It’s not a option for everyone. I actually changed jobs when my last job started to nickel and dime customers, because it didn’t feel right.

Where my buddy stayed because he can’t uproot his life and his family. He’s pretty numb to the work though.

I mean, lootboxes as gambling for kids is more dubious, at least to me, than programming gambling games for adults, or working for a gambling company.

at least they have some level of legitimacy and some (feeble) attempts at damage prevention, compared to the alternative that they may take, which would be going straight into the arms of the black market and all the even worse shennanigans that comes with.

same view as legalised drugs, safe injection sites, etc etc.

You are fortunate that you have the experience to make that decision. Lots of kids are sold on becoming game devs young, and the ones who succeed land a job at mega publisher studio who has all the financial capital to hire junior devs.

At the end of the day, it is the employer at fault. They are the ones saying “your family’s health insurance will be revoked if we don’t like you” and there are no industry-wide or general unions to tell em to fuck off. “It’s their choice” sure, but they have a family to feed and they know how to make games since they were in high school and that has always fed their kids—how’d they know this industry would turn into a capitalist fuckfest? I get the frustration, but it should be pointed towards organizing and put the pressure upwards, not down or sideways.