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How are collectible card "grading services" not a scam? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/boardgames@sopuli.xyz
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I know this is about trading card games and not board games, but I would say they're very close in principle, considering the complexity of games like Magic. I recently discovered the mysterious world of "grading", in which services like PSA will grade your card as to add some felt value to the card itself, because of its rarity and how near to mint it is.

We're talking about services that will grade the same card differently three times if you send it back, because of course they have no practical way of having an absolute meter for every possible imperfection.

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[–] 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It is as much a scam as the cards themselves. Artificial scarcity designed to addict our brains to gambling.

The grading feeds on/into the main scam of the cards themselves. The whole cycle requires that we place "value" on their slabs of paper and grading helps make that value more concrete in your brain. The more value you see in the cards the more of them that you want to buy. More cards sold means more grading, so the cycle goes round.

Have fun playing the game, just be aware the whole thing is no different than going to the casino. They just hope the psychological effect of not gambling with money addicts extra people who wouldn't normally gamble with money (i.e. children or those morally opposed to gambling)... and the house always wins.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Playing a card game is not the same as going to a casino lmfao. Just because the only card games you chose to play were setup like gatcha doesn't mean every card game is a scam. Why are you choosing to participate in a scam if you know it's a scam? Just print proxies if you're that butthurt about a particular company's business strategy, or play a different card game that isn't actively hostile to the player.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    "Scam" was certainly hyperbole, I just exaggerated it to drive home the point. The casino bit could have been worded better too. Playing the game or collecting cards when you know what you are buying is not gambling, it is opening packs that's like going to the casino.

    Paying for a pack that you have no idea what the contents are hoping for a big card is no different than putting money down on a hand of blackjack and hoping for a payout. The game or the collecting is just what we use to justify the gambling as buying something with real world utility.

    I don't exactly have a problem with the business strategy (other than targeting kids), go ahead and gamble, and I can't claim to be above participating. It's just that the players need to be aware of what is happening and that our brains are a lot more easily manipulated than we think we are. Entertainment value with a drip feed of dopamine hits is pretty powerful.

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