that seems too obvious then you are not the target demographic.

[@DatAlien]

The game has been around forever. Used to advertise with half naked fantasy women.

[@teofrate]

It's not kids but grown ass people

[@ARescueToaster]

@@DatAlien Oh wow, I remember those! How is this turd still going?!

[@jasonpickens9839]

Those ads about them being fake ads have certainly not been cancelled. I still get them.

[@Phoebe5448]

Lately I've noticed these ads like "We hate being manipulative, so our game has no ads, not like those other scummy games!" These games are filled with ads. I remember no ads in games. I miss those days. And micro transactions. Merge Gardens was something else.

[@Capybellie]

What's really frustrating is that I am a base/city builder player. Those games are my bread and butter! And from the very start of Mobile gaming, these people have turned my favorite genre into literal hell. They even took some of the most loved series and turned them into disgusting money farms. Anno Online, Dungeon Keeper Mobile, Settlers online and sooooo many more...

[@DC-ml6cv]

Same I loved them. I don’t know why someone doesn’t make a fun one and just charge really cheap like the others but make it so all upgrades are maybe 5 bucks in a month and they would make a killing. They all go for the same strat of landing whales. It’s odd

[@martinnovak4356]

exactly, once i went on with it and hacked it for gems but it only ruined game.

[@Capybellie]

@@DC-ml6cv because it's never about making money. It's about making ALL the money.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

I don't play many games but I do enjoy a good base building game. Are there actually any decent mobiles base building games available?

[@mats7973]

Imagine working at such a parasite company that does shit like this. I'd feel so ashamed if I were them 💀

[@cyborgar15]

Why? How much does it pay?

[@JXSMS]

Gotta earn a living at the end of the day

[@Maverick7613]

Except one of the defining characteristics of successful capitalists is an absolute lack of shame... they'd sell their own crippled mother a defective walker just so they could sell her the 3-year warranty on it, even though they know she has terminal cancer and only has 6 months to live.

[@XOPOIIIO]

@@Maverick7613 Why would she need 3-year warranty, and why would shy buy it, if she doesn't need it?

[@XOPOIIIO]

It is said clearly they don't regret spending money. Why it's parasitism to give people what they need and like? False advertisement yes, but selling actual games it's not, it's what people have to do to provide value to other people, create, advertise, sell, so people could enjoy what you do.

[@mousedeer7837]

Have you heard of the krill paradox? It was once thought that the severe population decline of baleen whales would cause the population of their main food source, krill, to increase. As it turns out, the decline of baleen whales actually led to a decrease in fish and krill populations. Why? Because whales eat so much, that when they move and poo, they bring up nutrients from the ocean depths and fertilize algae, which allow krill to experience vast population increases. What I noticed is that the same thing was going on with mobile game whales. Whales would spend tones of money, incentivizing mobile game companies to continue putting out lazy content just to grab the attention of more whales, who then poo(give money) fertilizing the water(incentivizing companies) and boosting krill populatiosn( putting out more bad games and ads). Just as whalers destroyed whale populations in 19th century, we need to destroy the addictions of the mobile whales which will then stop the fertilization of the companies, which in turn will lead to the welcomed decline of bad mobile games.

[@ohmhasmeaning7292]

Damn playa… you done changed the game

[@RingoLoadagain]

Great analogy except IRL whales are good and so are krill, just to be super obvious.

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

That's a terrible idea. How about instead of blaming the people you put the blame where it belongs-on the companies. Make stronger laws banning that kind of manipulative behavior. Punish the predator, not the victim.

[@mousedeer7837]

@@RingoLoadagain Of course! Real baleen and Sperm whales are amazing creatures and their activities help sustain our oceans. 🐳👍🌍

[@mousedeer7837]

@@ZiddersRooFurry I'm sorry, I should have considered that before making the analogy and I agree with you: the evil mobile game companies are the real problems and should be stopped.

[@SvenGarson]

A sick introduction to marketing. Love the writing and your quality of communication!

[@modernphil1049]

I had wondered for years why the hell the mobile game companies would falsely advertise trashy games. I thought maybe they sold the data. I didnt know this was so insidious. Thanks a lot for the awareness!

[@SimonWitt]

Remember when game design was all about making a fun experience for gamers? Now it's all about slowing player progression right down so people spend money to save time and preying on people's addictive personalities.

[@MythAvatar]

Everything is just turning into, what makes the most money. Designing everything for making the money, and not a good product.

[@SarzaelX]

To be fair, even back during the age of arcade games, the games were designed to get you to put as many coins in the arcade machine as possible.

[@MythAvatar]

@@SarzaelX Sure, i'm not saying it's new, but that people are much better at it, so the issue is worse.

[@SarzaelX]

@@MythAvatar I agree, but the belief that gaming used to be "for the gamers" and not for profit is just idealised nostalgia. Obviously the conditions for the market have changed and it's easier than ever for scummy games to reach a mass audience through the internet, but there were plenty of equally scummy practises even before that.

[@russl6006]

Baldurs gate 3 is proof there are still studios doing the right thing

[@DibsAtraiyu]

The ebony ads are still running tho. The "this game is real" ads are my most common ad on KZbin right next to the obvious scams. I do love its usually the same 2 gameplay loops voiced over by random"influencers"

[@stickiedmin6508]

It's insane that Evony is still going. I remember, years and years and *_years_* ago, when the worst extent of their deceptive marketing were adverts with scantily clad young ladies (who famously never appeared anywhere in the game). That must have been, what, fifteen years ago?

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Or raid, those poor bastards

[@ArchibaldClumpy]

The ads with the most basic decision of whether to shoot the left barrel or the right barrel, where they have a commentator faking that they're playing an esport and making decisions, are the most pathetic.

[@DibsAtraiyu]

@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat ya. Raid at least had fun commercials... Until there online banner ads/pop up ads kicked in and it was the generic "waifu collector cum bait" ads,lol

[@DibsAtraiyu]

@@ArchibaldClumpy ya. Even better when it's the same gameplay as the other 3 commentator and one of them is very clearly reading a script as he proceeds to be off tempo and either is reacting to soon to things happening or a full second after they did.

[@N1otAn1otherN1ame]

Will be speechless for some time now. Thanks for "pointing this out" so nicely.

[@madlarkin8]

This video needs to become more popular. This is the truth pill that a lot of people need. Only once they understand that they are addicted to a pseudo-game-marketing-tool, can they begin the path to recovery.

[@IamCoalfoot]

Best part about "Let's Go Whaling"? Near the beginning he says "Let's not talk about the ethics-" everyone in the crowd laughs at the hilarity "We can get to that later" followed by more laughter. The hilarity.

[@LightYagami-xl1wz]

They are fully aware what they are doing is evil but they just don’t give a shit. It’s sickening.

[@NobodyssGirl]

Is it evil to take advantage of dumb people

[@daan2377]

@@NobodyssGirl I was wondering the same, if they make an app and some people decide themselves to ("stupidly") spend their money on it, its not their fault for targeting the people they think are dumb enough to do so

[@Organizeeewithlotsofees]

Everyone makes money through some sort of deceit. The difference is in the magnitude.

[@Logan912]

@@OrganizeeewithlotsofeesUm, no. Exchanging money for goods and services where no misleading advertisement is involved isn’t deceitful at all. The stuff that this video is about is practically the same kinds of tricks that con artists use.

[@juzoli]

“Technically legal” just means that the laws are bad. If these don’t count as false advertising, then the legal definition of “false advertising” is completely useless, and needs to be fixed.

[@HeadInTheCloudsPro]

Who do you think is funding the lawmakers...?

[@juzoli]

@@HeadInTheCloudsPro Well, not shitty game companies for sure. Not even big tech (like Google or Facebook) has the lobby power of big oil, big pharma or NRA.

[@eighteen-naked-cowboys]

@@juzoliGoogle, Amazon, Apple still have plenty of lobbying power though, and it's only going to get worse

[@Leyrann]

So what proper definition do you suggest? Because that's the issue. You have to actually _come up_ with a proper definition. And you can't just go "doesn't represent the main content of the product" or something vague like that, because who decides what the main content is? Who decides how much representation is needed? Do you need to represent just the biggest slice of the pie of content, or do you need to represent a bit of every slice? How do you avoid false positives, where advertising is honest but still breaks this law? Etc.

[@juzoli]

@@Leyrann Judge and jury decides. Our justice system is designed to be able to handle when a law is not 100% defined. On the top-top level, we have supreme court exactly to make these decisions, in high profile, or hard to decide cases. And we aren't talking about edge cases, when the advertised content is there, but misleading. In these cases, the advertised content is not there at all, or really tiny and hidden, and not even close to be a significant part of the game.

[@WillemJanWollants]

My man, rarely have I seen someone laying down the truth so effectively and without holding back. Subscribed!

[@dichotomae]

I have spent money on a mobile game. A one time payment of $1.99 to remove ads from my favorite mobile game, forever. SO worth it.

[@AliciaGuitar]

Yes, this is the ONLY way they should be charging. I do not mind supporting reasonable developers. I have a few apps like that and maybe 1 or 2 games. I DESPISE the microtransactions and subscription systems 😡

[@magicmulder]

Or just install an ad blocker.

[@dieseldragon6756]

Just a polite reminder that „forever“ only lasts so long as the Terms and Conditions allow it... 📜⏱😉

[@kvl2420]

@@magicmulder Sometimes that doesn't work. Paying to remove the ads often times also makes it so you can get the rewards from the ads without actually having to watch the ad.

[@wesss9353]

Idle miner tycoon