Not sure what you mean by that exactly. Could you elaborate on it?
I’m not implying they are trying to save face (any more than they always are) with it. Or distract away from something else, once again, any more than they always are.
Not saying that “Oh no people saw we are doing FOMO we better drop the spider filter” I’m just saying that they are always exploiting people psychologically and it’s funny that a company that always does this is being given a cookie for a spider filter.
You do know that literally every company does this, right? Even your local corner store. They will put Milk at the back in the hopes that you will buy more stuff on the way to the milk.
And again, Blizzard couldnt not ‘capitalize on fomo’ if people just accepted you dont deserve nor need every little item that comes out. FOMO is the definition of a skill issue.
See this is exactly what I mean. 
If FOMO is a skill issue then being scared of spiders in a video game can be dismissed just as equally.
Except one is actual fear that has a physical reaction, such as increased heart rate, heart palpitations and even breakdowns.
The other is just people saying “aw man I want that”.
Might want to read about FOMO then.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/understanding-fomo
Symptoms:
“The phenomenon was first identified in 1996 by marketing strategist Dr. Dan Herman,” is all I need to know.
Its like BOGO. You are not buying one and getting one free, the cost is baked into the first product. Its a marketing buzzword.
Or maybe people exaggerate “FOMO” and they arent actually suffering from the medical condition?
We understand what the health term “FOMO” is.
We deny that people are experiencing that with WoW at any noticeable level.
Hey man, like I said, if you can be dismissive we all can be.
And I would deny the same about arachnophobia. Seems like the discussion is over.
You are equating a marketing buzzword to an actual fear.
And the discussion is mostly over because you never came here to have one.
Your entire engagement with me has been twisting words.
Now remember. If you want to be overly specific about “FOMO” this is what it is described as.
FOMO is specifically about missing out on social connections on social media websites.
That is not about getting drops in a video game.
Fear of missing out (FoMO) is a unique term introduced in 2004 to describe a phenomenon observed on social networking sites. FoMO includes two processes; firstly, perception of missing out, followed up with a compulsive behavior to maintain these social connections
Is your argument that if one does not get a mount, a person is missing out on the social connections on a social networking site?
True but for cases like this its a mix of both. Where people just don’t wanna see folks have something they don’t have and can never get again because that’ll really put a bee in someones bonnet.
Its like when I had pet rats. Context for rat behavior. Sharing is a myth. A rat would drop their treat just because they wanna try and nab the treat their cage buddies have. Which is why a lot of the time if you see some pet rats snacking on stuff together, their backs are to each other. So less nabbing.
I was literally about to type that out lol.
You are correct. Fomo has been coopted by greedy “i want everything” people.
It was never about video games. Cuz guess what, we are missing out on all sorts of stuff in every game.
I, right now, am missing out on getting shiny weapons in the new Onslaught mode in D2, cuz I am not playing it. I do not have any kind of physical reaction to that realization.
But I can tell you, I have a physical reaction any time I see a spider.
That does not sound like the medical definition of FOMO, which is the cornerstone of the person’s complaint.
My response was that people are exaggerating what FOMO means, and I was dismissed, with the medical definition given. So within the context of what the conversation is about, we should only look at the very rigid medical definition.
Ah I stopped paying attention to what Myzrym was saying. My bad.
“If I don’t get CE this season I’m going to be left behind by my guild.” Is a driving factor for plenty of people. It’s across the board with WoW and something they exploit at every turn.
People can be obtuse and contrarian all they want. FOMO goes back beyond 2004 and spans a wide range that certainly isn’t limited to social media networks.
But, as it so happens, MMOs are essentially a social media network.
No, I would cry. I know it’s a weak thing so to speak, to be a grown adult with this issue. But I physically tear up anytime I fight a Worgen or dog like creature, and hear it’s little doggy whimper in games.
Granted, I also hate spiders, they make my skin crawl soooo much.
The ones that got me a lot, were the spider/crab things in Nazjatar, and the Black Widow in Gilneas.
Oh, and that one area in Drustvar.
Which like, while they freak me out, spider/people hybrids like Fal’dorei and Nerubians don’t make me wig out thankfully, just make my stomach uneasy.
So I personally should be fine with the spider filter off, I hope. Because I wanna see it as intended…but like, I’m low key glad it’s an option, lmao
I have to tell you, the FOMO medical definition is not as rigid as you think. They (the academic and medical community) are in the process of re-defining it - to include a number of resource anxieties. It will likely have multiple shades of definition coming up whenever they revise the DSM-V-TR.
We’re seeing (psychologically) an increased fear of FOMO particularly after the pandemic, where masses of people stupid bought a number of resources off store shelves world wide. It’s a phenomenon that also happens frequently when weather forecasters predict massive snow storms and inclement weather and people clear out the bread and milk sections.
Pet products that are currently hard to find, including specialty formulated foods for pets with health issues are currently facing FOMO buyouts, which are driving up prices to stupid heights and holding them there.
There’s some wiggles and niggles whether the FOMO belongs as an inherent impulse problem (neurosis/compulsion) or a straight up socially conditioned/learned anxiety. Classification might go either way. The social aspect actually confounds some of how we study it and the biology/environment behind it. The more we struggle with resource management, the more we expect to see this become a real beast to tackle. Particularly in terms of water and food supply.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. If you wanna learn more, well, you can Google it or I can link stuffs. Whatevs.
That’s pretty cool and amusing.
I won’t use the filter, but I can’t wait to see 2 different kill videos of a spider boss just because someone wanted the crab filter.
Well, if people are phobic enough to not be able to fly in a video game then it stands to reason there are people soo phobic of pixel cartoon spiders that they also cannot play.
I think both are equally ridiculous. We’re not even talking about the real thing. It’s a video game people. If you can’t differentiate between reality and fantasy then you probably shouldn’t be playing in the first place.