Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-9890645-20131112205748/@comment-9605025-20131127232528

Optimus2861 wrote: Zacher2005 wrote: BTW hate to say it, but you gusy who have thrown THOUSANDS of dollars on a phone app, well you built this beast. I'm not entirely sure you can blame the players. Games like this are designed to be highly addictive, to be highly manipulative, in order to pull players in deeper & deeper & deeper in pursuit of an elusive goal. They are also designed to exploit the logic in the Prisoners Dilemma - a better group outcome is achieved if everyone cooperates, but the player who acts selfishly gains a better outcome for himself at the expense of the group.

I've said it before, but a firm like Mobage is best compared to a drug pusher. They give away just enough free stuff to get you hooked, so that you'll keep coming back to them for hit after hit after hit. Hasbro has done the Transformers name a great disservice by licensing it to this den of thieves. All true, but ultimately it is the player who decides to buy more. The tactics employed by Mobage are no match for an alert and self-controlled player. Thus, either the foolish spending is due to a lack of awareness on the player's part or the player is intentionally choosing to pay money.