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Comment by silicon2401 | Hacker News Reader

I understand the dislike of ads, but not so much the complaint. Companies are free to insert ads if they want to, and we're free to choose what media we consume. I hate ads and would be glad to see them outlawed like billboards in Vermont, but I don't stress about it. I accept it as a tradeoff for playing certain games, or I do ad-free things like reading old books or exercising.

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>Companies are free to insert ads if they want to, and we're free to choose what media we consume

I'd like to invite you to turn that around. The freedom that we all get to exercise cuts both ways, it is not exclusively for companies to be active and consumers to passively, quietly accept things they dislike.

Citizens are free to complain about ads if they want to, and companies are free to to respond to market pressure by relying on more or less advertisement.

As a company, you might dislike negative consumer feedback, but you should just accept it as a tradeoff for making certain unpopular business decisions, or you should offer ad-free platforms and avoid the problem entirely.

Complaints are not inherently bad. They're just an effective consumer practice.

> Citizens are free to complain about ads if they want to, and companies are free to to respond to market pressure by relying on more or less advertisement.

I agree, but I wasn't commenting at a societal level. I'm saying that at an individual level I see it as a waste of energy to get stressed out about something like ads in video games. There are so many ways to enjoy life, and stress is so bad for health.

I think it's possible to complain without stressing out too much, but perhaps that says something about how much time I've spent complaining on the Internet =)

You see, problem with this is that we don't have a choice. With Oculus Quest, I bought this headset and it didn't had any ads back then. I have to keep it connected to the internet to download and update games but we shouldn't accept state where they can just put ads on my hardware anytime they want.

So it becomes unusable if you don't keep it connected to the internet?

The problem is that I bought a machine and several games and at no point were any ads involved. Only after they money has changed hands, I’m then told that I need to allow ads into my system.

If the same practice was applied with physical goods, it would be a clear bait-and-switch. (And therefore illegal.)

If this behavior is normalized, consumers won't have a choice. That's the problem.

> Companies are free to insert ads if they want to

They shouldn't be.

I'm not against companies doing it. I'm just against me consuming it. This is why I subscribed to netflix instead of hulu.

This is the logical thing, IMO. The fact that people don't even reconsider their consumption is a sign to me that the real issue isn't the ads, it's people not having anything better to do than play VR. I've been playing video games as long as I've been able to read and I'm happy to just go read a book or ride my bike instead if I don't want ads.

same with me...however, what i am annoyed is sometimes ads get in the way of your net activity and sometimes difficult to put it off...

In my mind the limit is, if I paid for it, there should not be ads. I can understand using ads to fund a free service, but when I already paid, why am I paying a second time by watching ads? I mean pi hole sorts many of these problems out, but still.

Also, cars? You get ads in your own car? Wow.

This only works if there are equivalent choices without ads. We know from experience this is rarely the case. Choice is simply an illusion or a fantasy sold to people to placate them into accepting the current paradigm of business ad strategy.

I have a hard time understanding this kind of point of view. Do you not have a choice to just not play VR? Alcohol and other drugs can be fun, yet they're harmful and there's no choice of alcohol without health damage. You just have to choose alcohol and take the health damage or live without alcohol, ditto for VR.

Free to choose how? We can’t know what ads are hidden inside until after we buy

Yeah but you also have to factor in the ecosystem lock in and monopoly factor here.

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