Now while I understand the ethics behind whales, and the unhealthy practices devs such as blizzard use against their own players to drain their wallets. I find the techniques fascinating, and it genuinely interests me the psychology behind it.

However, all the tricks in the books primarily rotate around the human economy of whales, feeding off of free to play players to feed their egos and competitive drive.

How would devs implement whale catching tactics in a single player game? Or even a game without multiplayer gameplay, but with online leaderboards only. How would you reel them in, cosmetics? Paying to dominate in PVE against AI?