That's how they get you to download it. They show it being played absolutely terribly and the 4th or 5th time you see thead and the obvious mistakes and you're like I'll show you how to fucking do it, and you download it and it's fucking Farmville dressed different and the ad was only showing a sidegame you get to access exactly once.
this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2025
46 points (92.6% liked)
Showerthoughts
37933 readers
569 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
9 times outta 10, the game they show in the ad isnt even the same game you end up downloading from the link.
They use that trick to see which game interests people. That game ad you clicked on isn't a real game, but might be if lots of people try to download it. It's cheap to do an ad, expensive to make a game...
It's amazing how fast the gaming industry went from "let's make an even more incredible game" to dark patterns and shit like this.
I don't think you can compare scam mobile game ads to the actual game development industry
I dunno', with EA/Ubisoft et. al. going to 50 DLCs and never releasing a single unique idea EVER, I think it's fair to say of everything but the indie space.
Going by revenue, that IS the actual mobile game development industry
When this happens, I make it a point to one-star review.
A sternly-worded letter
I'm pretty sure that's how a lot of YouTube game previewers sell themselves to publishers. "Look how badly I can repeatedly play games, I'll do a 1 off and never bother to learn any of the mechanics, and my viewers will need to purchase it themselves to see how it's actually 'meant to be played'"
I got suckered 3 or 4 times by northernlion back in the day before I caught on.
I don't get it? Are you saying NL is playing these promo games badly on purpose?
I never got that impression, more that he didn't care about learning the mechanics because its a job; done is better than perfect.
It's like in those shitty kitchenware commercials where it starts with someone opening a cabinet and all the things immediately come flying out at them.
And the answer to the next question is always: No, you don't want to download it.
They're intentionally easy questions because ego stroking is a tried and true way to farm engagement. Like those old ads that went like:
99% of MIT students got this question WRONG! can YOU do better?
3 + 8 / 2 = ?