Hacker News Reader

Many games will allow users to do something advantageous by watching an ad. If they are blocked, then this will not work. I've seen these fail when the device cannot connect to the network or other causes of timeouts, but they are smart enough to know this and not give you the reward.

View on HN

> Many games will allow users to do something advantageous by watching an ad.

That's… horrifying.

Why would you want to play a game that treats you like that? I mean, is it fun? I suppose some people must enjoy window-shopping, and I guess this is like that, but… I just can't imagine hoping to see an advert — it feels really manipulative and sinister.

I play a lot of Japanese escape the room games, which typically involve decoding puzzles and finding tools to use. Most of them offer a hint system where you "pay" by watching an ad. The games are otherwise free, and given how little a dev gets per adview I don't mind supporting them in that way.

Yeah, this is a good thing. I don't mind ads where you get something in exchange for the ad view, but ad supported games that rapaciously shove ads down your throat are not worth my time.

So don't play those games?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com