Live data from Hacker News

I hate what video games have become

ivanca.tumblr.com

671–680 of 690 posts

Re: I hate what video games have become

#671
Around the time they changed monetization I started using the default Octane with the default everything. RL is actually an example of a great game where everything you can buy or unlock is cosmetic and you don't need any of it.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#672
post #666
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate what video games have become. I think this is more than anything, an app store sickness. It has spread a little to consoles and desktop, but I can still buy a 100% offline, single player game, which has the main purpose of entertaining me. It has a story, a point to it, a mystery often, fun things to do which aren't mining or grinding away. I pay 80 bucks for the privilege, and am quite happy to do so. It is w…

I have kids now and the last game I prioritized to play this way was BoW during a summer vacation. I just hope these grand single player offline adventures wont go extinct until I will get some solid free time again. But on the other hand, I have such a long backlog of "old games" I want to play so I'm not really worried. It's more my kids that will get caught up in the Fortnites of the future and never experience th…

If there's a market, it will happen. Even if only in a small amount.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#673
I get the sentiment that is being expressed but there are just so many games out there I don’t get the complaint. I play zero games that have loot boxes or pay 2 win functionality. I guess the AAA titles get a lot of press but I’m overwhelmed by how many good games that are out there. I think the complaint may be mostly relegated to online multiplayer games, something that in my age I care very little about. Online Co-op games on the other hand or single player games are my jam.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#674

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality is that they kinda do, people with expensive cosmetics are viewed as being better players by their teammates and opponents. The significance of this can be hard to measure, but in most games it's bigger than a small stat boost that would be immediately seen as p2w

So the less skilled players with expensive cosmetics get their abilities over-estimated while the skilled players in the base skins get their abilities under-estimated. That sounds like a win for the skilled players in the base skins to me. Better to be under-estimated than over-estimated.

Not when your teammates refuse to take you seriously, drop you weapons, or back you up in a fight.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#676

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?

for games I want an immersive experience, any kind of shops, popups, ads, or any other prompt to purchase anything in game disrupts that immersion and is a turn off much the same way ads during a video/movie are. Some accept ads as inevitable but all dislike them for their immersion breaking.

Any kind of store experience inside of an experience is just as annoying as any other kind of popup ad except it usually causes the devs to change the nature of the game to cause people to lean toward using the store, making things grindy like enemies have more hit points or have greater difficulty than they would have otherwise for example in candy crush there are levels that are unbeatable unless you pay for help.

Free software is not the same as a freemium game, they don't make the software more difficult to use, make the responsiveness of it slower and have it riddled with popups in the middle of use, or even fake you out with being unable to complete something until you pay. It would be like photoshop allowing you to design something then not letting you export print or save but only right as you were about to complete it, and this wouldn't happen every time, maybe on like the 5th time you use it, it's that kind of annoyance.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#677
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 b…

you and everyone else concerned about the preying on vulnerable thing should be aware that we have literally no evidence that such a thing is happening. the absolute worst thing we know off in practice are extreme edge cases (i.e. not applying to 99% of people even within the whale demographic) of above average earners spending their money on waifu shit instead of buying themselves a car they don't need. the more reg…

People often contrast loot boxes with Magic the Gathering: "At least you can resell your cards", but this makes it more like gambling, not less! CS:Go has far greater potential for economic harm & fraud--due to resale--than the much hated Star Wars loot boxes.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#678
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people naively think of moves like this as pure money grabs and don’t appreciate that a lot of these moves are out of survival…especially for games like Rocket League that require a sufficient player base to even be a viable live service game.

Well, Rocket League doesn't need to be a "viable live service game", it could just be a regular multiplayer game that gives you a client and server executable to run your own. It isn't like not being a live service game killed Quake 3, for example.

[deleted]

Re: I hate what video games have become

#679
post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably Rocket League does need to be a viable live service game. Without a sufficient player base, there's not enough for consistent match making...or you get matched to players far outside your skill level. Neither experience is good. Titanfall 2 is a good general example of attempting what you describe. As many have pointed out, that simply doesn't fly anymore. Quake 3 was over twenty years ago. There are many di…

You can still run a master/default server (i'm repeating the same reply to everyone because it seems everyone has the assumption that providing a server executable means the game doesn't get to provide one or something).

I'm not sure I understand how providing a means to run your own server solves all these issues. Foremost in my mind is how you ensure competitive integrity when you can no longer trust all the servers. However, that's a bit beside the point.

The point I'm trying to make is that these things have been tried by one game or another, and there's good reasons why the "run your own server" model died for the most popular games. Ignoring that is, I think, discarding a lot of historical evidence and nuance against blanket "why don't they just do X" arguments.

If there's a better way, it won't be a return to the past. It will be something new that no one has thought of yet.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I chastised a friend for getting so upset after losing half a dozen travelers checks on vacation. Get a grip — it’s $2 worth of paper. If you can’t afford to replace that you can’t afford to be on vacation.

For me, I think the concern with Travelers Checks is the potential loss of money from your account, if someone is able to forge your signature on them, and how that might potentially be used to tie you to other events or crimes that may have occurred.

It was a joke. Travelers checks aren’t like regular checks — they’re more like cashier’s checks or money orders. Losing them is a very big problem.
Post reply on HN