Support NeoGAF

[Danjin44]

FOMO (fear of missing out)

I’m not sure exactly the meaning of this, I mean just buy the games you do like don’t buy the games you don’t like.

What exactly this “fear” we are speaking here?

 

[Buki1]

I remember way, way back I had a friend over for coffee. She had to stop at an exact time and log in to Farmville. I questioned her about it since I didn't and don't do FB and she explained it was something she had to do.

My long time friend got addicted to some mobile rpg, he got hundreds of hours on it and joined most powerfull guild in Europe, even met them offline, and on the top he make some money off selling loot online, it wasnt much, but it was making it harder to quit the addiction. But the things he had to do to remain his online position was crazy. He had to raid every fucking 3 hours. He had to go for a bathroom break at work to do it. When he was on the road, he had to stop the car in the middle if nowhere and do that silly raids. But the worst thing was night time - he got alarm clock every three hours to wake him up in the middle of the night to do the dumb guild quest. And it lasted for months. He said it was more tiring than when he had his newborn baby. It made him look older by few years and develop a nervous tick of biting his nails like some crackhead.

He finally stopped only because he got to hospital (not related to game addiction) and was offline for 2 weeks, lost his ranks and got kicked off the guild. Looking back he says this addiction was like alkoholism his father had and would eventually send him to his grave, because constant FOMO and lack of sleep was starting to get on his head.

That shit is no joke and I think we are sleeping over a great danger kids (and adults like my friend too, but it seems most toxic online games are aimed at young people) have this days with all that timed FOMO bullshit in games. Game creators greed will create generation of addicts and break many lives, like every other dangerous addiction there is.

 

[MayauMiao]

FOMO factor is exactly why I don't play games like Destiny anymore. I just want to game and be rewarded at my own leasure time.

 

[Hendrick's]

They've done the math. The money gained from FOMO is more than the money lost from turning off certain gamers.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I understand the argument. I am a collector kind of gamer. But if I am told I can't get everything, i don't even try to play it. This is why I don't play Pokemon, which started the deliberate act of making certain things available in events only. I understand the argument that it helps social events and interactivity with people, but neither are what I play games for.
I do have to thank these free to play games for making it impossible for me to try them. It definitely saves my wallet.

 

[Uiki]

It's the reason why I never started or began Fortnite.

The reason you never started playing fortnite is because of a battle pass?

 

[Naked Lunch]

I’m not sure exactly the meaning of this, I mean just buy the games you do like don’t buy the games you don’t like.

What exactly this “fear” we are speaking here?

hmmm. The OP does a good job of laying out the explanation in depth. But it centers around many modern games' systems that literally force its playerbase to plan their entire real life schedule around to try to advance in these games. Usually within limited timed events that will never pop up again.
The fear of comes from missing your chance to unlock whatever the event's reward is.
Its an absurd practice that needs abolished.

As for buying games - things like Limited Run releasing games in a very limited window for certain times of the year for sale only during certain hours (some selling out in mere minutes) with no re-printings ever. This can be carried to other genres like Graphic Novels with have very low print runs and once theyre gone - theyre gone for good.
The fear here is from not being able to buy the game/book/whatever by normal means ever - outside of a hyper scalped ebay listing - if you arent first in line in that specific window on launch day.

 

[Danjin44]

hmmm. The OP does a good job of laying out the explanation in depth. But it centers around many modern games' systems that literally force its playerbase to plan their entire real life schedule around to try to advance in these games. Usually within limited timed events that will never pop up again.
The fear of comes from missing your chance to unlock whatever the event's reward is.
Its an absurd practice that needs abolished.

As for buying games - things like Limited Run releasing games in a very limited window for certain times of the year for sale only during certain hours (some selling out in mere minutes) with no re-printings ever. This can be carried to other genres like Graphic Novels with have very low print runs and once theyre gone - theyre gone for good.
The fear here is from not being able to buy the game/book/whatever by normal means ever - outside of a hyper scalped ebay listing - if you arent first in line in that specific window on launch day.

For me I don’t play online games so there is nothing I would be missing out here.

One thing I notice is majority of people who want to be there day one is to be part of “conversation” and there fear of “missing out” coming from most of the time.

 

[Ceadeus]

Totally agree with you Op. This shit needs to stop but it won't unfortunately

 

[laynelane]

My long time friend got addicted to some mobile rpg, he got hundreds of hours on it and joined most powerfull guild in Europe, even met them offline, and on the top he make some money off selling loot online, it wasnt much, but it was making it harder to quit the addiction. But the things he had to do to remain his online position was crazy. He had to raid every fucking 3 hours. He had to go for a bathroom break at work to do it. When he was on the road, he had to stop the car in the middle if nowhere and do that silly raids. But the worst thing was night time - he got alarm clock every three hours to wake him up in the middle of the night to do the dumb guild quest. And it lasted for months. He said it was more tiring than when he had his newborn baby. It made him look older by few years and develop a nervous tick of biting his nails like some crackhead.

He finally stopped only because he got to hospital (not related to game addiction) and was offline for 2 weeks, lost his ranks and got kicked off the guild. Looking back he says this addiction was like alkoholism his father had and would eventually send him to his grave, because constant FOMO and lack of sleep was starting to get on his head.

That shit is no joke and I think we are sleeping over a great danger kids (and adults like my friend too, but it seems most toxic online games are aimed at young people) have this days with all that timed FOMO bullshit in games. Game creators greed will create generation of addicts and break many lives, like every other dangerous addiction there is.

After all that work he was doing, being offline for just two weeks caused him to lose his rank and guild position? That's terrible, not to mention all he had to do to keep up in the first place. I'm glad he got out of it, though, and realized it was an addiction. It sounds like a nightmare. To think games can become and are still becoming that. I've felt for a long time that it's going to require government regulation to make a dent in this issue. By creating this kind of addictive loop through things like FOMO, certain game companies have already proven they are unable to act in a responsible manner towards their own customer base. But, as you say, the problem is being slept on and it's extremely frustrating to see.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

The main reason I hate it is all the extra screens you get at the start of games these days, stomping onto your TV with far too much noise and bluster so you “don’t miss out!”

Literally couldn’t be less interested, I just want to play the game in the least committed way possible, go away.

I actually find myself annoyingly grunting at the game as a hammer B to clear all that crap from my screen so I can just play the damn game!

 

[grfunkulus]

FOMO and the idea of being forced to play when I didn't want to is the reason I stopped playing both Destiny 2 and Genshin Impact. Strangely enough, Destiny 2 was the worst out of those two. Some of the weapon unlock goals in that game were insane. I wasted a ton of time trying to get a seasonal multiplayer weapon before a season reset and all my progress would be lost, but it still wasn't enough. All my progress was deleted with the new season, and I was done with that game forever.

Curious to hear what specific gun it was?

 

[LegendOfKage]

Curious to hear what specific gun it was?

I don't remember. I found the post where I ranted about it, but I didn't mention the specific gun there either. It was whatever the crucible weapon was before the mountaintop took its place. Here's the post where I first complained:


New pinnacle weapons have been announced for the upcoming season, and I think they're having the averse effect of pushing me away from the game. Seasons in general are making me rethink my time with Destiny.

After playing loads of PVP (close to more than I wanted to, really) I still have a lot more progress to accomplish before I'd unlock the current pinnacle crucible weapon. I didn't realize it when I started the quest, but I essentially only had three months to "prestige" five times in Destiny 2 PVP. That is, reset my rank and start from the beginning, and do that five times. Now all that progress is about to be taken from me, and I think I'm just done.

Destiny is a fine hobby, but it's a bit more demanding than I want from a product that I paid for. I completed so many other quest steps, and now it's all just going to be gone because I wanted to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and Black Ops 4. Meanwhile, there are other games I'd like to play as well, and it downright angers me that I can't just play Destiny 2 when I want to play it, and reach every goal at my own pace.

That the rewards associated with seasonal quests are some of the most effective weapons in the game sours me on the experience even more. I'm done, and I'll remember this when Destiny 3 launches, if they continue this nonsense of resetting your progress for certain goals because you dare want to play other games.



That was years ago, and I still haven't touched the game since. Between seasonal garbage and "sunsetting" content that you paid for, they lost a fair bit of money from all the expansions I would have likely bought if it wasn't for this crap. I'm glad they finally committed to stop vaulting content, but if I still can't get anything in the game at my own pace, I'm still never coming back.