Date of incident: 29/12/17

Date of incident: 29/12/17

Horrified, truly horrified and disturbed.

My brother wanted to go and look at some headphones so we went to the Oxford Street HMV. Safe bet right?

I decided to take a brief glance at the PS4 shelf and overheard a sweet lady asking for a copy of Overwatch for her child.

My heart was warmed, Overwatch is one of the best games ever made and I was happy that her son would be enjoying it.

This is what followed:

Sales Rep: "Oh, don't have Overwatch in stock at the moment, here how about this one. It's much better I think!"

*Sales Rep grabs Starwars Battlefront 2 off the shelf*.

Lady: "Oh, is it good then?"

Sales Rep: "Game of the Year I'd say, can't go wrong with Star Wars".

Lady: "Okay then let's go for that".

. . . .

--

For anyone uninformed, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is EA's latest attempt to lure children into gambling with online credits and loot-boxes. You can either play Battlefront 2 for 40 hours consecutively to unlock your favourite character OR buy loot-boxes that get you that character instantly.

What is the impatient child going to go for? Obviously the gambling option.

Immoral, disgusting, predatory.

--

I had to walk off immediately from the area to contain my anger and disgust, as somebody who has spent over three years in the gaming industry, both studying and creating games this was absolutely repugnant.

I could not believe that HMV, a company that people trust and rely upon, would stoop so low to shift copies of their most immoral titles. I never knew that they acted like this towards their customers. I felt physically sick.

I was going to leave the store to calm down but made the decision to speak to the Manager about this, I felt that I had the responsibility of reporting this kind of behaviour. I do not want children to become gambling addicts and I do not want parents to be mislead into accidentally buying games that prey on young children.

A very nice employee directed me to the "manager" of the store.

Upon meeting him I could already tell that this exchange would fall on deaf ears.

I explained to him what I had seen and explained my disgust. I told him why I felt disgusted and told him that I think that the way his employees had been taught to engage with customers was deeply flawed and immoral.

I was met with the following list of comments, which I have annotated:

Manager:

"Haha, you don't know anything about games clearly, Battlefront 2 is one of our best sellers this year! *arrogant grin*". - Silk Cut is one of the best selling brands of cigarettes this year, they still lead to cancer.

"Actually *proud face* there's NO micro-transactions in the game anymore". - Yes, EA removed them for two months due to the massive backlash over their decision to ruin a Star Wars game with gambling and predatory micro-payments. They're coming back into the game in February, after everyone has bought it for their young child. Nice try.

"Have you played it? NO, so you know nothing about games. My colleagues all love it". - Oh, your adult associates who won't be easily tricked into spending hundreds of pounds love it? That's great. What a wonderful counter-argument.

"I think you're being pathetic". - I'd rather stand up for what I believe in than prey on innocent mothers and fathers who just want to buy a nice gift for their child.

I could feel that the exchange was about to start going in circles as it became clear that the manager I was speaking to wasn't one who cared about being right or doing the right thing, he just cared about winning an argument.

As I went to leave I could hear the manager laughing at me behind my back and loudly sharing the incident with his employees. Nothing says you're a secure individual like using the yes-men under you to belittle a stranger right?

A ray of hope in all of this was that coincidentally the lady they had preyed upon was stood right next to us at the counter. I hope she heard and I hope she'll be more careful in future.

HMV Oxford Street is a toxic place that preys on good people and encourages child gambling.