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I hate what video games have become

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Re: I hate what video games have become

#61

Post by falcolas »

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of the “it’s fine because it’s just cosmetics, and it doesn’t affect the game” line of reasoning.

Because that’s patently not true. If cosmetics didn’t affect the gaming experience, they wouldn’t be worth anything. Certainly not worth paying above and beyond the purchase price for.

Cosmetics are just the easiest to monetize and normalize, to the point where players will now defend full priced games for offering cosmetic microtransactions. It’s a shame. Likely a windmill-tilting cause, but a shame nonetheless.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#62

Post by andrewstuart »

Another way of looking at it is that there is a vast, almost infinite quantity of quality games being created by independent studios.

If you don't like one game, there's vast, vast choice.

Go support the little guy by exploring the games on Steam and become happy again with what games have become.

I don't think many of the independent games have microtransactions. They might have ads.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#63

Post by bccdee »

augstein wrote: post #48

Maybe some use case for NFTs after all. Link the stuff you can get through playing a game or buy ingame for cash to a NFT and boom, players really own that stuff and are free to sell it on the secondary market.

You're describing Diablo 3's famously unpopular and disastrous auction house. Adding resale would just make everything worse — especially if you rope NFTs into it for no reason.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#64

Post by the_jeremy »

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…

To expand, DLC models for multiplayer either split the community (only people who purchased the DLC can join this lobby) or they inevitably make the game pay-to-win. If I'm going to get shot by a $20 sniper rifle, I'd rather it have the same stats as the one I have access to.

I will say it sucks when the cosmetic item you want is only available via lootbox, but at least for Counter-Strike Global Offensive (another Valve title) you can buy either boxes or the exact item you want. I think Valve is pretty far from the worst offender here.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#65

Post by cercatrova »

bccdee wrote: post #43
sidlls wrote: post #25

Video games are like this because people pay for it. It didn’t start like this. Back when packaged games (i.e. shrink-wrapped cd/dvd cases) were the way games were delivered we had “online” modes that generally cost a fixed amount (including $0) to access. Then someone would experiment with something like a power up or level up for some tiny cost, or a “bundle” of them, etc. and guess what: the market overwhelmingly…

Actually there's a strong power law going on with microtransactions. Most players don't spend any money at all on them; some spend a couple bucks on an item or two. The model becomes profitable because of the top 1% of spenders — "whales," in industry parlance — some of whom have deeply unhealthy relationships to the gambling mechanics and social pressures underlying microtransaction economies. So it's not exactly tr…

They are voting with their wallets. It's just that not every vote has a value of 1; their vote is the number of dollars they spend.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#66

Post by holler »

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…

One complaint I've had with RL recently is that it seems like they've put all their energy into new visuals and cosmetics while leaving the game mostly unchanged.

The standard multi ranked map sometimes feels boring and I've wondered why they don't add different types of maps to the mix; spheres, tubes, different physics, goals in the center, figure 8 map(?), embankments (like map in season 1), etc.

I guess it's simple and works but it'd be cool to see new gameplay related updates.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#67

Post by catlifeonmars »

trinovantes wrote: post #45
silisili wrote: post #17

There are still a ton of solid games that aren't constantly asking for money. TLOU, Elden Ring, RDR2 to name three huge ones. I'm 50/50 on Ubisoft because their games are still great standalone, but do offer IAP that I just ignore. I'm OK with those offering freemium and such so long as it doesn't kill off the old model. I don't think it will.

The problem with Ubisoft's model is that it affects game balance. Before when there's a problem with a game, the developers will patch it for free. Now, solutions are sold as IAP. It's even worse when the problems are now intentional.

Wait, what? You have to pay for bugfixes?

Re: I hate what video games have become

#68

Post by cercatrova »

trinovantes wrote: post #45
silisili wrote: post #17

There are still a ton of solid games that aren't constantly asking for money. TLOU, Elden Ring, RDR2 to name three huge ones. I'm 50/50 on Ubisoft because their games are still great standalone, but do offer IAP that I just ignore. I'm OK with those offering freemium and such so long as it doesn't kill off the old model. I don't think it will.

The problem with Ubisoft's model is that it affects game balance. Before when there's a problem with a game, the developers will patch it for free. Now, solutions are sold as IAP. It's even worse when the problems are now intentional.

Game trainers exist, at least on PC and Android. I feel no qualms about using trainers to grant myself unlimited in-game currency rather than buying their IAP ones.

Re: I hate what video games have become

#69

Post by bccdee »

nstart wrote: post #41
arealaccount wrote: post #31

Just started playing fortnite after resisting cause free to play rules. Its a really fun game, and theres no buying competitive advantage. I bought a skin to support the devs, just like I did on Among Us. As a generally “always by the cart” type of person, I think I'm starting to come around to the “pay what you want” model.

There's definitely a tasteful way to do this model. Dota 2, Fortnite, and Brawlhalla are examples of good ways to do this. To me, it comes down to two things: 1. Should not be able to purchase a competitive advantage 2. Should be able to purchase the item you want. Re the second point, if you want the rare items and that involves gambling random item opaque loot boxes, that's an abusive relationship. If it involves p…

Fortnite's a good example about how your two rules aren't enough, actually. Because of the way the game's designed, it pressures its audience (of primarily children) into purchasing microtransactions, to the point where there's been widespread bulling of kids who don't pay for premium Fortnite skins [1].

For a more detailed exploration of the dark side of Fortnite's monetization model, check out "Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite" [2].

[1]: https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/7/18534431/fortnite-rare-defa... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHPNgIihR0

Re: I hate what video games have become

#70

Post by peepop6 »

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.

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