:cringe: :cringe: :cringe: :cringe: :cringe: WHO THE FUCK APPROVED THIS SHIT MARG BAR CAPITALISM :cringe: :cringe: :cringe: :cringe: :cringe:

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Should be noted that Tinder's also seeing a lot of competition in the Dating App market. So they're pivoting from the Grow Your Base model to the Extract Maximum Revenue From Your Regulars model, before finally falling into decline and neglect.

    Oh and every other app is going to want to get on the gravy train too with this

    I'm sure plenty of apps with brag about how they don't have these features. And Tinder will counter that not having these features is bad because how can you be a sex pest towards your parasocial crush without paying someone to jam your content in their faces?

    In a few years, I'm confident we'll see an Ashley Madison-esque scandal that reveals a bunch of these profiles are completely fake and people have been throwing their money at Chatbots with half-naked women as their avatars.

    • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      There's not really "competition" in the dating app market because pretty much everyone who uses one app uses all the apps at some point. I've gotta believe (at least for my own sanity) that the vast majority of users aren't paying any money to use the apps, but I'm probably wrong unfortunately. There's people who pay for coaches and professionals photos to effectively play a video game that they think will get them a bf/gf. Sad all around.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I’ve gotta believe (at least for my own sanity) that the vast majority of users aren’t paying any money to use the apps

        The goal isn't to get a little buy in from lots of people so much as it is to a lot of buy in from a few people. That's the standard model for Free-2-Play-Pay-2-Win games.

        Chasing the Whale: Examining the ethics of free-to-play games

        My research didn't just focus on triple-A PC games either -- many of Nexon's free-to-play titles came up numerous times. One player told me that he has spent around $3,000 on MapleStory, including dropping a whole $500 in an attempt to create a single weapon in the game. But he says that he is easily one of the lower-end players, and that he regularly talks to people who have spent upwards of $10,000 on the game.

        ...

        Another player I talked to found themselves spending more than $5,000 on a Nexon game called Mabinogi, mainly on cosmetic items. "There were plenty of times when the rent would go unpaid because I had spent the money on the game instead," he says. "However, I don't know if I can blame the game for that. If I hadn't spent the money on Mabinogi, I would have spent it on something else."

        ...

        I also came across numerous far more outlandish stories. One player, who called himself Gladoscc, told me that he used to play a web-based MMO called eRepublik, in which players waged wars against each other. In total, Gladoscc spent more than $30,000 on the game. "The geniusly evil part about eRepublik is that you have to spend money in order to neutralize the enemy's money," he says. "It's spreadsheet PVP, though. The social aspect is what kept me in."

        • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I refuse to believe that anyone has spent more than $100 on dating apps, simply for my own sanity. Any reports of that must be fraud.