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Unlocked! Belatedly, I look at Vampire Survivors, and lament that everything is gambling now, even when the only thing you're wasting is your time:

expzine.comVampire Survivors (poncle, 2022)If there is a vampire here, it is one that drains us of our time, our life, our joy.

LNDFRR

@lndfrr.bsky.social

30 July

great article, and it's nice to see the consensus slowly but surely change for games which any waste your time without meaningful play. though I think it misses the strong influence of mobile games retention-based design in vampire survivors, since that game is basically archero without the IAP.

Mathew Kumar

@mathewkumar.com

Thanks! I guess I could have been clearer that mobile/gatcha is the parallel evolution I was talking about, but the techniques are such in lockstep with modern gambling design that honestly I felt like I would just be getting into the weeds. Really just want designers to interrogate their decisons

30/7/26, 2:45 pm0 reposts2 likes

LNDFRR

@lndfrr.bsky.social

30 July

yeah, I tried and fail to articulate my thoughts about this several times,as it is a much more complex issue than it initially appears. it encompasses games weird historic relationship to gambling, from arcades to lootboxes. tho that seems quaint as Actual Gambling is literally everywhere nowadays