Preach Reacts to 'Let's go Whaling' - Monetization Conference 

If you have to say “Let’s leave the morality out of this” it’s probably pretty fucking immoral

An interesting thing to note is that bit about Bartle Types. Because you notice he doesn't really go into how to monetize the 'Explorer' group. That's not by accident- the explorer type of content- story and exploring open worlds and experiences, are very difficult to monetize compared to the other types. Not impossible, but not really worth the effort. So when you see developers or even (sponsored) content creators proselytizing about how story is unnecessary in a game and all that matters is the gameplay, the tone of such a statement suddenly shifts. Now you have to wonder if that's a genuine opinion or just game developers (and their mouthpieces) making an excuse to minimize the part of their games that produce the least revenue.

If you're in the US please be aware of Report FTC. We need to bring legal and political attention to this.

Yeah... remember how Blizzard did anchoring for the transfer of classic characters for $30 and then people got mad and they lowered the price? Funny that.

This is called Neuromarketing, the part he said about how fast it takes your rational mind to kick in is really important you can very skillfully design websites and all sorts of things to get people to buy b4 their rationality kicks in.

I will say, some of the tricks mentioned in this video do have beneficial uses. Modelling your community to incentivize desirable behaviors utilizes a lot of similar techniques. Commendations helping to label other players as helpful people. The first-time bonus FF uses for sprouts pushes people to include other new people and 'spread' the game to include more newbies. Even the mentor crown, for all its woes, is a manipulation to try and foster a supportive community.

And then you see people defending this, "Just enjoy the game maan", "It's not pay to win, it's pay for convience". It's designed to be manipulating, that's the reason why people hate it.

This is half of the equation, the other half is that we as gamers are longing for some persistent, shared-space, seemingly long-term experiences where the 'game' is hard to solve (in mobile's case, it will never be solved). This model keeps us hooked by robbing us of what was once commonplace: the closure of a gaming experience.

Just think that these companies have had another 6 years to further refine these tactics

The thing is, some of these points are not inherently evil things, it is just how they are using them. If they applied some of these to in-game systems like having to work for gear and create items and such you will be more attached to it then if you just randomly got it.

"Is this all rich campbell" no preach, it's all tectone

other channels exposing a specific game’s predatory practices - good. this channel taking it up to the meta level and exposing the process and psychology that drives it - brilliant. well done.

I quit my last job because of this. I was working for a mobile game company as player support, and the blatant scummy monetization methods just got to me and I had to leave. One example is when players pull from a gatcha is that they make the game crash so you don't see what you get, and then they replace it with trash pulls and some times you don't get your pulls at all, this is premium currency that you pay for with real world cash BTW.

I've seen exerpts from this presentation before, and that alone was vomit inducing... but what Mike says at 1:20 is very true: It helps to know the tricks that are being employed. Knowing the Trick behind the illusionist helps dispel the magic and the glamour around it. And once you understand the mechanics of your own brain you can take steps against the exploitation, whether you are able to "just stop" or seek assistance to help you stop compulsive spending. And if and when you do seek help: Don't be ashamed! It is the Explioters' fault not yours.

Preach, it's in the name! Retainers are to make your retention better and keep you in game.

they should literally make every US Congress member watch this

Any questions? -Yeah, how do you sleep at night?

"And this is how liberty ends...with thunderous applause."

1:50 He even puts the Iron Maiden Number of the Beast devil in the slide, lol

i like how he talks about this stuff as if its not completely evil and exploitative.

Labeling Technique is used in so many P2W games, that’s call VIP level. There’s a game where they even assign dedicated Customer reps to VIPs.

Things like this are why I'm deeply suspicious of people who say they want to put public services in the hands of for-profit enterprises.

First time seeing this... The only game I want to play is just something I only have to buy once ever

Diablo Immortal devs must have been taking a lot of notes in that seminar XD

Seen this 'presentation' a few times now, and it gets a bit more disgusting every time. This guy, Torulf Jernström, doesn't seem to care how low he has to stoop to exploit other human beings, as long as he makes some cash from it.

The art of turning people into data.

Weeeell shiiiet... I knew I recognized that accent. Not a good look on us Swedish-speaking Finns for this guy to represent us.

4:20 - Ahh the Lost Ark defence... It might be P2W, but its not that P2W! In fact, P2W only matters in PvP now, so it's not really P2W at all!

When I started this video I didn't feel sick.

This is why you should always stop and think before making any purchase in a game.

this reminds me of those of tobacco companies plotting to addict kids, if i had to title the speach id call it how to make a mess that no on wants to play.

So true Evil but extremly effective

Reminds me of kids and cigarettes here in the states in the 80s and 90s

The link to the "original video" is a completely different video..

24:35 - I think he just died a little inside right there! 🤣🤣🤣☠️

I said "bread and water" too. We're built different together, Mike.

Know your enemy

There's a certain space game out there that not only caters to all 4 Bartles, it also has fans of the game will justify the spending way more than the developers do and actively recruit new whales...I mean, players for the game!

I thought water too...

I need to take a shower now

I need a shower after listening to this

This is literally just a tutorial for companies.

The worst part of this is the constant lip smacking! Am I right!? 🤣 But honestly. Disgusting. “Your saying the quiet part out loud” comes to mind. Not even trying to hide how predatory this shit is

This is the reason why I avoid any mobile game and the late ''Live service, TOTALLY OPTIONAL purchases in-game store'' crap. They are literally designed to manipulate to bankrupt you.

I love that some of his chat brings up that FF14 does this as well, in order to bait some sort of argument. Like yea every game can do this to an extent, but there are some really obvious and criminal offenders of this shit.

Did this man literally just compare his players to the skinner box experiment lmao

Yeah but Trading cards, can be trading for money or other cards, they have value, your diablo account belongs to Blizzard, no matter how much you spend and they can close it any time they want and for any reason.

And that's how I was got majes me sick

What I'm seeing is a conman showing the secrets of his trade to potential conmen

"Bread and water" because your brain is wired to think like Vanilla wow. Need bread and water to recover between battles!

Plankton? I might fall into the cyanobacteria category… lol

Stopped Asmon's react to the same video half way through. Swapped to this one, watched from the start, and likely still finished sooner then I would have finishing Asmons.

Totalbiscuit is slowly seeping into Mike he's seeing the monster that is the industry more clearly

If THAT is from Sweden then Sweden is ashamed.. We are deeply sorry for this. If that is from Finland. .well we are still sorry.

if there is ever a lawsuit against predatory MTX in the US. This video in court would be hilarious.

Any good salesman knows these tricks, the problem is the disgusting level to which they're applied in these games! It's absolutely unforgivable. If we see such practices in "regular" commerce, we don't blink twice before moving on to the next store. Sadly too many ppl pay for these games to keep the practice going.

Sad reality we live in... Sadly ppl like us that throw up watching this.. we are less than 1% of the target audience of those mobile games. And ive seen clueless people all over the world actually thinking this is normal.. and Diablo Immortal is the best game ever.

I understand the need to understand these types of mechanics to make it easier to spot them and avoid them but everytime I've seen this presentation (a few times now) or others like it I come away from them feeling like I need to take a bath in bleach.

Part of the reason C&C Rivals was a failure was because it was among the most skilled based mobile games ever made. The Whales got absolutely roasted. The devs accidentally made a really good game.

I don't get why so many people act revolted or shocked when every business ever does this. Your local super market mindgames the shit out of you. Any decent store offline or online mindgames the shit out of you to get that little bit extra. Every %off sale is meticulously calculated and timed to generate maximum revenue. This is literally just how business works. Gaming was generally just not affected by it too much because it wasn't as commercialized when it was still the nerds club but now (as in the last 10 years) it makes big bank and all the marketeers start rushing in.

Why is my butt suddenly so sore!?!

Granted, This man may be distasteful. He is talking to an audience though and I'd venture to say that no matter how awful what he says is, it's the people in the audience who think it's a good idea, which is waaaay worse. By the looks of it Blizzard was in full attendance, latest news and what not, but in reality, it's every FtP game. This old ass video needs more views, especially by mainstream media, hopefully you watching it will spark more circulation. Thank you for watching it.

I dont understand. This presentation made the rounds several years ago. Why are people only now freaking out over it? It was so blatantly craven back then I just don't see how it hasn't been used as proof to shut this crap down everywhere

I feel like the sad part is that the tricks and manipulation being used aren't some big secret. You just have a massive number of people who believe they're above such things (Marketing doesn't work on ME! I'm too SMART for that!) and that people who get abused by such practices are weak-willed suckers who deserve what they get. People love to rationalize the extent to which they don't think they're rationalizing. True whales like to believe their wealth and power puts them above the crowd, and the hardcore people providing them the audience to be lorded over like to believe they're somehow winning because they've bought in to the idea that if somebody pays $1000 for something you mindlessly grinded for 50 hours, you just got great value from your time. The reality is that for that whale the $1000 might have been nothing, an hour or two of their time at most, and they're laughing at your loser ass that slaved away for 50 hours for something that was trivial for them, because that proves to them how much more successful and better they are than you. You aren't the winner here, you're literally feeding them their power trip. The game company has tricked you into eating shit and convinced you that you like it, then put you on display for rich people to laugh at. The whale wins because it shows the gamiing industry how important they are and drives them to cater to their needs. The game company wins because they make crazy profits that take much less effort and resources than actually producing top quality games. You lose because you're no longer the target audience - you've ceded that to rich assholes. And the worst losers are the ones who can't actually afford to be whales but are addicted and feel the need to compete anyways no matter the cost. You either pay for content, or you are the content.

The presentation should be titled, "How to Manipulate Gamers".

i can't believe there's people in chat defending genshin impact, goes to show how bad this shit hooks people. i hope yall find help soon

Pokemon Go is pay to win too don't get me wrong but they at least made a game and give non payers catchups. You can't compete with the whales but you can at least play with them.

These are some really advanced and well thought manipulation techniques. They hire fucking casino directors to guide them how to make addictive gambling mechanisms in their games. And don't you dare say to me shit like 'i'm resistant to this, i'll never buy these egregious mtx'. Zizaran said it well - people aren't capable of following a simple fucking POE build guide, so he doesn't expect them to be resistant to such advanced manipulation techniques.

How can guys like this justify their actions? I couldn't bring myself to design something like this wtf, I would rather quit my job. I would feel so much shame.

This is why bad people make the most money

why does this chat continue say he is finnish?! XDXD ... could people not at least try to learn about other cultures or languages? a name like "Torulf Jernström" is as Swedish as the company Ikea is xD ... if he was a Finn his name may more likely be "Tooru Jernnalainen" or whatever :D half of the finnish population couldnt even pronounce his last name with 5 consonants in a row without vowels, that not how Finnish works. even the borrowed english word "stress", stressi, is mostly pronounced only 'ressi' cuz 3 consonants in a row are 2 too many :D .. besides that, just listen him talk, his accent is obviously more swedish than finnish

im so disgusted but i watched for like what preach said knowing what they are thinking

So. Disgustingly. Predatory.

It was Genshin that really woke me up to how absolutely insane this money spending in these phone games has become. The fact that Genshin has been allowed to run rampant like it has, absolutely blows my mind. Not only are each and every character insufferably expensive, they also hit you with massive FOMO where every 5 star/good characters are limited, and often takes a full year before showing up again. They also give you such a tiny amount of premium currency that you have to skip several character banners in hopes you can get a single one of them. And the majority (if not all) of the best weapon are also locked behind the gacha, effectively making it pay2win. But of course, the pay2win aspect of it is dismissed because the game is beatable with the lower tier weapons and characters, and that you can technically get it for free. But rolling on weapon banners and character banners uses the same currency, so you can't really do both because of how starved you are for premium currency.

The face of evil..man marketing people Are evil after all..oof.

Not predatory btw

See, this is why I actually watch you. This is the opposite of something I'd see from Asmon or Rich. I only occasionally watch allcraft just to watch you shit all over them for being idiots and otherwise keep away from them.

Ikea is not shit. Who hurt this guy lol. I've had my furniture from IKEA for 4 years now and it's never once broken down. Good value for less money. But I suppose that goes against this guy's ideals to charge more. Anyway this is why I will never pay for anything on mobile games for my kids. Ever.

As gacha player i laugh at people that roll gacha for gameplay

He said he didn't know of an example of "Labeling" in games, but that it should work. I actually think we have 2 examples of this working in WoW and FF14. FF14 is known for having a nicer community, and on average I would say I encounter significantly less rude/toxic people there (not none, just less.) Granted the fact that FF14 actually moderates their game probably also factors into it, but there's clearly a difference between them and the WoW community. The WoW community (especially in M+ and raids) is far more likely to be shitty, rude, bail on groups, or otherwise toxic. Again, the fact that there's basically no moderation in the game likely contributes to this, but I think the game's reputation as a toxic dump encourages people to feel more comfortable acting shitty towards each other.

This guy, who teaches companies how to harpy on people, he should be arrested, together with any company using the things he teaches. Or all their money and property taken away from them.

Ikea is SHIT, unlike my mobile game which is a work of fine art

1. This is why free to play should always scare you. 2. This type of stuff is happening because games have largely not changed prices for 20+ years. Inflation has went up significantly in that time. So if you are someone that balks at a box price higher than say $60 usd, this is the game industry trying to do what businesses need to do to survive. Generate more profit to counter inflation and grow

i cant even watch. the whole presentation makes me sick. this is why i dont buy anything online. only giveaways. i know thats a marketing ploy but i stop it after free stuff, i dont go out and buy more after i got something free

Honestly, I don't blame this guy who's just doing his job and discussing how these things work. He's probably not a gamer himself. I find the fact that we don't regulate it to be the most disgusting part, same with how poorly regulated some gambling is.

dude.. this is a CONFERENCE of people whose work it is to MAKE games to MAKE money --- OBVIOUSLY THEY CLAP AFTER A GOOD TEACHING SESSION! -.- .... but all he said is nothing new, u get EXACTLY that content at any training event of every job in the economic sector ... be it selling clothes in a boutique, working at a gas station, even supermarkets or discounters, or whatever job/company is part of a big corporate group. those will regularily demand all of their employees to attend such training courses. its common standard, you just have to learn yourself to apply those tactics in your own job cuz we all need food clothes and shelter like a roof current and heating, and the providers of all these things _do_ employ those methods, its as unavoidable as breathing oxygen. therefore u _must_ do the same to break even or die decrepit and poor... reality is as it is, to yell "disgusting" is just naive and delusional. .. but if u ask for any method of avoiding that: we had a form of society in which those things wont ever happen, sadly it was not carried out like the inventor had envisioned it .. so it went into the shitter. but if people werent selfish _(wow, the same source that causes the existing problems..so maybe it_ *is* _unavoidable :S )_ and had listened better to Mr. Marx, *_Communism_* would have been a solution preventing all those predatory schemes.

I dont get why people are upset. Like, are people actually shocked that a business, whose purpose is to generate earnings for their owners, wants to earn money?