You’re on a gaming forum. You didn’t play video games as a kid?
I did, but you don’t need vbucks to play Fortnite. Also, one thing didn’t keep my attention for long, so I preferred more games when I was a kid. Vbucks just buys skins. And you get free skins just playing the game and free vbucks just playing the game.
So pretty stupid to spend most of the limited money as a kid on skins year after year when it’s pretty much thrown at you so you don’t have to stick to default skins.
You don’t need V-Bucks to play Fortnite, but kids aren’t also known for having fully-developed skills like budgeting and delayed gratification. Perhaps it holds today’s kids’ attention longer because it’s changing in a way that games didn’t when we were kids.
You don’t need vbucks to play the game or any of the modes. When I was little I wanted money to buy games I couldn’t play without money.
And I guess I did understand budgeting since I had to save money to be able to buy games. And also learned pirating to try to further extend my budget when I was little.
I think people underestimate kids and how quickly they catch onto the basic concepts of money and time required to acquire what they want.
Maybe kids are earning vbucks by doing chores?
I too think its pants-on-head retarded to buy skins, but i remember being a kid and only wanting a certain toy because its popular right now. The amount of kids who wanted pokemon cards but didnt know how to play was unreal.
You didn’t learn budgeting in one go. I learned it in part by not being able to afford every video game I wanted. Part of how this generation of kids will learn budgeting is by only having a finite amount of V-Bucks and not being able to get every skin that they want, but they’ll keep playing Fortnite, and they’ll keep seeing new skins they want.
Fortnite Save the World (paid game mode) made a lot of vbucks originally, but the high-payout challenges (300 vbucks/day) are only available to players who owned that mode prior to some time in 2020. Buying STW now gives a one time pack of 1500 vbucks. So the alternative, given that the vast majority of players didn’t buy the game, play for free in Bottle Royale. It takes 4 seasons to gain enough free vbucks in battle Royale to have enough to buy a season pass. It’s 1000 for the pass and typically has 300 free vbucks (100 near the bottom, 200 around level 80). So then you’re talking like 40 hours of play per season, with strong encouragement to play daily for an easy +1 level. The actual skins are typically paywalled behind the battle pass.
Then there’s the shop. Buying separate skins are anywhere from like 500 to 2000 vbucks. If it’s a full season, there’s probably an extra 500 vbucks available if you hit level 150 or so. So now like 60 hours every 2-3 months to get the free 500 to accumulate after the battle pass renewal.
That’s not sustainable. It’s not supposed to be. Skins are nowhere near “affordable” with free bucks. They don’t care if it’s your money or your game time that makes the vbucks because it’s time and/or money taken from other games. So what if it’s their limited money? What exactly did you invest in as a kid? All I put it towards was, effectively, entertainment that didn’t last longer as a skin, be it a game, a toy, or candy. Maybe even less, given that fortnite has been running for what, 9 years?
And no, I really don’t give a shit about any complaints about them just being cosmetic skins. They’re kids. I’m sure you had your brand name demands when you were 12. It’s the same shit. Vans are just shoes. Mongoose is just a bicycle. Air jordans are just shoes. JNCO is just pants. Air Forces are just shoes. Louisville slugger is just a bat. Whatever must-have item it was, it didn’t make either of us professionals at the game or sport. Yet, somehow, it still was the most important thing that week.
The whole discussion started because guy I talked to defended it saying kids want to play games with their friends and I point out vbucks isn’t a requirement to play Fornite and even gives it for free. And they just keep shifting goal posts from there pointing to kids not getting concept of budgeting and so on. They just wanted to defend yhe existence of vbucks.
FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I still play video games. I pay for a game and play it. Paying for skins is stupid. FTP or paid doesn’t matter.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
And we’re all proud of you, but try explaining that to a child.
FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
You literally have to. That’s parenting. Good parenting at least . I bet you’re one of those parents that hands their kids an iPad too.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I’m not a parent, and it’s certainly a strange metric to judge one by whether or not they gave their kid V-Bucks for their birthday, because that’s nearly all of them these days.