Microtransactions Are An Accessibility Issue (The Jimquisition)


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Microtransactions are an accessibility issue! Apex Legends and FIFA can get praise for considering disability, but until they stop actively exploiting those with invisible disabilities, they deserve scorn in abundance.

Also, we’re joined by special guest Laura Kate Dale!

17 Comments:

  1. I love how much fun both of you are having on camera in this video, and i love that your doing a whole video on accessability! I think this is my favourite video from you this year 🙂

  2. This feels like a special event. Its impossible to be a long time fan of Steph and not smile the entire time you’re watching this.

  3. Thank You! As someone who has ADHD I can really relate to what you described. And it let me know I am not alone, there are often times I blame myself for the lack of self control and lack of concentration to enjoy things I love. I hope you are doing good.
    And also, you look gorgeous in your outfit.

  4. Speaking as a person with severe ADHD, I have my impulse spending under control….until I get sad, or stressed (light depression and stress disorder, so luckily that never happens, right?), and then, I use money on shit I shouldn’t, and I’m not bankrupt, but I could have used that money to do something nice with my gf that I now no longer have money for. It’s a constant battle.

  5. The visible giddiness of being in the presence of a friend gives me life in addition to the good ol’ bashing of microtransactions =u=

  6. JF makes videos, sometimes.

    A friend has managed to rack up nearly 10k USD debt in Genshin Impact, from just rolling on 3 characters.
    This has caused me to actually do some math to try and figure out just how bad the game actually is, or should I say, can be, since there’s always going to be that one person going “BUT YOU CAN GET A 5 STAR IN A SINGLE PULL!!!!”
    Yes, yes you can, but the game is not designed for that, maybe one person will always get 5 stars every single pull for their entire life, but that one person is not how it’s going to be for the vast majority of people.

    Anyway, to get the maximum performance out of a character you need 7 copies of that character and 5 copies of their weapon, this ignores the possibility of new weapons coming out that are even better for that character but this too is something that will very likely happen as the game progresses.

    To get a single guaranteed copy of a banner character, you need 180 rolls.
    To get a single guaranteed copy of a banner weapon, you need 240 rolls.
    So for 7 guaranteed copies of a banner character, you need 1260 rolls and for 5 guaranteed copies of their weapon you need 1200 rolls.
    Giving us a grand total of 2460 rolls for one single guaranteed max performance character.

    So, what is the price of a roll? The price of one single roll is 160 primogems, and buying the $99 pack gives you 8080 primogems, well technically gives you another currency that converts to primogems, but it’s a 1:1 conversion so it’s still 8080 primogems.
    This means that a single roll has the value of just under 2 dollars.
    So when a single roll is essentially $2 what does that mean for the 2460 rolls necessary to guarantee one max character? Well, it’s simple, it means the cost of one single guaranteed character at their max performance is $4920

    The price of a great condition used car…

  7. I love the trans pride colour shirts!!! That intro was so sweet and Jim Steph, JIM STEPH, I’ve been watching your videos for a few years and I can’t describe how lovely it is to see you so energetic and visibly happy!

  8. In a sentence: *creating a problem and selling the solution, is evil.*
    ‘Skipping the grind’ that THEY PUT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, and selling boosters is the tactic of pure scum.

  9. Every time JSS does a video game industry video, I feel a strong need to take a shower. My god what a shitshow it is. Thank god for both of you!

  10. FOMO is bad enough when you can just buy the product outright and forget about it, but to leverage FOMO on something you could spend a fortune on and still end up empty handed at the end is just SICK. Especially since it’s virtual goods and there is no reason supply is limited other than plain old GREED.

  11. EA’s patent pledge is soooooooo generous…. though I do question how they could patent a system that’s been present in TF2 for over a decade, and Overwatch since release.

  12. You know, a friend of mine has tried to get me to get diagnosed for ADHD, and if he’s right, then the main thing that’s ever stopped me buying microtransactions is pure spite and contempt for the games industry as a whole. It’s safe to say I love video games a whole lot less than you 😛

  13. I’m almost 40 and I remember that when I was a young man, there was a public and healthy discussion in main stream media about the dangers of myself and my peers going into massive personal debt over excessive SMS/MMS and downloadable ringtones. Nowadays, there is nary a trace of said discussion to be found (except in places like these, thank god for James Stephanie Sterling!) while the addiction factor of the hazardous products has shot through the roof tenfold. Back then, the cell phone carriers were not able to suppress the discourse and with the advent of messaging applications and widespread internet access, the danger sort of waned. Nowadays you have the big gaming companies in a market that absolutely dwarfs and shits on even Hollywood, holding all the (parental credit) cards in their hands and giving our youth a head start into harmful and financially damaging behavior.

  14. Hey Steph! In one of your past videos about microtransactions and addiction in the mobile games industry, I left a comment about how the video snapped me out of my worsening mobile gaming addiction. I just kinda threw the comment out there to no one in particular, but I think you ended up liking the comment!
    But what I was saying about how your video stopped my addiction? I haven’t returned, and I am absolutely not exaggerating when I say it was because of you!
    I hope you see this comment, just because I wanted to say thanks.

  15. Keep banging that drum my friend. It is nice to have a voice out there as someone with depression, anxiety ADHD (Diagnosed late as well) and other issues.

    So many games stress me out to hell and back because of these issues. I just want to play. 🙁

  16. Totally different opening than any other jim video, and Jim looks genuinely happy too. Great to see it!

  17. as a dude with multiple diagnoses one of em being add i can relate a lot, i currently got around 300 tabs open and a whole slew of bookmarked movies that i wanna go trough as my brain screams for entertainment but instead i do nothing but rewatch old stuff cause my brain cant hold attention long enough to watch anything new.

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