I haven't played it and have no intention to. The ARPG community that I've been watching, mostly Path of Exile players, say it's an unmitigated disaster. And that's not because of game play or franchise tribalism or anything it's almost completely centered around the monetization. To say that it's predatory seems to be an understatement.
Correct. I've seen enough videos about it, confirming every single thing people were worried about from the moment it was first revealed. We all knew where it was going, and it absolutely went there at the speed of light. Saying it's predatory does not even come remotely close to what it does. This "game" - for all intent and purposes - is purely and simply a gambling machine online. The fact that it's still only rated at 17+ M for violence and gore also shows that ESRB are still useless at actually rating games in the first place. And rating it at 17+ basically makes it legal for under-age buyers to gamble with real life money. It is despicable, there's no thousand ways to describe it.
On a side note: the actual term used, 'gambling' I think, should be revised due to the way it is implemented in the video gaming industry. It's a term lost in meaning at this point. Some say you NEED to have chances to gain nothing back to make something gambling. And some think that all you need for gambling is a 'hook', an addiction.
To ME, gambling in a video game is anything from one end of the spectrum to the other. This isn't a real life casino, it's a supposed "video game" where whatever form of "addiction" should ONLY be you loving the actual game and coming back to it because it's fun and you love it, that simple. As simple as being "addicted" to watching the same movie for the 100th time because it's that good. But in the case of Diablo Immortal (and so many others like it now) the "addiction" comes from mind trick manipulations and 100% greed from the designers of the game.
People need to understand that Psychologists (whom are supposed to normally HELP people in need when they're not mentally healthy) are actually hired in big companies like that in order to find all sorts of ways to exploit the consumers they're making products for, on purpose of course and it's not only legal; it's desired by them. That, to me, is already beyond predatory. It's pretty much inhuman, unethical and should be criminal and illegal.
So anyway, beyond the actual 'meaning' of the word gambling here, going on with my previous train of thought: there's no official mention that it contains gambling (from ESRB), which of course should be recognized as such - at the very least - by ESRB, as a fair warning (if anything). But in my mind, and having actually known a colleague at a previous job a few years back who came back from gambling addictions - and getting a better, clearer picture of what sort of disaster it can cause in people's lives - means that this "game" should plain and simply be illegal and immediately removed from the Blizzard launcher and entirely reworked and re-released (maybe) at a later date (or, preferably, never).
This is not a video game. It is a 'product' solely designed with the single purpose of sucking your wallet dry while manipulating your mind.
Avoid, at all costs.
diabloimmortal.blizzard.com
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