oh good catch — as brutalist says it did not invent the concept, but it certainly was a popularizer & one of the first examples to work at the scale of millennia of human history
The “sports betting is bad” argument is only like a month old and is already so exhausting. Alcohol is bad. Gambling in a casino, on lottery tickets, or on racehorses is bad. Smoking is bad. There are tons of (both old and young, male and female) alcohol, gambling, and smoking addicts in America. Yet somehow all these things are still legal. If you’re susceptible to addictive behaviors then there are numerous resources available for you to access. If you don’t like the idea of sports betting and prefer to casually enjoy sports then just … ignore the ads. If someone wants to spend their money on sports betting they should be free to do so. If a sports betting company wants to advertise to a segment of the population that disproportionately consumes sports content then it should be free to do so. I don’t understand why people are singling out sports betting as if it is somehow more evil than all the already-legalized vices in America.
Hi Arlen! Totally agree that moralizing about people’s behaviors and striving for prohibition of vices is unproductive and not effective. Just want to point out that nowhere in my section do I criticize the *people* who enjoy sports betting; instead, I’m criticizing the policy and multi-billion dollar business models that rely on thoughtless promotion of betting products to (mostly) young men and poor people.
I probably would be in favor of forcing tobacco products to be sold in gruesome boxes with photos of tumors (like they do in many other places in the world), or to have more stringent ID checks for young people consuming alcohol. Again, the criticism is of the companies and book makers who profit off of addictive behaviors.
I honestly don't know! It's a good question. Maybe the policy remedy would be something like banning *advertising* for sports betting apps? Or regulating the kinds of ads that can be aired?
Closest analogy for the problem I can think of is maybe the whole story about Purdue Pharma's massive promotion of Oxycontin in the late 90s/early 00s based on flawed research that convinced the FDA to approve false claims about the drug's "extended release" capabilities. Closest analogies for the solutions I can think of are (a) Biden admin banning menthol cigarettes, which disproportionately cause cancer among Black people; or (b) limiting Juul's ability to sell candy-flavored vapes (not explicitly targeted to kids but cmon).
Did Civ originate the tech tree idea? Didn't most RTS games have an equivalent?
Credit widely goes to the precursor board game Civilization, released in 1980.
https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/civilization/feature/civilization-history-sid-meier-francis-tresham
oh good catch — as brutalist says it did not invent the concept, but it certainly was a popularizer & one of the first examples to work at the scale of millennia of human history
The “sports betting is bad” argument is only like a month old and is already so exhausting. Alcohol is bad. Gambling in a casino, on lottery tickets, or on racehorses is bad. Smoking is bad. There are tons of (both old and young, male and female) alcohol, gambling, and smoking addicts in America. Yet somehow all these things are still legal. If you’re susceptible to addictive behaviors then there are numerous resources available for you to access. If you don’t like the idea of sports betting and prefer to casually enjoy sports then just … ignore the ads. If someone wants to spend their money on sports betting they should be free to do so. If a sports betting company wants to advertise to a segment of the population that disproportionately consumes sports content then it should be free to do so. I don’t understand why people are singling out sports betting as if it is somehow more evil than all the already-legalized vices in America.
Hi Arlen! Totally agree that moralizing about people’s behaviors and striving for prohibition of vices is unproductive and not effective. Just want to point out that nowhere in my section do I criticize the *people* who enjoy sports betting; instead, I’m criticizing the policy and multi-billion dollar business models that rely on thoughtless promotion of betting products to (mostly) young men and poor people.
I probably would be in favor of forcing tobacco products to be sold in gruesome boxes with photos of tumors (like they do in many other places in the world), or to have more stringent ID checks for young people consuming alcohol. Again, the criticism is of the companies and book makers who profit off of addictive behaviors.
i appreciate this response. any ideas about what the analogous appropriate messaging would be for gambling?
I honestly don't know! It's a good question. Maybe the policy remedy would be something like banning *advertising* for sports betting apps? Or regulating the kinds of ads that can be aired?
Closest analogy for the problem I can think of is maybe the whole story about Purdue Pharma's massive promotion of Oxycontin in the late 90s/early 00s based on flawed research that convinced the FDA to approve false claims about the drug's "extended release" capabilities. Closest analogies for the solutions I can think of are (a) Biden admin banning menthol cigarettes, which disproportionately cause cancer among Black people; or (b) limiting Juul's ability to sell candy-flavored vapes (not explicitly targeted to kids but cmon).