PART II

- How to fight freemium games

- I think first and foremost, don't play them. However strong you believe your will is, you still have a non-zero opportunity to fall into the trap and start spending money. Freemiums are attractive for people who are either 1) alone socially, because essentially they are social games, or 2) bored, because they feed you a sense of achievement, by purchasing for some virtual assets. So the key is to have some real friends that go out, and grow some hobbies. Better, do both, and do more.

- I can also ban myself from freemium games by not owning a smart phone. This also fixes the issue of other addictive apps such as Facebook and Twitter. This is the option that I'm seriously considering. I cannot completely remove the smart phone from my life as I reply on many apps. But I can keep it charged all the time in my bedroom and only bring a dumb phone with me.

- How to prevent freemium games ruining your children's brains

- This is much more difficult. Children don't know how to control themselves, at least not as good as adults. They will fall into the trap easily if some of their friends are playing such games. I think foremost, don't grant them a smartphone when they are young. I think a dumbphone from middle school and maybe a very low end smartphone from high school. If they complain about it, buy a slight better one that has parental control and use the money from their "coffer".

- Parent control their pads. Schools nowadays heavily rely on pads -- I have no idea why, but I have to accept. This iPad should be heavily parental controlled, and only whitelisted if possible. I haven't used an iPad for almost a decade so I need to do more research.

- Introduce them to other hobbies. I plan to introduce DOS games when they reach about 8 years of old -- approximately the same age my father introduced them to me, which he regretted gravely. I also plan to learn camping and introduce to him ASAP. I don't know. Freemium games are way more addictive than these hobbies, but maybe it's doable.

- Guide them away from friends who heavily play freemium games. Let's be honest. Some parents don't care. But I do. If I find out that one of his friends is paying a lot of dough into freemium games, I'd find a way to slowly guide my son from that friend. I may even get him into a new class, just for that. The less time they meet, the better.

- If you are an artist or a programmer who are making a freemium game

- Please. Stop. I don't ask you to stop now. I ask you to stop whence you are financially sound and can find a job making other games/apps. Unless you are one of the few, from my understanding you are just being paid regular game programmer/artist rate, PLUS those games probably need a good monetization people than you.

- I have played a few freemium games with beautiful music and arts. Don't you feel pity that these resources are remembered in this way? I know you are young and need money, but eventually you will want some fame, some recognition. You don't get recognition from making Freemium games, because only the monetization "scientists" get the flash light.

- If you really want to make freemium games. Make one that entirely earn from ads. Ads are bad too, and they usually lead to freemium games, but at least it is a lesser evil.