Rewards you neither own or really care about beyond it being a carrot. Ask yourself, are you really going to use all of these mounts and transmogs? Do you think anyone really cares or is judging you? People you do not know and have zero impact on who you are?
FOMO is pure marketing and emotional manipulation.
what puzzles me is how people can see how artificial and pointless it is… and still be susceptible to and bothered by it
It’s also a fundamental part of our logical process and it can be used for good or bad.
If FOMO motivates me to put in effort to earn x achievement, it’s a good thing.
If FOMO forces me to feel obligated to play the game in an unhealthy way, it’s a bad thing. (Clarifying I’m not removing personal agency in all this. FOMO is an entirely internal process and it’s up to us to manage it)
Having an overarching goal to earn elite over the entire course of a PvP season is healthy. My FOMO drives me to achieve this to earn the time sensitive reward.
Feeling like I have to log in every hour to perform x chore to remain competitive is unhealthy.
I believe the FOMO presence in something like PvE / PvE seasons, or the mage tower, is perfectly healthy
“Emotional manipulation”
You have a legitimate mental issue
I won’t disagree with that. I do believe that the inflation that occurred brought players who normally wouldn’t have reached Gladiator due to, I don’t know, lack of skill or patience for it.
That’s the central issue for me.
You say that someone getting an item in an old season demonstrates that they mastered the character at that time, learned everything they could, and then were rewarded.
Okay, fair enough, I agreed with that before.
If someone does the same thing today, it won’t be the same experience as back then. I understand that, but without wanting to sound insistent, or just saying this to disagree out of stubbornness – that’s what’s some call “elitist”.
Why? Because it’s like saying that today’s players are worse or not as…“good” as the players from that time.
The only part i can agree about is the inflation, other than that… it’s really elitist and unfair to say something like that.
If that’s the case… I could think about the following:
Season 1 of… let’s say… WoLK, was different from Season 3 of the same expansion… so whoever got glad in Season 1 was “better” than those who got it in Season 3 because DKs were broken in Season 1 of that time and they fixed them in Season 3… (I wasn’t there, this is all just an example).
In other words, if I got glad today, got a token and bought the DK set from Season 1 of WoLK… does that mean I deserved it because nowadays DKs aren’t as broken as they were that time?
In my view, effort is effort, no matter the time.
specs’ relative power to each other
this is a problem in every xpac so…it’s not a thing that can prevent anyone to earn old things IF matched with the same rank.
the meta
And the META here counts exactly as I said. In Season 1 of WoLK, DKs were meta, but nowadays they’re not. Does that mean that today’s DKs are better than the DKs from that time because the class is less broken? These are very, very different times, the comparison couldn’t even exist here.
So effort is effort, if someone reached 1800 today, they could have a token to buy an elite set, yes, their effort TODAY was based on today’s rules, and not giving credit for that is unfair (elitist).
You might argue that there wasn’t the SS back then, so the token could be for 2x or 3x, no problem, I argue that there should be some fair way to obtain this.
I’m still waiting for one of these types to explain why.
Every single time I’ve seem them post it’s fomo is “predatory”, “manipulative”, apparently now it’s also “emotionally manipulative”. There’s never any elaboration, or how or why it’s these things.
It’s just. The entire player-made concept of FOMO is apparently the business’s fault, and it’s the business who are insert negative buzzword here.
How, why? silence.
via chat gpt :
FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is a strategy used by gaming companies (and other industries as well) to create a sense of urgency and psychological pressure on players, encouraging them to act quickly so as not to miss out on an exclusive opportunity or reward. Here are some reasons why FOMO is considered a predatory tactic:
Psychological pressure: FOMO exploits people’s fears and anxieties, making them feel like they need to act immediately to avoid missing out on something valuable. This can lead players to make impulsive decisions and spend more time and money in the game than they intended.
Artificial exclusivity: By creating time-limited events or items, gaming companies generate a sense of exclusivity around these contents. Players may feel compelled to participate or acquire these exclusive items, even if they’re not really interested in them, simply to avoid missing out on the opportunity.
Monetization: FOMO is often used as a monetization tool, incentivizing players to purchase item packs or premium subscriptions to access exclusive content or special benefits during limited-time events.
Impact on mental health: The constant fear of missing out can lead to feelings of stress, anxiety, and inadequacy among players. This can negatively affect their mental health and overall well-being.
In summary, FOMO is considered predatory because it exploits players’ emotional vulnerabilities to encourage engagement and excessive spending in the game, often at the expense of their mental and financial health.
now, a scientifc page about this :
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019188692400117X
FOMO is self inflicted
I don’t need anyone to link me ChatGPT or an article on FOMO 
What I’m saying is that I expect people to be capable of depending their opinions and the statements they make.
I’m discussing FOMO. I’m quite aware of what it is and how gaming companies use it.
My argument is the claims that these seasonal rewards are unhealthy or predatory are blatantly wrong, and the product of a false sense of entitlement. For those who disagree, disagree like a person, and not a child. Although I’m quite confident those who take this stance will not demonstrate the ability to defend it. After all, it’s difficult to defend an irrational stance. This is also targeted at some of the other members who consistently discuss FOMO across multiple threads and make the same boring statements time and time again.
lol its a bunch of virtual stuff.
If you really have anxiety over it you should seek a doctor or just grown up and accept you can’t have everything, there is always something more important than playing a video game.
Agreed 100%
Someone proceeds to explain why.
Troll gotta troll
They linked a ChatGPT definition. That has nothing to do with what I’m talking about here.
Imagine being so blinded by confirmation bias you’d actually think this way.
Feel free at any time to actually make an effort to explain your position, though!
Yeah, we definitely agree on that one
which works both ways? besides, it’s like someone saying… I missed out on the rotary phone.
Also goes without saying that acting like our own head-canon constitutes objective proof is… silly
Totally using a mix of Naxx gear and the remake cause sadly I originally deleted my old naxx stuff to make way for other gear before xmog
FOMO achievements I am okay with, but not rewards such as mounts, titles, or transmogs.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but at least in my case, FOMO is something I would have to do to myself. For the most part, I refuse to participate.
If I enjoy an activity, I do it. If not, I don’t.
Well, conversations involving FOMO typically need to start with this:
FOMO is self-imposed.
When that’s out of the way, you can discuss game design, and what sorts of designs are more likely to impose fomo on its playerbase than others.
Mobile games are exceedingly reliant on FOMO. They want to force people to login multiple times a day to build a habit that then makes them more likely to spend money. This can be predatory, as it almost manipulates you into playing more than you might like in the interest of remaining competitive with your peers.
FOMO is 100% a player-instilled feeling, but there are types of designs that are more and less likely to cause it. Both are true.
When I address that, and then try to set reasonable standards so as to differentiate what is predatory FOMO vs what is just normal and/or healthy FOMO, I’m doing so to establish a logical framework. One that can be used to make a determination, such as “based on these measurements I use to determine what’s okay and what’s not okay, seasonal rewards earned from PVE & pvp are perfectly fine, and aren’t predatory as some of these GD forum-goers would claim them to be”
If ya can’t earn em, ya don’t deserve em. Sorry!
The disconcerting thing about these threads always ends up being the sheer amount of people who cheer on predatory marketing/business practices.