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I hate what video games have become

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Re: I hate what video games have become

#211

Post by qwery »

dado3212 wrote: post #7

I have basically the opposite opinion of this article. I often hold up Rocket League as an example of a great free-to-play game. 1) You 100% can unlock a lot of cosmetic items through free play. 2) The items that you buy have absolutely no impact on gameplay and are just visuals. For the same reason that people wear nice clothes in real life, why are you surprised that some people want to look cool in a video game? A…

The whole 'preying on the vulnerable' thing kind of puts me off. But I want to respond to this:

> The items that you buy have absolutely no impact on gameplay and are just visuals

Cosmetic items are not just visual though. They are real elements in the game. Cosmetic items are interactive. They are unlockable, collectable, wearable items.

Further, visuals do impact the gameplay. You could argue about the difference between "gameplay" and "visuals" but each supports/influences the other and both are critical elements of almost every videogame. However you divide up the parts of a game, they all affect each other. Generally speaking, having all of the elements working together makes for a better game.

Monetisation strategies like microtransactions, loot boxes, etc. are also part of the game. However, the goal of such parts is not aligned with that of the others. The game is compromised by the introduction of the monetisation strategies.

> why are you surprised that some people want to look cool in a video game?

Nobody is surprised by this.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#212

Post by cudgy »

> … a game I spend more than 2000 hours is now a game I hate …

Ouch. Who cares about loot boxes when the opportunity cost of playing a silly game like that is equal to a years worth of their wages.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#213

Post by wodenokoto »

yourdeadneopet wrote: post #168

A few years ago, Nintendo made a wonderful game called Super Mario Run. It was simple - Mario automatically runs and you tap to jump - but surprisingly deep. The timing of the jumps and the height of jump was paramount, and there was a ton of replayability in trying to get out-of-reach coins and finding shortcuts. It also captured the aesthetic of the Mario World games with modern graphics. I was VERY skeptical of a…

Super Mario Run, on top of being a great game at a great price is basically single payment f2p.

And most people didn’t get that you could buy it and not worry about needing to buy berries or diamonds for real world money. Not worry about your child spending hundreds of real world dollars when playing on your phone.

People just hated the fact that they had to pay for the cheapest priced Mario game ever.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#214

Post by Yizahi »

dado3212 wrote: post #7

I have basically the opposite opinion of this article. I often hold up Rocket League as an example of a great free-to-play game. 1) You 100% can unlock a lot of cosmetic items through free play. 2) The items that you buy have absolutely no impact on gameplay and are just visuals. For the same reason that people wear nice clothes in real life, why are you surprised that some people want to look cool in a video game? A…

"It's only cosmetics shop" is a cancer that's killing AAA game industry. Games are designed from ground up not being fun themselves but to be filled with dark patterns, ads, artificial focus on the shop items and so on.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#215

Post by midasuni »

bootloop wrote: post #184
OtomotO wrote: post #151

As a (non game) developer, I can say, thay free to play is instantly dead on arrival for me. The moment something is known to become or becomes free to play is the moment I lose all interest. The dishonesty in the system itself is what makes this unbearable for me. Developers need to eat, Managers need to eat, Marketeers need to eat... And sometimes psychologists doing evil mindtricks and supporting gambling addictio…

This is absurd. So you also don't use any software products which are a) free to use or b) habe a free tier?

Back in the 90s shareware was common, you’d get the first level of Duke Nukem, but to get the rest you had to pay

That’s closer to the “free tier” stuff, and a very different model to modern “freenium” games.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#216

Post by bhedgeoser »

auriplane wrote: post #150
peepop6 wrote: post #70

There are games like Elden Ring that are purely addictive and immersive through great game design. And then there are MMOs and mobile games that are purely addictive through dirty psychological and immoral tricks. Just don't play the latter. Those games (like modern WoW, HS, gacha games, etc) are garbage that will be looked at in disgust in the future.

Rocket League is both at the same time, an absolutely brilliant core game (albeit with extreme QA problems), with manipulative and unethical business practices layered on top, both to keep people playing and to monetize those people.

I use a stocktane and still buy stuff from time to time cos I know that money for the servers has to come from somewhere.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#217

Post by Sturmis »

holler wrote: post #91
Daneel_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did this a long time in the past (See: Rocket League Rocket Labs) and it was near-universally disliked. The complication when it comes to adding new features is that Rocket League is built on top of a bespoke scripting engine that was discontinued after Unreal Engine 3, so they have to fully recreate RL in UE5. Because of this they don't want to put any additional resources into new features for UE3 since it's w…

Interesting, have they said much about that or when to expect it? I did like that game mode where the ball would gravitate towards the goal!

Ball gravitating towards the goal has been available as a Limited Time Mode on a few occasions, it's called Heatseeker IIRC.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#218

Post by midasuni »

ThatPlayer wrote: post #60
tyrfing wrote: post #53

It's a great business model for multiplayer games. They live and die on the basis of network effects, and gating access behind a $25-60 upfront payment means most games die from gradual attrition - which is just sad to watch happen when it's an enjoyable but niche game. Subscriptions are dead, with even Blizzard struggling to make it work, and most DLC models just don't work for multiplayer. Looking at my Steam libra…

>most DLC models just don't work for multiplayer. I vastly prefer the freemium model because of this. It's great compared to before when we had sequels, expansion packs or even map packs that was the only way to get new content. But that new content wasn't available to people who didn't buy it, so now the playerbase will be split each time new content is released.

Back when I played games we used to make our own maps, and share them for free on various sites

Re: I hate what video games have become

#220

Post by tomatowurst »

tpxl wrote: post #203
tomatowurst wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's also super hard to build a great f2p and i think CSGO easily is the best. they bootstrapped it for almost 2 decades from a mod made by Minh Le to what it is today and I must say it is the only f2p game I regularly play. simply because it actually pays to play. I've made about $20 bucks this month from just selling cases given out randomly at the end of each match. It cost me nothing to buy yet the in game items…

> so it is a bit like gambling in that aspect It's not a bit like gambling, it's exactly gambling and the predatory nature of it is what I hate about video games.

you can still enjoy the game without taking part in it as it is optional and does not change your odds of winning, that is still skill based. if somebody wants to pay for a fancy skin I don't really see an issue.

people bet on soccer too but that shouldn't stop you from getting excitement from it.

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