• ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    If you search for “poker” on PEGI’s site, it seems that many games which are actually about simulated gambling are rated 12 or 16. They seem to think Balatro is more likely to expose children to realistic gambling than, say, Prominence Poker or Pure Hold’em World Poker Championship, which seems completely bizarre, given that those games are about playing poker and Balatro is a fancy kind of solitaire with no betting.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      The pathetic thing is games of the ilk of balatro and luck be a landlord (also OG peggle) are actually the kind of game that plays with your gambling impulses but in a healthy and fun way, these games should be celebrated for subverting the language of gambling to make something beautiful, how pathetic to have so little actual understanding of video games and yet have this kind of power to impact the industry.

      • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        13 hours ago

        I’ve always suspected I might be susceptible to gambling addiction so I stay out of casinos.

        Instead, I go to the arcade. Which is like a low stakes child casino. Win a bunch of tickets and then either buy something stupid with them, or, just straight give them to some kid.

        My point being, we’ve specifically constructed casino-like facilities for children and it’s regularly accepted, so why should Balatro be different?

      • prole
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        21 hours ago

        Yeah how dare you pay $9.99 one time to gamble all you want! If you’re gonna get those dopamine hits, you better be spending real money at the tables!

        • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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          9 hours ago

          I want to see someone take an actual slot machine rip out all the evil bits and replace it with a computer running Luck Be A Landlord with custom flashing lights for when you win, the slot machine lever and all that stuff.

          It would be pretty awesome