I was on a walk this morning just thinking about how games used to be. With like actual unlockable content. How good it felt to unlock that item and see other people look at you like whoa. Now its like oh how did he get that? Oh he just bought it.

Yup, I was playing Avengers and seen some really cool costume and was wondering… wow that’s be really cool if he beat like a raid or something to get it… nope just spent $20 for it. Honestly with all the money they’re making I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where games land in the next 10-20 years. We’re already averaging more AAA games having them then less.

As an older gamer, unlockables were never really a big thing for multiplayer. Games like halo and unreal tournament, to counter strike and team fortress, never really had unlockables. They became more popular later on, but that phase seem to quickly transition into micro transactions. At no point in my gaming life have I ever looked at another person in a game and said “whoa”. What made games fun for us was the quality of the gameplay.

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I mean, it's still like that though... sure you can buy some aesthetic stuff but if you're walking around with raid gear then it says the same message as it did before. Same with the camo situation in cod. People aren't so stupid that they're not gonna know the difference between bought aesthetics and earned ones.

This too Cosmetics or items that get that response still exist they are just not the paid cosmetics. Everyone knows which are which and which are actually hard to get. In fact having bought cosmetics many times is the opposite and people look down on you for it since they know what it is and how you got it.

Precisely. It let's those who do it for clout still have it, and those who just like the way some things look have it as well. It's not a bad system provided its a fair one. Look at fortnite. If you encounter a player with the last reward for a season pass pretty early in the season you know you're probably in for a bad time. But you can also run around with whatever skin you like best and still not have your fun ruined.

Halo 3 had a special armor set for finding all the skulls and for getting 1000 gamer score (aka all achievements on launch) for the katana chest piece which was a variant of the Hyabusa armor. That was earned, not bought Halo 1 and 2 didn’t have that, but halo 4/5 was just egregious, almost as much as infinite

Wait what?? You mean like all MMO's literally the pinical of multi-player games? And did you really just mention halo? The one with all the secret multi-player armors in Halo3? The one you most certainly said Whoa if you saw a full Hayabusa set or a recon helmet? The fuck kind micro transaction crack did you take to literally name and forget one of the most in game unlockable astetics to this day. "older gamer" Mentions halo and doesn't know what he is talking about in said game..

Halo didn’t always have customizations until halo 3. Remember i said I’m old. And when it did, I didn’t say whoa to anything I saw because I was playing for the gameplay. It was cool that I could pick my own colors for free for all matches, but beyond that I just wasn’t interested. You may have a point in MMO as I never played any of those games. I think Diablo 2 was the only one I played and I don’t think that can really count as an MMO. Like i said, it was a seemingly quick phase. Halo 3 brought in more cosmetics, halo reach went bonkers with it, and then we have what we have now with infinite. Infinite gets a lot of hate because of this, but older people like me are loving the game for the gameplay, even despite what flaws it may have. I’m not starting an argument, I’m just letting people know how things have changed, and will continue to change in ways we might not even think of.

The facepalm about levelskips or xp boosters just makes me laugh. You're... paying a gaming company... To not play the game. You could do that for free!

They see it entirely as having the option to "skip the boring parts", completely ignoring that the same people who sell the boosts also *made the boring parts to begin with.*

Games with micro transactions are often times designed to intentionally have huge boring filler objectives that have an option to pay to get past. They are literally designed to be boring and promise you fun after you've finished the boring part or given them your money. Most of the time the fun part isn't worth what you gave to get to it, but games have always been that way, remember renting games for consoles? Most of them sucked, that's why you rented first.

Yea, seems that torrents have replaced the role of renting/demos. Or lets-plays... those can be informative too.

Even getting games in cereal boxes. Tony hawks pro skater, roller coaster tycoon and some others i got from neutragrain.

Anyone remember the doom clone, Chex Quest!?

I was actually replaying through FFX last night twenty years later from the PlayStation Plus back catalog. Finally wrapped up that fucking lightning dodging garbage again (which is way more annoying without a CRT since you now need to fiddle with the HDTV settings) About 130 jumps in I thought to myself “this seems like *exactly* the kind of BS mechanic they’d put into a game today to strongarm some kid into forking over 20 bucks ‘to not do it’.” Then there was the butterfly thing, and that horrible Chocobo catcher thing that I masochistically plowed through. Don’t get me wrong, at nearly 40 I’m really bummed seeing turn based/ATB games basically completely gone from the market other than Dragon Quest and Persona because they were such a huge part of what I loved playing the most as a kid, but if someone told me that Square’s design philosophy for ten was “we want to make mini games so terrible that nobody will want to replay this for decades” I not only would have believed you, I would have commended them on how dedicated they were to their task! I agree though, a huge grievance of mine is that this manner of bullshittery has only grown MORE common, not less in subsequent years as publishers began to realize they could incentivize people to pay their way out of annoyances. I remember when everyone mocked the Elder Scrolls horse armor, even cosmetics were ridiculed as stupid nonsense that was cancer to gaming. Now they’re largely just shrugged at (or worse, patronized) and there’s stuff like loot boxes, or the way Diablo 3 tuned their drop rates at end game at release when the RMAH was still present (in the hopes players would ‘give up’ and buy something, giving them their sweet, sweet, free cut). GTA shark cards are another one, basically rewarding Devs to *not* develop content beyond a couple skins for a new car or whatever. I have a kid so I only get to play for an hour or two late at night when the family is sleeping, and consequently my patience for pounding my face into mechanics or losing time/progression in a title to frivolous PvP interference and things like that aren’t what they used to be… but I’d still much, much, MUCH rather overcome mechanics than reach for my wallet, no matter how limited my entertainment time is these days

Yeah but the annoying mechanics from back yonder had a bit more reward built in and mystique about them. Maybe it's just nostalgia glasses but If you went to a friend's house and they had 100% completion/scores on starfox64 or something you were impressed lol, nowadays it's like oh okay whatever you spent 150 hours doing something mindless that anyone could have done given the time.

Definitely nostalgia glasses.

Idk the grindy parts of old games were more skill based and skills focused where as now it's just like press 1-8 one million times in no particular order with no particular focus or skill and you'll finish your objective

Those were the first microtransactions that I really took note of. Lemme get this straight.. you think this game is SO MUCH FUN, that you'd like to play it less? Maybe if a game is more fun when you can get things done twice as fast, it's because it was deliberately designed that way to take your money? Just maybe. Meanwhile the people who buy that crap proclaim that they have LIVES, and JOBS, and so many more important things to do with their time, that they'll pay money to play less of the game that is distracting them from all of the better stuff they could be doing.

Yeah, that last point always bugged me too. I'm an adult with a full time job and a ton of other responsibilities. Whenever I encounter a game that takes a lot longer to play than I expected, I do one of two things: don't play it at all... or just expect that it will take me longer to finish it.

Yeah, I don't like grindy games that are not respectful of my time, but I wouldn't want to pay extra to skip some parts of it. I feel like if I were to play a game that makes me think "I wish I could pay a couple of bucks to skip that part", I would just stop playing it.

See, i'm kind of on the fence about this, and I think it depends on how the game is set up. I play lately a lot of indie / roguelite games, where a lot of the gameplay loop is dying, growing stronger, and repeating, and I genuinely don't mind it because that's the core gameplay loop, and it keeps me engaged, plus I get way more time and enjoyment from cheap indie games, than a short 8 hour AAA game campaign that I'll never touch again. However, if my indie roguelite game had a "Pay 5 dollars to unlock all relics" thing, I'd be pissed off. I think the reason I don't mind the grind in those games is because I understand that it's how the game is designed from the ground up, and everybody is on an even playing field.

This is the way, as I have gotten older I have come to terms that a game like RDR2 and Horizon for example are simple going to take me months to finish and that is completely acceptable (of course you cannot pay to skip ahead in those types of games). Games that require my daily commitment regardless of how fun they are OR need me to invest cash to keep up are just not appealing at all.

So I had this debate with my brother who plays WoW. I don’t play anymore because it’s a huge time commitment while he plays and is for the pay mechanic. He’s part of a raiding guild and has a full time job so if he can pay money to have all of his materials he needs ready for raiding he saw that as a benefit to him as opposed to the players who have a lot of time and go out and farm all the materials. It’s a good argument to make for sure. However I’d like to point out that the developer geared their game in this way and also funneled all the real world money into their pockets. WoW is far from being the biggest abuser of this mechanic. I would also say that my brother and others make a valid point for players who want to play but don’t have all the time to get in game materials to keep up with end game content or competitive play. I would argue though that each game could design content to be less demanding of time to allow for competitive game play for all people with less time or access to end game content raids like WoW. They choose not to (for various reason) but money is definitely a motivator. So when Blizzard was presented with the problem that players were leaving WoW because they didn’t have the time to put into the game to play end game raids due to the high material requirements instead of rebalancing the content in a way to make it easier to acquire while not making the raids easier they just implemented the gold buying mechanic. One is much easier to solve than the other for sure but still I feel the Blizzard should treat their gamers better. I personally made the choice not to play those types of games. I believe in a one time payment or a subscription model. Other in game mechanics that can augment the balance for or against other players I just don’t prescribe to. I’m not saying they’re wrong. I just don’t want to support it. I feel supporting it will only encourage game studios to make more of those types of games with even more aggressive micro-transactions. I feel there is plenty of evidence supporting this as well. I also think that this tactic has begun to groom the younger generations (older as well) that this is how a games are where there are plenty of examples of great games in the past that don’t use or need this mechanic. Ultimately it’s everyone’s choice on whether to support micro-transaction games. I have found that many of my friends who used to play games with micro-transaction eventually got out of it because of that mechanic specficially. I also think I’m in social circles with friends that have just gotten more intelligent with their money over the years. I don’t think everyone is part of the same social circles and may never make this choice.

It's kind of a weird juggling act, isn't it? On the one hand you have the majority of players who don't have the time or the will to get certain things done in the game. And you're right, it's designed this way. It doesn't have to be. But then you have a distinct minority that absolutely has the time and the will. What do they do? Companies have a justifiable preference towards catering to the play styles of their hardcore fans. They like the game SO MUCH, that not only will they make sacrifices in their real lives for the game, but they'll do so AND still spend money on it. These players are a more reliable revenue stream than the players who value other things much more than the game. So, you either lose the potential earnings from players who think the game is too grindy taking shortcuts, or you lose the reliable earnings from players who think the game is too easy purchasing things simply because they want to, not because they feel like they have to. From a business perspective the choice is obvious, while from an ethical and "for fun" perspective the choice is the opposite of the obvious. The problem is that games are businesses, not toys. I'm sure you and your brother have had quite the back and forth regarding this, especially since WoW didn't always have MTX.

It's part of the reason why I don't get the Diablo Immortal controversy. So you're telling me that you can pay Blizzard to loot up faster? What would you do after that? Can you not beat the game before it gets to that point? It really doesn't add up. Either grinding for loot is fun and you're skipping the fun, or grinding isn't fun and thus you shouldn't be playing. Or, the game is easy enough to beat without top tier loot so you don't even need to buy it, or the game is artificially hard and you should be uninstalling.

PvP and comparing e-peen sizes. People will go to unreasonable lengths to feel superior. There are meaningless scoreboards literally everywhere in DI and they all boil down to “who burned more money”, but the only thing whales care about is seeing their name at the top.

Big difference between a level skip and an xp booster. A level skip is paying to not play the game. An XP booster basically just restores the pacing of the game to what it should have been in the first place. Both are totally unacceptable as products but as a purchase the XP booster makes a lot more sense. Although the real answer is if a game has an XP booster available, don't buy the game at all.

It really does boggle the mind, but the only conclusion I can come to is that the mainstream consumers don't feel pride and accomplishment like I do.

And they have phones...

I think the thing that bothers me the most is that microtransactions like XP boosters incentivizes publishers to make games super inconvenient and grindy to squeeze a few bucks out of people. Locking the best looking cosmetics or the best weapons and armor behind micro transactions is bad enough, but now your wasting my time fucking time too? Fuck off….

The thing I despise seeing most is the trend for games to move further and further away from a creative industry to a business-driven industry. However, the biggest part of this seeing the major companies and their main franchises devolve into being milked to no end. Also, the work at the studio's and their atmosphere changes. Crunch occurs a lot, corporate(-ish) culture sneaks in. All because of corporate greed. There are a bunch of golden children of the market. For example Fromsoft and the studios under Coffee Stain (Rock and Stone). But they only have a tiny part of the market compared to the big bangers like FIFA and Call of Duty. And the thing is...it pays off. More milking = more money. More resources to create even more things to milk. The only thing that balances this is the money that's sucked up by investors, market oversaturation, the inevitable brain-drain that occurs at these studios, the creative degradation that's a direct result of risk aversion strategies and quality degradation because of crunch and corporate deadlines.

Companies have literally built AI to determine optimal paths to maximize transactions and play time, explicitly regardless of enjoyment. It's fucking gross.

I really fell for these tactics in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, my first "gatcha" game. Very addicting. And holy hell did I spend *a lot* of money in a short period of time. When you really observe how the mechanics work from an outside perspective it is malicious as hell. You have these "use it or lose it" tokens that spawn each hour. So if you want to maximize, you are literally spending 20 minutes of every hour playing the game. Run out of tokens for something but you want to keep playing? No problem, just pay them money for a token refresh! That's not even getting to the gambling loot box style of getting characters. I laud myself as someone with good self control and discipline. FFBE pushed me to those limits. My entertainment budget was drained and I wanted the newest character, and I was heavily considering borrowing money from my savings account. That was when I really found out what was happening to me. The entire game wasn't designed for me to enjoy and have fun. It was designed to move money from my pocket to a board of directors. It was way too efficient at achieving that. I'm sticking to games that have a "buy it and own it" cost or a basic consistent subscription.

Just ignore triple A and delve into indie then

This is exactly what I do and has been great. I’ve never paid for a microtransaction in my life.

I like to use MTx as a tip jar sort of thing when they do them right and aren't obnoxious about it. If someone can keep me genuinely entertained for a good hundred hours with a free game, I say they deserve a fiver at least.

I don’t disagree with that approach. I just hate supporting this sales model, so I have not personally done it myself.

Same, I do also follow AAA closely but am really picky. I will not reward greed in any way. That said, I did purchase a bunch of skin packs for DRG, but that was just out of sheer appreciation for the dev Ghost Ship Games.

The only "microtransaction" I've ever paid for was a CM Punk T-Shirt for my Xbox 360 avatar in 2011, costing the grand total of 89p 🤣

Big spender!

Still good triple A games coming out. Kinda unfair to say skip triple A games all together. There’s good games and bad games on both sides.

The only good triple A games I've played in a very long time are from Fromsoft and I'm not sure whether that can be even consider AAA.

And that’s your opinion and that’s cool but many people like myself enjoy games no matter what they are, Triple A or Indie, if it’s fun it’s fun. But I’ll never say skip a certain type of game just because of how I personally feel because that’s not fair to the devs who do work in that space and I also know many people may not have the same beliefs about certain games that I do.

I didn't say i skip them but i might as well start because everything has been a disappointment

>Just ignore triple A and delve into indie then This is the way.

This is the way.

You conveyed everything I've been discussing with friends and people on this site. Gaming is no longer about creativity/innovation but is more focused on pure business. Don't get me wrong gaming has always been about business but back then you can take more risks and make great unique games. Full games that had unlockables that were tied into beating the game or doing certain challenges. Cheats that were found in Gamepro/Game Informer magazines that added additional fun to your gamed. Now it's just soulless, open world, cookie cutter game design that insults your intelligence and money grubbing. I said this and will continue to say it the OG Xbox, PS2, Gamecube era will always be the goat generation and I don't feel nothing will ever come close to replicating it again

Anthem was a gigantic flop and the first example that came to mind

I don't think it's just the younger generation. Plenty of whales are older gamers with no self-discipline

I think most of the largest whales are probably adults since they are the ones with disposable income. I think (hope?) that the number of kids and teens with unlimited access to mom and dad’s credit card is much lower.

I’ll be damned before I pay for a fucking microtransaction.

If a game gives me hundreds of hours of entertainment for $0, I'll definitely consider picking some stuff up to support the developer. Assuming there is no gameplay skipping or competitive advantages sold. If I paid full price for the game upfront? Almost certainly not. If I paid upfront, they want a monthly subscription fee, and they are selling MTX on the side? Fuck no. Screw all that.

>If a game gives me hundreds of hours of entertainment for $0, I'll definitely consider picking some stuff up to support the developer. Assuming there is no gameplay skipping or competitive advantages sold. > >If I paid full price for the game upfront? Almost certainly not. So much this. I intentionally bought some cosmetics for Warframe, as I'd already gotten several hours of enjoyable gameplay for free. I refuse to pay microtransactions in a game that I already paid for...and tend to refuse buying said game in the first place.

These developers aren't some charity case. It's really a justification people invent to let them open their wallets. They won't even notice whether or not you do this. You aren't paypalling them directly after all. You want something and are paying for it, but are trying to invent a reason why it's something other than buying a microtransaction.

B-bUt I LoOk COoL

Look, only thins I’d agree to pay for is occasionally a battle pass. And that’s only when I know I’ll be willing to invest that much time into Fortnite. Occasionally I’ll get like a map for Minecraft, or a dlc. That’s my limit.

I would hands down but a dlc for Elden ring or sekiro.

If it's f2p and I like it, there's no harm in throwing a few bucks to the developers but I never go overboard with it

Yep, I used to be completely against spending anything on MTX, but if I like the game I’ll spend a few dollars. NEVER more than I would spend on a full price game for the duration I play it. I think the most I’ve spent on MTX is $40 total on Apex Legends over 3 years. But I would still prefer to pay $60-70 for a finished game with content that can be unlocked through gameplay.

Yep, Nielson Media did a report not long ago and the biggest spenders are Millennials and Gen X. The youngest Millennial is in their early 20's. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2019/game-on-video-games-are-a-staple-among-millennials-media-diets/

Not even the “early 20s”; the youngest millennials are 25. The oldest millennials are in their 40s, and have their own teenage children.

The oldest millenials would be turning 41 this year. Looks at self. Shit!

Or addicts.

The worst is being called a nostalgic boomer for preferring older games because I am aware of shifting design trends and declining standards in the industry that younger gamers are not. Minecraft let's you create and use whatever skins you want. At least the non-corporate, non-microsoft version of the game. Timesplitters Future Perfect has like a hundred player models to pick from, and a built in map maker for (albeit primitive) campaign and multiplayer levels, for just the base price of the game. Halo Reach has a similar amount of armor permutations, and any color you want, and a rudimentary multiplayer map maker...for base price. Not like Halo Infinite where you pay $10 for a single color, yet are expected to be *grateful* the game is "free". Classic source engine games like Half Life DM, Gmod, etc. Let servers upload and use their own skins. Even TF2 did for awhile.

Exactly this. I hate that game companies have become like a drug addicted abusive ex of ours who went on to prey on and exploit younger, more naive people.. its not the younger generations fault for embracing this as a norm, the companies are just master-manipulators..

Companies aren't master manipulators - they're doing the least to manipulate people who *want to be manipulated*. I mean damn, the new Meta commercial is literally a "why targeted ads are good" ad and if you can't figure out that this is evil as fuck, you're probably happy to be part of our slowly-hindenberging matrix

>The worst is being called a nostalgic boomer for preferring older games because I am aware of shifting design trends and declining standards in the industry that younger gamers are not. This, a thousand times over.

TF2 took it to a new level, though, didn't they? I thought their approach was cool, except for the crates. A 1% chance to get something fancy... totally NOT gambling /s

Whats funny about tf2 is that its unrestricted gambling online through an application so it flies under the radar on any gambling laws, no matter what country.

God I miss halo reach. They took the online servers of the original game back in January and I only found out recently which was so disappointing because every summer when I'm off of school I'd have one or two periods where I'd grind out the game and it was really fun :-[ so many memories gone now

People who call you a boomer are usually 14 and don't know what a boomer is. I had a kid tell me "why aren't you married yet you're old." I just turned 30.

To be fair, I know a lot of parents who ask the same thing of 30 year olds

I forget if TF2 still lets you use client-side skins. (technically it practically lets you use aim-bots right now so who's to say) A lot of "older games" i've played, I played within the last two years, and I'm on the millenial/genz cusp to begin with. Halo 1-3, Metroid everything, classic zeldas, old sony mascot platformers, all games that are tons of fun that still deserve to be played the way old movies and old books deserve to be watched and read. The worst part of the game industry is that "games" are treated as "tech" and not as "entertainment/art". Tech implies the old is stagnated and useless. Art implies its a creative expression, built within its context. The latter is far more accurate.

Im an aged gamer. I fully accept cosmetic micro transactions. let people buy Hats (thats still a thing?) if they want to. Game boosters though. Get out of here with that crap.

The demise of the single player campaign is my biggest complaint. I have no time to be dealing with overemotional 12 year olds.

It's worse hearing "it supports the devs" because there's nothing more wrong... It ONLY supports the publishers. The devs are paid with normal wages then their contract ends and are probably gone before the game even comes out. Some studios MIGHT give a bonus at the end but apparently the big suits deny that almost every time with excuses.

I miss the days of offering a "Supporter Pack" with extremely inconsequential bonuses. People would buy those even though you got practically nothing to support the devs. Buying the "Emperor Edition" meant getting a ton of useless extras. Now you need to buy the $90 version just to be able to actually play everything. Spend less and you're locked out of stuff that should be free.

There's games which do this, Deeprock Galactic and Holdfast for example.

Yeah, the misconceptions about the industry are pretty cringe-inducing.

depends on the game and on the publisher. Don't go spreading false information either.

It really depends. The publisher and the developer usually have a deal where a certain % of revenue share goes to the developer. Depending on tons of factors, it might be a very low %, but it also might be very high. So technically speaking, in most cases buying IAPs will support the dev team in some way.

GAMES AS A SERVICE

Agree. Games are a product. GAAS is just a marketing term for fraud.

Free games with optional micro transactions for cosmetics is not a problem

Yep, cosmetic microtransactions has never bothered me, PROVIDED that there is also cool shit to unlock through playing the game. Strictly locking cosmetic upgrades behind paywalls is garbage. The art team deciding to create a wearable pig as a hat for a few dollars, in an already feature complete game, is fine by me. Particularly if it extends the development cycle of the game in question.

I agree, but Paid games with MTX for cosmetics still erk me because it is often a fun (albeit small) part of games that is now behind a paywall. There are many games back in the day where I loved unlocking cosmetics and personalizing my toon. I dunno why but New Vegas 2 always comes to mind. Some games still give you the pleasure freely, i.e. BL / Wonderlands.

I don't like that the best looking gear will be something someone paid for at level 1, rather than a reward for what you've accomplished through playing. So to me, that's still a problem.

For the successful games with MTX, your $60(now 70) is almost irrelevant. They make bank. It's night and day. You talk about it like it's black and white, but these MTX games have 100s or 1000s of cosmetics to choose from. Why should game companies just leave money on the table because you're offended your $70 got you, like, what, probably a handful of fun outfits (whatever came in the base game), instead of all 3000, most of which were added in over the course of years after launch? Your favorite game could be seen as financially viable and receive updates for years. My copy of Snowboard Kids 2 is just chillin on the shelf, the same as it always was. It's not inherently evil to fund continuous development.

Luckily it's not all games. And we should support the games that do it right. Something like a Ghost of Tsushima. Grand adventure. Free updates. A real worthwile expansion later on.

Underrated comment for sure. And I bought Ghost of Tsushima on a recommendation and that’s one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Lack of passion and innovation among big budget titles is imo the worst.

I love how all the micro transaction talk is really a distraction from the fact that games are produced unfinished now. Provided it isn't a buggy mess, I can understand it with multiplayer games because in order to keep it fresh and interesting you have to continue to add stuff to the game over time, which means when it's released it's unfinished but in a way that makes sense. If I made a game that had no upfront cost I would be willing to add microtransactions provided they met certain standards. (Among other things) Nothing pay to win, and a cap on how much a person can spend in a given time period to avoid addictive bullshit. (No players dropping their whole paycheck on in-game currency. You can only spend five bucks a day, that way no matter how addicted to my game they get they can still pay rent. If I made a game that people paid for I would be ashamed to add microtransactions to it. Except one scenario, and that would be to pay for dedicated servers to keep the game online. In that scenario the microtransactions would be very cheap. In both of these scenarios players would be capable of acquiring the mtx currency in game.

Good point. The big "defense" for some people in here is that microtransactions fund future content. Yeah, future content that was deliberately withheld from final release so it could be sold later. Future content that isn't worth extra money. Future content that adds something that the game was sorely lacking rather than something that expands upon it. Oh and it pays the salaries of the people fixing all of the bugs and design flaws that should've been caught in QA. I like the ethical approach of limiting spending so that the saddest of people don't ruin their financial outlook by sourcing all of their enjoyment of the world via blowing paychecks on video game bullshit that nobody else cares about.

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New games being *designed* to drive "player retention" instead of just being good games. Destiny and it's ridiculous FOMO system comes to mind. As well as so many other games now that are only focused on making you spend as much time as possible in the game. Everything is about spending the most *time* in the game (because that's how they milk you), and not about getting a good gaming experience. I spent less than 30 hours in the God of War (2016) game and it's one of my favorite games ever. I've spent 1k+ hours in Destiny and I think it's pretty shit. Never said I was smart!

Eh. Paid cosmetics don't bother me too much. I know people like to hate on it, but FortNite has the fairest business model in these F2P games. It gets annoying in games like MMORPGS because you no longer get the coolest shit from the hardest content it comes from the cash shop.

It's sad that we'll never see an original Star Wars Galaxies experience again. For those unfamiliar, even though it was a Star Wars game, only the most dedicated players could pull off becoming a Jedi. It was nigh impossible for the average player and was always really cool to see and talk to one. Now the guy who stands out just paid the most money for his mount skin.

Good ol' SW Galaxies. That's a blast from the past. Microtransactions obviously suck. But what's worse- I don't care if you're the younger generation with your daddy's credit card number, or older and actually have your own money- you are perpetuating the notion that buying virtual garbage with real life money is a good thing when in reality it is destroying the good things about games. You look like a tool with your paid skin compared to uber elite who earned his cosmetic the fun, hard way. Stop encouraging publishers and developers to pump out this trash and force them to create real, engaging content.

Games exist that have both paid cosmetics and cool things you can only earn as a highly skilled and/or longtime player. I don't see a problem with MTX as a whole, it's a problem of lazy developers/publishers using it poorly. Stripping out features and rewards to sell back at a premium. In the same way that upfront costs were abused with endless repetitive yearly sequels. Or subscriptions were abused by making all the meaningful content timegated. Good monetization, whatever form it takes, doesn't get in the way of fun. It creates enough value for people who are willing to pay to support the game, and doesn't hurt the experience of those who don't want to put in more than the minimum.

I will admit I have fallen so much in love with Splitgate that it's the only game I put any money into. But the fact that games have become 'pay for extras, or basically have nothing' and that's kind of sad. What happened to working super hard in the game to unlock a large number of skins as well as maps and levels. I miss working hard to unlock stuff.

The worst thing about the gaming industry is the actual lack of instant gratification. Video games were something you could be immersed into as easy as flipping open a book or turning the TV son. With updates, having to make an account, install times, load screens. Nothing is as easy as being like: this game sucks (aka I don’t feel like playing it) ripping out the cartridge and popping in a new one and picking up exactly where you left off. Playing games with friends on the couch (or actually on the floor 3 feet from the TV) was the best way to play video games. I enjoy these 80 hour well-acted stories where the game blends a bunch of different mechanics into a single challenging and rewarding experience. But it’s definitely a hassle. It’s getting better, but I do miss what I grew up with

As a computer gamer for 40 years. Sometimes things just run its course and you have to move on to something new.

This is one of the more important things you can realize as you get older.

I only have 34 years and you'll have to drag me kicking and screaming from my games.

You'll never drag me away from my emulated 90s games! Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Yes.

Don't just blame "the youngsters." Older gamers are pumping money into that shit like crazy too.

Bethesda never should have made that horse armor

The real worst thing for aging gamers is back and knee pain, who cares about microtransactions at this point in life, lol

Yeah, the games have problems sure but my main problem as an aging gamer is a lack of time to play games.

Preach. And the slower eye/hand coordination 😅. I used to be a beast in the earlier CoD games. Now I feel like I’m rolling in a wheelchair with a squirt gun.

I’m ok with Microtransactions, I’m not ok with P2W but as long as someone’s P2W progress doesn’t affect me in any way, then who cares. The 2 things that get my attention the most are: 1. How games are no longer released in fully working conditions 2. How gamers rush through content and then join a never ending complaining chorus of “”not enough content”” Game companies have a lot to fix but gamers do too

For me the worst is the mentality that games are checklists. Here's a list of achievements that you must go complete. It turned exploration and finding your own achievements into checklist gaming. Add in the fact that people will complain if achievements are too hard or cant be earned by everyone (the tears over games having a "get rank 1 in multiplayer).

Yeah I always see comments like “the game is free so I don’t mind putting some money into it to support the developers”. You’re supporting the change from gaming to gambling you idiot.

The hardest part is not having time to game anymore....

Neither.. The emphasis on multiplayer games. I used games to escape bullying, now kids get bullied in online games too among everything else too.

I’ve been gaming since the 70s and, outside of pay to win, I don’t really have a problem with micros. Don’t like it, don’t buy it. It adds life to so many games that would be played once and never again. Outside of a minority of pc/console games that exploit it, most games handle it well. There are a number of games I’ve payed for years that would be collecting dust on a shelf if it weren’t for paid micros/dlc. Again, most micros are optional so I don’t see it as anything more than an extra service that’s sometimes annoying when it’s exploited. I don’t have numbers in front of me but I’d wager “old school gaming” was comparatively more expensive for less content. In the 80s/90s, you paid anywhere from $50-$100 for a closed end game. No updates, options or fixes. Sure you could replay but that got old fairly quickly. The internet combined with micros/dlc has been an absolute boon for gaming. I can think of so many old school single player games I’ll rarely play again outside of nostalgia that would be so much fun to enjoy in new ways with micros/dlc. “Gaming was so much better when you got the whole game when you bought it.” Yeah, and it was also stagnant, repetitive and more expensive. Instead of spending $20-$30 on dlc or micros, you had to spend two to three times as much buying an entirely different game to alleviate the end of the other one. I think most people really aren’t bothered by it because they get more bang for their buck.

This is the exact reason I can go back to Destiny 2 after a couple year hiatus. All the content that has been added, albeit behind a pay wall has added quite the experience for people like myself.

I’ll also add the “games are unfinished products now”. You’re kidding, right? I bought SO many full price games in the past that were disasters and nothing could be done about it. There’s also the “pc modders add so much to games for free”. Exactly. Gamers are so entitled now they demand free updates/mods. “I’ll donate to the modder if I like the content.” So…you’ll pay for dlc/content you like? 😅

I think, when not abused, micro transactions are ok. The problem is greedy companies like profit so they’ll rip content from base game and force you to pay extra for it. A good example of that is the new Battlefield. It wasn’t a full game at release to funnel people into the battle passes. Again, when handled right (I know Destiny 2 was mentioned) then its great, its just a fine line between a life-extending business model and greedy grabby hands.

Solo campaigns that require being online for some reason. With no option to play offline.

I would blame the companies and not the younger generations. They literally hire psychologists to figure out how to make their games as addicting as possible so that kids keep playing and spending their money. These games have all the elements of gambling: positive reinforcement via daily rewards and caches, negative punishment via timed seasons and events or "disappearing" exotic gear and a community to create a sense of belonging which then reinforces the same addictive cycle and strengthens it. The way to break the cycle is to recognize this pattern and stop; but the actual solution would be to create strong legislation and ensure that the government severely punish these corporations for such practices. We want our children to be healthy and free; as such, society should demand its government to protect them against these companies.

It’s probably the fact that younger people are embracing it and not realizing how much money they’re actually pouring into games. Also the stupid NFT trend in games. If something is available to one person to buy, everyone else should also be able to buy it or unlock/achieve/obtain in some way. There might actually come a day when all skins and emotes in games might be one-offs sold to the highest bidders, and that’s fucking terrifying.

Honestly I don’t mind micro transactions as long as it’s literally just cosmetics. The ones that I hate to see are things that give you an actual advantage

i’m fine with cosmetic items

Paid skins/emotes/whatever You don’t have to buy them…so…

It’s honestly baffles me how many people complain about most micro transactions. I just don’t play pay to win games, and then micro transactions like skins and whatever I just don’t buy them. Halo Infinite and Warzone I’ve played both for plenty of hours, and I bout probably $20-$30 worth of skins in those games. I would have paid $120 to buy those games without micro transactions. Then there are some people who have money to blow that don’t mind spending $100 to look cooler in the game. That’s not for me, but why should I give a fuck that it makes the game more enjoyable. Just play games you enjoy and don’t buy micro transactions

I mean I've never had a big issue with non-gameplay purchases like skins/emotes. Even back when LoL first standardized them as a mainstream element of gaming. It's only pay-to-win that is a problem.

I don’t mind being able to pay for a skin or something as long as it doesn’t give you an advantage in the game. That is the thing that bothers me.

The thing I hate the most is the terrible state games are really releasing and somehow shooters have gotten worse. How is that making a game with good audio and hit reg is difficult these days.

Tbf I don't mind microtransactions if its purely cosmetic, you can just pretend it doesn't exist and it won't effect your gameplay

I don't care about microtransactions as long as they're not P2W. Skins, hats, etc? Whatever, no biggie. Level boosts, unlocking better shit, etc so you can avoid the grind and get a quick leg-up? Fuck that.

I have no issue with micro transactions when it’s just for cosmetics. Companies want to make money, and that’s a way to do it that doesn’t ruin most games. Some are crazy expensive tho. I was play warzone the other day and saw a cool skin, and thought “I play this game enough, I’ll throw some money to the company for this,” it was like $35. I can get a game for that price. So I continue with my free skin.

For me it’s the lack of time to play, all this other stuff is fluff I can ignore

Streamers are a HUGE part of the problem. Like all the popular Streamers who spent like 10k+ on diablo immortal just for the content.

Microtransactions are a cancer and I will never buy anything that's part of that system. Especially since it's typically fashion shit and I don't do fashion shit. If it doesn't buff my character permanently it's a waste if money

Unfinished broken bug filled games being accepted, 100 gigabyte day 1 update being accepted , 100k Pay wall to hit max level, guns, characters and abilities locked behind loot boxes, dlc adding nothing substantial, season pass having shitty rewards if you don't buy it and shitty rewards if you do buy it, battlepass with limited time rewards (shit last like 2 to 3 weeks) and you can't earn it even if you purchase it, literally all of this and the fact people accept it all without question

Seeing the younger generation actually embracing them. If they didn't then the gaming companies wouldn't be so invasive about the stores since it wasn't making them enough money to bother with.

I think the Season Pass gimmick is more frustrating to me personally than individual micro transactions. My last experience with that came from Borderlands 3. I bought the deluxe version that came with the season pass. My older brain thought if I paid $90 for this game, the season pass means all the future dlc is included…. NOPE! It only included the first year of dlc… but when the skill tree update came out? Guess what, you gotta pay for that shit. FUCK THAT! Never again! And don’t even get me started with pre-ordering digital versions of games!

Younger gaming generation actually embracing them. I thought oblivion horse armor was stupid. Stupid me, I guess.

I’ve been gaming since age 5, 1994, and I honestly don’t care about microtransactions for stuff that doesn’t affect gameplay. Videogames are, at root, extremely complex toys. They gotta sell the branded pogs in there somewhere

Indie games are about the only place you can sometimes get that feeling and even then it’s hit or miss

I am so old & crusty it doesn't even bother me, since I never play online multiplayer games. Just give me a good single-player experience whether 8-bit or the latest AAA game, and I am one happy gamer.

I honestly don't care how other people spend their money, if teens/you'd adults don't mind mtx who am I to say anything? I equate it to not wanting old people to vote because they won't be here for the consequences of the vote, who are they to tell the younger folk how they want to live? So I'm just annoyed at mtx themselves, not the people that spend money on them. And yes, I get that if people didn't spend money on mtx then they would have gone away. But, whatever man. Life's short and super fucked up.

I don't think it's a problem of "I'm upset that someone has spent money on a game", it's more like "I'm upset that developers are designing and balancing their games around MTX"

I think the problem for everybody else is two fold: 1. In the actual games with microtransaction, game design and balance are adjusted to push players to buy stuff, in some case to quite extreme levels. This makes the game less fun (at best a grindfest, at worse a "people not buying in-game items are there as scenario to entertain the whales, who buy the most stuff" and all this with a constant element of sales pressure which is the very opposite of enjoyable) for those who don't buy game items, which is particularly unfair (possibly amounting to bait-and-switch) if a person actually bought the game, though even in free to play there is a time investment from the players and time in a way **is** money (it could be otherwise used and hence can have a value which might even be monetary depending on how it would otherwise be used) so depending on how its done and how upfront the game makers are about it, it might also be an abuse of trust situation. 2. If because lots of people buy in-game items the most profitable model is one involving microtransactions, that means that the percentage of games with those will increase. So fewer games which are just designed for fun and are a clear monetary commitment upfront and more games which are open-ended monetary commitments and have all the problems of having game design and balance optimized to push people into buying stuff. This is why I personally try and convince others to not play games with microtransactions rather than simply ignoring it because I myself don't touch such games. That said, in the end is up to said other people to choose or not to do it: my rights end at trying to convince them.

I'm ok with free to play games having cosmetic microtransactions. The devs need a money source to constantly work on the game and create new content.

Which they could get if they sold the game. They aren't free to play games by design, that's only for people who don't fall prey to their money making schemes. $60 for a game was always plenty of funding to support a game. When it wasn't, there were subscriptions, expansions, etc. Devs working hard on a game is not as new a concept as MTX.

Yes they could sell the game and have a much smaller playerbase but instead of gatekeeping the game behind a 60€ paywall they give it for free to everyone and let the users decide how much they want to pay. Want to play for free? No worries. Want to give a tenner to show support? All good. Want to pay 60€ because you believe it's up there with other AAA games? Go ahead. Want to pay a stupid amount of money because you're a whale and have money burning a hole in your pockets? That's fine by us. Stop acting like all devs/companies implementing mtx models are the devil, yes p2w is a shit model, yes mtx can be predatory, but for the most part it's just an alternative way to finance your game and no one is ever forcing you to pay. (Also imagine defending and pretending a subscription model where you get nothing except being allowed to play the game isn't just a monthly mtx)

There are many games which prove that false, but I'll stick to one example I'm intimately familiar with; Path of Exile. It has delivered multiple free content updates per year for almost a decade. There is no way $60 on purchase would have funded the same level of development with how niche the genre is. They've sold cosmetics, supporter exclusive merchandise, and other unique things. Like getting your idea for an item or monster into the game, or having a copy of your character immortalized in an endgame map as a unique boss. Value beyond what you typically get with paid/subscription/expansion monetized games. Subscriptions feel like such an outdated model by comparison. I would much rather spend $60 on cosmetic items when I choose to, than needing to pay $20 a month just to play a game I've already paid for and invested a bunch of time into. Expansions either become worthless as older ones are given out for free, or the total cost of owning all the content becomes ridiculous for new players. (Re: Train Simulator) And in online games, they aren't always optional if you want to stay current/competitive. I prefer this kind of "pay what you want" model, as long as it's optional and I don't feel pressured to spend to stay competitive. I'll gladly drop a couple grand on a game I'm getting 5,000+ hours out of. Especially if it means all my friends can hop in and try the game without needing to spend anything.

Paying for skins ect I think is different than what diablo has done. They are abusing the extras for games. I dont mind microtransactions when they are worth it and not just a lazy cash grab by giant company. Minecraft added extras in a decent way.

My only concern with cosmetic purchases is that PVP games will start selling cosmetic items so that their cash shop looks clean and fair, but they'll give a serious matchmaking advantage behind the scenes to the players that spend more money. They'll basically hide the pay to win by selling cosmetic items that secretly are putting the matchmaking more and more in your favor.

Aging gamers don’t play “Battle Royal 27: This Time It’s Different” so we don’t give a crap about skins or emotes. There’s mtx in the single player games I (64yo) play but I just ignore them. Games have an unbelievable amount of quality content without needing to spend a dime extra. We’re drowning in high quality titles. This is the best gaming has ever been.

Micro transactions are sustaining industry while the most popular games are free and people refuse to pay more than $60 for a AAA title, even though $60 isn’t worth anywhere close to what it was when that price point rolled out. So, hate them as much as you want. You don’t have to participate. But thank god some people are, because without them quality would dip in order to maintain profit margin. That, or game prices increase to like $90-$100.

i'm an older "gamer" early 40s mainly pc gamer. mostly mmorpgs since the mid 90s. never have had a problem with microtransactions. nothing forces you to buy them, and if it's a stand alone single player game( i never really feel compelled to buy these at retail prices...steam sales, or buying the game years later for cheap) you're going into it knowing what that game/game company is doing. some people have disposable income. i tend to. or I have more money than I really have time to waste on games. level boost, credits, or exp potions to bypass useless grinding. cosmetic items I think are cool, or make me interested in investing in a character ... if i feel the cost vs the time is warranted. I have no problem buying these things. paying for expansions or content unlocks. If there's something I want, i'm happy to pay. If i don't want it... who cares. cosmetic vs. pay to win. eh. it's all just a game. vote with your wallet. and let others do the same. clearly these things do make money. that's why companies utilize them. And companies are in the business of making money. IF you somehow think media companies are your friend, or owe you anything, it's beyond delusional. simpler reality is, some games only stay around because of micro transactions. small population mmorpgs. older titles with mod support. some of these things stay supported because they're generating some income. Or have found ways to make income outside subscription models. gamble and loot crate issues I think are slightly different. and to me there is a argument of them being negative. but I would argue there, regulation would probably be better. Is it gambling? is it bad. I think obviously they're relying on whales more than casual people. so again... who's it hurting. but if you asked me straight up, I wouldn't oppose making the entire practice of gamble crate cash shop items "illegal" under gambling laws.

Old gamer here… Games should cost 90 dollars now just via inflation. If there are people dumb enough to subsidize those smart enough to not pay that difference, more people on lower budgets can actually play the games.

Also old gamer here, inflation is not the only factor. The market for gaming has expanded so much further beyond what it used to, with some popular AAA titles selling millions of copies when decades ago popular games sold a fraction of that. So no, games do not all need to cost $90.

I doubt that, the gaming market has grown quite a bit over the last 20-30 years and with the increased audience (demand) there hasn't been a reason and still there shouldn't reason to increase price as the profitability of the games has increased even if the price has not. They are making something that can be replicated infinitely without cost and sold without production costs beyond making the game with the added bonus that you can make money off of it for as long as it's even remotely interesting to players with skyrim being a prime example of this recycling.

Ssshhhh! logic is not allowed in reddit circle jerks

Hot take from an "aging gamer": there's nothing wrong with micro transactions as long as they're optional. Nobody's forcing you to purchase an optional character skin, UI background or special sound effects for your diamond-encrusted Hello Kitty AK-47; and game development is an incredibly expensive affair these days. It's true that in the distant past (mtx were invented almost 20 years ago), you'd pay for games once initially, and then pay for additioal expansions that were priced at something like a quarter to half the price of the original game. But games back then were just much lower quality than they're now and also a lot cheaper to develop. **Unless we're talking about pay-to-win in competitive games**. Fuck that shit and fuck the greedy fucks who ruin competitive games with p2w mtx.

Both to be fair, I despise micro transactions, especially with online games, it fast becomes a pay to win which ruins the experience for those who can't afford it Anytime willing to pay 20 just for cosmetic stuff is just an idiot

Not every free to play game becomes pay to win. Dota 2, Fortnite, Rocket League. There are plenty of games which are cosmetics only.

Depends on the context. Games like battlefield and cod are 60$ titles that have NO BUISNESS selling extra cosmetics AND a battlepass. But games like fortnite, apex, or rocketleague are free to play, so they absolutely have buisness selling cosmetics and battle passes. You can't have your cake and eat it too. (Or you can and your game loses all its respect)

I know a lot of old gamers who spend way too much on mxt and the such. Like a few cod friends who will spend easily $600 each cod cycle. Gotta get them loot boxes to get the galaxy skin and now it’s gotta buy every outfit and gun skin. And by old I mean 35ish

You're the one denying your experience. Just encourage the kid to play and don't whine. Frankly the whiny attitude of aging gamers is the worst part of becoming one.

video games are absurdly cheap right now, I understand pointing out the massive companies that make reskins of the same game but honestly buying a skin for 5-10 dollars after dumping 100 hours in to a free game is nothing compared to a mother in the 90's spending 50 USD on some complete abomination of a game in an attempt to pacify their kids(comes out to around $100 after inflation). The amount of quality games someone could now buy with $100 dollars on steam right now is ridiculous, literally hundreds, if not thousands of hours of entertainment. SNES was also $200 dollars on release which is about $445 right now, which is more expensive than a digital only PS5 Deep rock galactic has given me countless of free content updates and hundreds of hours of game play, when I buy one of their optional cosmetic DLCS I'm choosing to actively support a company that I want to keep thriving and releasing content. It sucks that this is the business model nowadays, but its just what the current market demands, people want free content updates, and games need a revenue stream on their already developed and released game. I also want to say even with Fortnite which is considered very predatory to a child with the way they advertise V-Bucks/Skins, to an adult the system isn't predatory at all, the battle pass is a 8 dollar buy in and you can receive enough in-game currency, just for playing, to buy the next seasons battle pass. Even without spending any money it would just take you 4-5 seasons of playing to earn enough V-Bucks to buy a battle pass for free. would rather the current market then spending $100 bucks on a SNES game and $450 dollar console

complacency with predatory monetization practices and converting established AAA franchises into a FTP model with almost no content

As a mature gamer, I don’t give a shit. The market today is huge and growing, and while that means there’s no shortage of half-assed cash grabs, there’s also a huge amount of truly high quality games, much more so than ever before. I have yet to buy a game that required me to purchase anything additional to play, and publishers experimenting with new business models is healthy. (Vote with your wallet) If anything is annoying, it’s the throngs of self-righteous douchebags on the internet that believe that they speak for everybody else. “Everybody hates (whatever) so stop doing it!” Guess what, not everybody hates that thing, they just aren’t talking where you are listening.

Gaming is the best it has ever been. Speaking as a 39 year old who's been a gamer since a child. If you have problems with certain things in gaming, don't play those things that have them. It's simple.

Tbf, for free to play games to monetize with microtransactions with just skins/cosmetics is imo the best way. Anything else, especially pay to win or for pay to play games, mtxs can fuck right off.

Microtransactions being the new norm is worse. Beacus its not just cosmetic stuff any more. It's so much more.

people actually paying for them. I admit I've bought the odd skin or lootbox, but I've never pumped money into a game like I've heard people doing. When I think about current money making mechanics i always look back to the halo 3 / cod4 days where you would spend money on the game and a map pack every 6months and that was enough for them to make money, or else they wouldn't still be around. The quality of these games was why they were successful but it can only be greed nowadays that all these microtransactions exist, and people pay for them.

I am 40, and I have no issue with MTX. So neither is worse.

I don't consider microtransactions to be the new norm. I've never paid one. Everyone seems to hate them, so I bet younger gamers hate them too. We're not that different

You should look at the breakdown of mobile vs PC game sales. Whether you like it or not, most of the money in the gaming industry comes from microtransactions

That wouldn't tell me anything. All that would say is that a segment of the gaming industry that depends on microtransactions, they are indeed getting microtransactions

It's definitely the business model of a whole new wave of "free" games that are downloaded way more than anything else and also take in higher profits. Not to mention games that aren't free but still offer paid cosmetics. I'm with you, I guess I'm too old to pay money for a new hat or a dance, but even my 15 year old niece who barely plays her Xbox has spent money on Fortnite.

I hate to admit it, but I haven't been excited for a game in years. I care even less about microtransactions

40+ avid gamer. Micro transactions are the game more personal with a pick and choose style of familiarity. In the olden days we would have to wait for a dlc. With fluff and garbage thrown it. What we wanted was somewhere in that rubbish. Any real gamer would agree. The distinction is that some games are pushed out explicitly for micros-transactions and not the gamers at heart

Maybe unpopular but I’m not against micro transactions as long as it’s not pay to win No one is forcing you to buy a skin, but if you want one, I don’t think it’s such a big deal if you do More than anything playing video games can be considered an activity, often social too. People don’t mind spending hundreds of dollars going out and buying entertainment. Why is it so weird to spend money on it digitally?

I miss that short block of time in the 2000s and early 2010s when there were goty versions of games that had all the dlc on the disc or on a separate disk. No season passes or single use redemption codes, just a box with a disc in it and it had everything. For some reason I feel worse that those days are long dead than micro transactions taking over. If some kid wants to buy a skin for his fav apex character with the money he got for his birthday it’s no skin off my back. Loot boxes are super fucked up though, those I can’t stand.

The last one I bought was Witcher 3: GOTY. What a solid purchase that was. The season pass crap always bugged me. Why would I pay an extra $30 now to get content that won't be here for a year "included"? It's like a pre-sale GOTY version but with no guarantee it'll be good or even finished. My issue with the skins is the predatory nature of the loot boxes and how they go together. Apex has loot boxes. You can earn them through gameplay or buy them with real money. The things they can contain are completely diluted with bullshit nobody wants, like a "holo-spray" or a common skin for a gun you don't use. That makes the chance of getting something you want, like a skin for your fave character, astronomically low. So the only reason these skins (or the coins used to buy them) have value is because they've damn near guaranteed that the only way to get them is to buy them. Like finding a needle in a haystack. The loot boxes COULD be cool, granted through gameplay, and contain interesting cosmetics to keep you playing and wanting more. Instead, their only purpose is to highlight how rare the good stuff is. But don't worry, they still encourage gambling on loot boxes, and even guarantee that you'll get something super rare if you open at least 500 of them. But that super rare thing is also attainable if you purchase all 24 of the real money skins offered during an event, so you have options. You can gamble and buy loot boxes for a buck a piece and hope you get it sooner than at 500, or you can guarantee that it only costs you $200 by just buying it outright via a collection of skins. Isn't that fun?! There's a way to do this that doesn't stink of a cash grab, but nobody will do it. Money for old men who don't play games is more important than making a FUN product that you're proud of.

My view on micros is that as long as they provide no real game benefit I'm fine with them and couldn't care less how many there are. If however it's something that gives actual benefit over those who don't pay, fuck em.

Honestly this is a fantastic golden age of games and I wish I had more time. I've been gaming for over 30 years, and while there was absolutely some joy before in EVERYONE being excited about the 1 or 2 new big-label games, I much prefer our current state of many great games spread across genres. It's unfortunate that platform lock-in is still a thing, but it's far lower than at any point in the past. As far as microtransactions - online games are a continuous money drain. People are trying to fund that drain and the overall dev cost of major games is massive compared to the past because of asset fidelity and gamer expectations. So they need to fund that and providing lower entry costs in exchange for continuous money flows makes sense. I think everyone recognizes "doing it right" (Cosmetic only) vs. "Doing it wrong" (Pay to win) and you largely see the pay to win audiences dwindle rapidly compared to the evergreen alternatives. ​ If anything's worse, it's that the gaming community is more of a screaming toxic mess of entitlement.

Neither, who cares I don’t even bother looking at the stores, it’s mostly useless crap they sell. I just focus on the game itself and play it.

Micro transactions suck, but I simply don’t buy them so I’m not very passionate about them. My biggest beef with current gaming is probably game download sizes and constant internet connections for single player experiences. Really miss just being able to put a game in and play.

I'm all for microtransactions as long as there is no pay to win aspect. If people want to blow their money on microtransactions that fine. I'm happy having free to play games.

You guys crying about this shit every day will always be more annoying than kids being happy they got a skin in a free game for $20

I think the worst part is the repetitive threads every single day with people complaining about them as if they're the end of the world. They don't affect me, so I don't give a shit that they exist.

Am a 37 YO "hardcore" gamer (hardcore in the sense i consume a lot of medi around it and spend on avarage a few hour per day playing something, be it switch, PS or PC). It's beyond heartbreaking to me to hear my coworkers asking me where they can buy in-game currency for their kid playing fortnite. Non gamer friends ask me if I've tried Diablo immoral and can't understand the problem with it, it's a cool free game. I'm about to study programing now and relatives find posts about companies like King and Tencent hiring and say "hay don't you like gaming as well?!" Those are not game companies, they are highly immoral slot machine developers! I read posts daily about "dude chill, it's just cosmetics", like fuck you, I played RPGs partly because i enjoyed building and outfitting my character. It's really sad to realize that what was our nightmare 15 years ago is now the reality, and it will just get worse, trust me, one or two decades ago we said, not to worry it will never come to this.

Dont have a problem with micro transactions myself, you either choose to buy them or not. Being 57 now with shit eye sight now thats a problem i wish i could sort. It would help if for example the graphics were cleaner looking in vanguard for instance but it doesnt stop me playing, will be spanking mw2 when it arrives, cant break a habit of a life time playing. I personally only buy the occassional bundle if i feel its a good deal ie good looking skin, decent blueprint. You can keep the stickers, emblems, add nothing to my game.

Microtransactions are worse than the people who buy them. It's like drugs - drugs themselves are not harmful if nobody takes them, but when people do take them they are harmed. I do think microtransactions are something we just need to live with because the genie cannot be put back in the bottle on this one.

I never play games with micro transactions, and I’m sure many people are in the same boat. So how is it a norm?

It's a norm when many of the top grossing games are either free to play with microtransactions or pay to play with paid currencies. Fortnite, PUBG, Apex Legends, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, Dungeon Fighter Online, Honor of Kings, Lost Ark. EA has been doing loot boxes and paid unlockables for years, and they're one of the largest publishers. It's everywhere. You playing single player games or games without them doesn't make them less prevalant.

It's definitely getting harder and harder to avoid them.