How Block Blast harvests its players for ad money
44 points by motionlessveloc 7 hours ago | 10 comments

motionlessveloc 18 minutes ago
The original video on Instagram is worth a watch: https://www.instagram.com/p/DecfvksvHiW/
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wodenokoto 29 minutes ago
I’m a bit unsure why they want to change gameplay based on the value of the ad.

It’s not like I get sucked into the game and decides to watch more expensive ads (which is the mechanic of golden berries or whatever)

As far as I understand the rule, high value players are more likely to die - but why?

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Timshel 23 minutes ago
They want to ensure you watch it.

If you tend to watch ads and have a high score then when killed it's likely you will watch the ad to revive.

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wodenokoto 18 minutes ago
I guess there’s just a lot I don’t know about this ad market. Is the high value ad only available to show for a limited time?
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Jaxkr 3 hours ago
The fact that impossible puzzles are generated to bait rewarded-ad views is something I've always suspected in mobile games, but I dismissed it as a skill issue on my end.
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quikoa 2 hours ago
> Apple does let apps download JavaScript updates like this, which is how tools like Expo Updates work, as long as the update doesn’t change what the app is. Whether changing your pieces based on ad prices fits that is up to Apple.

But there is no way for Apple to verify "as long as the update doesn’t change what the app is" right?

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MDTHLN 4 hours ago
> The lethal puzzle is a generator, and any rule can ask for it.

Ashamed of myself for getting halfway through the article before realising it was AI written.

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iamacyborg 3 hours ago
Hah, you can literally tell from the subheader.

> Rules downloaded from their server decide your pieces, your score and your ads. One waits for an expensive ad, then asks for a hand you can’t place.

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wafflemaker 41 minutes ago
I wouldn't be able to tell. No load bearing or is not x, it's y.

I actually don't mind if it's good enough, informative and not overly long.

Haven't really read anything super well written (in terms of language and form) lately, other than a really fun hn comment summarizing Trump's War.

But I just haven't read that much lately.

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swiftcoder 18 minutes ago
The tell here is the "One ..., then ... <negative>". This is "not X, it's Y" with the clauses reordered.

For some reason the current crop of LLMs are really insistent on generating contrast between two things in every statement.

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