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Microtransactions and Sighs


Jimboxy
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I'm just putting what I think of them down here.

 

I have no problem with the concept of Microtransactions on their own.  It's just they are quite often used when in the past the said content was unlockable from playing the games (costumes, weapons, horse armour etc) and it's in that where problems of value arise.  If it's content they made post-release and the developers want some coin for it well fine, that's their right to make that decision and it's our right to decide whether we want it.  It's simple commerce.  But that's easy to define content.

 

The microtransactions that are supposed to speed up progress in a game, ones to make the grind easier are the kind that will stop me buying a game (a F2P one I would be more forgiving in theory).  Because there is the strong possibility that the game has been designed in a way where it is too grind-y to strongly encourage you to pay up.  It's definitely possible to work your way through these games and you may enjoy the gameplay loop enough to do it anyway but I don't like a game that has so little respect for your time (and wallet).  This can happen in game without these kinds of MTX but that could just be the result of some shitty RNG and not because it was actively designed that way,

 

Loot Boxes are a shitty thing.  I'm not sure I buy the idea that they are gambling.  I see the theory but it's a loose interpretation of the term but I'll concede to them aiming to give a similar feeling but the stakes, the culture, the laws and the business just aren't the same.  It doesn't create the same culture that gambling has that causes the really bad stuff to happen.

Loot Boxes are like booster packs for card games and football stickers, but with maybe all the bullshit learnt from them over the years stuck in there.

But they do make a game's rewards unsatisfying.  Much more so than satisfying when you do get something you want.  The number of times I saw crap come out of an Overwatch Loot Box after a long session of play kept cementing that.  And even worse on those few times I actually dropped a few quid on a pack.  It's contributed to me not playing Overwatch anymore.

 

I guess that last part is entitlement but when you put hours into a certain character I really am not unreasonable to be gifted a little goodie tied to them that shows it.

 

And this isn't even going into the trend of YouTubers opening FIFA packs and calling it "content".  Making that shit look really exciting.

 

 

It's hard to know the right way to stand on this.  Activision and others are making mad money off these yet other studios are shutting down left, right and centre so it's hard to know if MTX's are greed or a necessity to sustain the current £40 - £50 a game business model.  I'd pitch bringing back the B-tier games which I suppose they still exist on a small scale but price them more accordingly, and just have one or two big-budget 4K graphics arms race games every few years.  But that's just me.

 

So I say just do what you want for now.  You really like that game you already paid for and want an extra digital goodie; just do it.  Who cares, really?  Internet consumer radicals?  Fuck them, too.

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I don't think they're needed to survive, but are an option to maintain the expectations a lot of the audience have.  GTAV sells stupid amounts, it also makes crazy bank in MTXs; so it's also the standard so if you want to compete with that you're not gonna be able to off 2 - 3 million sales off a £50 base game.

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No and that's been my argument in terms of sustained extra content or just in place of standard DLC. Not every game needs it also.

 

Let's not forget it was introduced because they realised the money it makes from mobile/social games that are flooded with MTX/ loot boxes like Farmvilles candy crush's etc. The latest investor updates for games like Destiny and Overwatch show they make more from it than base game sales. So....'course your gonna put it in your game for that reason alone. 

 

Issue with lootboxes is the random nature of it for me. I still don't get why you'd pay for entertainment and pay more because your frustrated with that entertainment for a random chance. Eh? 

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Oh I know, but my post is about MTXs as a whole, not just loot boxes.  Loot boxes can jusy get in the sea.  Overwatch wasn't even the last time I bought them.  Rocket League has them and I bought a few, got disappointed, and had to learn the lesson again that these things are bullshit.  Funny thing is you can just buy the DLC that are in the loot boxes in the normal (sensible) way.

 

Stupid thing is, given time and a certain scenario, I could end up doing it again.

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Cosmetic MTX, hidden MTX - behind a menu or something, not in your face - and Loot Boxes for cosmetic items are all fine by me.

 

They only bug me when you have a pay 2 win type scenario like the proposed BF2 system before it was scrapped.

 

No matter the egregious business practices of the publisher if a game is kooky enough, good enough or peaks my interest I’ll give it a go regardless.

 

I’d probably not want to pay full price for a P2W game though, I’d wait for a sale - if I hadn’t of got BF2 for free I would’ve waited for a sale.

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  • 6 months later...

That's the real way to combat it. Just don't buy. Inform people that the games they're buying are full of nonsense, specifically designed from the ground up to wear the player down into spending more cash for the conveniences of being able to play the game. Fuck 'em.

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  • 5 months later...
8 hours ago, Nag said:

 

Dlc is very rarely included with plus games... That's got fuck all to to do with companies being wankers or not.

Very true. What makes Activision being massive wankers in that occasion was the fact it was a remaster where they’d purposely not included all the maps and dlc and made people buy them again at a higher price than they were originally. IN A REMASTER!!!! Fucking unforgivable IMO. If you’re re-releasing/ remastering a game it should come with all the content/DLC that was available for it. Scum. 

But this is a different issue that goes all the way back to release. Nothing to do with this really. 

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5 minutes ago, Nag said:

Here's the thing, don't like something... don't buy it, I'm almost positive that I've never bought any of these bullshit random lootboxes or anything like that and you know what, it hasn't had any effect on the enjoyment of the games I've played.

 

I'm certainly not going to give myself a hernia about the practice.?

 

I suspect there's probably an example of a game affecting you, but never the less Nag, loot boxes do affect game design, not always but there's plenty of examples.

 

no need to be accusing people of faking outrage though

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@Nag

I deliberately didn't give an example because I know what ever I'd picked you'd say it didn't affect you. To give an example that shouldn't get an argument, the last Star Wars Battlefront game, they removed them and it messed with the progression 

 

And whatever words you'd use for paedophiles I don't see the relevance, you still accused Nick of pretending to be outraged. Stop being a dick to people, it seems to be becoming a habit 

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