Quote Originally Posted by Bonbori View Post
They are. The normalisation of FOMO does not ethically validate it.

As far as I'm concerned, any incentives that prey on people's impatience/fear of missing out are a glaring indication that the publisher does not trust the product to sell on its own merits. If I worked on that product, I would find it a bit insulting, personally.
I don't know what FOMO stands for.

Not all pre-orders "prey" on anyone's anything. They are just simply bonuses for people who already know they're going to be buying the product. In my case, with ShB, I knew I would be buying it. Knowing that, why would I not take advantage of some bonus loot at no extra cost? If the pre-order cost more, then I might consider taking the "predatory" accusation seriously. This is not a black and white thing.

EA is notorious for predatory behavior. Most of their pre-order things are predatory. But not everyone's is. Saying "all pre-orders are predatory" because some publishers are scummy trash is like saying "all hammers are dangerous" cuz some psycho used a hammer to assault people. It's how it's used.

I've found, over the years, that the people who use the blanket statement of pre-orders being bad, and the reasoning being that they're predatory, tend to be people who lack the self control to avoid being victims of said predatory practices.