So a mobile game company selling things to ease difficulty is a "mind trick" but Cigarette/Alcohol companies spending decades making those two activities look cool is ok?
Unlike cigarette/alcohol companies, the gaming industry has escaped much of the same scrutiny that has rightly been applied to other purveyors of addictive and potentially destructive products. You seem to (rightfully) have an issue with some of the practices employed by the likes of the tobacco and alcohol industries, and yet are all too willing to give game companies a pass because..."shareholders."
You also failed to acknowledge the point made that gaming companies enjoy the benefit of being able to milk vulnerable cash-cows in the relative safety of their homes or wherever they might carry their mobile devices. One press of a button and their account is drained of hundreds (potentially thousands) of dollars. And because they're purchasing "virtual" currency, it makes that purchase all the more seductive. Gaming companies deliberately engineered it to be this way.
And no, the lotto is much, much worse. It makes you keep thinking that the next ticket/scratchoff might just be the one. Just one more, it has to be the winner. Just one more...
So now you're attempting to rank exploitative practices on a scale of evil? Again: what is with your (and others here) inability to call them out for being exploitative and manipulative? No one is claiming that those who make outrageous purchases shouldn't ultimately be responsible (unless they're minors or suffer serious mental disorders) for their actions. But that doesn't absolve these companies of designing systems with the sole aim of targeting these individuals. "Shareholders" does not absolve them of the obvious nefariousness. After all, everyone has a reason for the things they do, but a reason and an excuse are not the same thing.
