You describe every gambling establishments marketing scheme, yes, it may be perceived as unethical, but aren't a lot of the advertisements we see on T.V too? E.g; "Do you ever wake up tired in the mornings?" - many pharmaceutical brands, etc. Albeit it's a recognized standard for business in the "gaming" industry, which now incorporates more "entertainment-based" games, rather than purely monetary based ones. There's a massive influx of domestic regulations being enforced globally on the gambling industry, not so much the "gaming" industry per se. That is why those who have patented gambling software, applicable for both casino-based games and digital asset gambling are diversifying into the "gaming" industry.

I believe that the exploitation of children, through incentivizing rewards, is a major detriment that all the gaming industry has to take partial responsibility for. I grew up "gambling" thousands on Runescape as a teen, I use gambling loosely as it consisted of more than just staking via PvP, a common method of gambling on the popular MMO. I ran private servers, flipped profits by purchasing from botnets and trading onward to legitimate players, which I truly believe is subjectively* justified. When you run a game server, you see the economy develop on its own, and I can promise you, what most players are seeking, is the capability to risk their digital assets. People want more than just pixels for their time... and they deserve it!

Some game developers opt for closed-source market control, polls show this may be a preferred system for some players. However punishing players harshly if they attempt to convert digital/tangible assets is looked at with an extreme indifference by those who choose to trade things other than their time for game progression. Additionally, some companies have flexible policies where they claim to only punish large-scale abuse of digital asset trading, botnets etc. I applaud these companies if integrity stands true and they only target bots, but it risks major corruption. Until a game integrates a system where bots benefit other players, in a decentralized meshnet fashion, we will see botnets abusing digital asset farming, and the gambling industry of each game's "rare items" will flourish.

Unfortunately this puts a large responsibility on game officials to make a moral, fair decision as to whether or not digital asset trading is allowed, and MANY companies believe it shouldn't be, and they have the right to think so! They are the developers, they are the share holders of the incorporation, but more importantly, they are the game's community... Sadly this is a major factor where many companies fail, when they make the moral decision IN-HOUSE, without consulting their player-base first, however, generally you'll not please everyone, it's best to opt for the majority.

*I believe, as a "legitimate" (non bot-associated I.P, etc) third-party reseller, I both empowered the economy by reducing rare item hoarding on botnets, likely providing opportunities for market price manipulation, also I reduced the risk of the legitimate player being banned.