I will defend microtransactions… to a point. But this… this is… blech.
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KillerD121
6 years ago
Lovely
knight
6 years ago
Everyone is labeling it as pure evil and made from demon devs… I have a quite neutral state to it. I have read some parts of it as far as my understanding of this goes. To put it simple, I believe this is not very different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people (not to mention Google and Co with personalized ads). They try to sell items to player in which they might be interested in. You still don’t have to buy anything. The game industry is a growing one, but the selling concept haven’t changed… Read more »
The problem is that by the very nature of this system, for it to be effective, the transactions must be Pay to Win. because they are pushing people who don’t have item X purchased into a matchup with someone who does have it purchased, specifically with the aim that the person without the item will loose and want to buy it in order to match up more favourably.
The difference for me is that it’s a bit like buying a movie and being charged extra if you want to see the special effects, or certain scenes. These micro transactions don’t seem to be selling extra bits and pieces but rather things that would’ve been in the standard game a few years ago. They’re purposefully removing/keeping back bits of the game to make you pay again.
But this isn’t advertising; this is controlling what experience you’re getting and making sure you’re getting a worse experience than you would naturally get, and making sure the whales get the best experience. If you’re comparing this to TV, it’s as if AT&T changed the show lineup on all its basic cable channels to The Joy of Painting, Bewitched reruns, and Young Sheldon for 23 hours of the day, with a break around 2:30 AM for ‘primetime,’ all while advertising HBO and Starz on every commercial break. And then if you pay extra for those networks, THEN you also get… Read more »
I don’t think this is as beneficial to whales as you might think. Take Heroes of the Storm, for instance. If the matchmaking was prioritized to match people that have the currently On Sale Item matched with people that don’t have that item it is potentially going to have a negative effect on the whale’s time to find a game and additionally the quality of game as they won’t be playing against their peers but rather people most likely new to the game. In team-based games there is nothing worst than getting matched with people who don’t know what they… Read more »
This doesn’t seem evil at all, though it does run counter to the idea of the games. When you play a competitive type game, a large part of it is getting good and winning on your own merits. People don’t want to win because they bought a sniper rifle and then were matchmade with a bunch of idiots who constantly wander out in the open without any sort of cover. Also it tricks people because they might play and see that all the best snipers have a paid for gun but that isn’t true, the system just always places them… Read more »
@ Eldest Gruff I am the kind that never does microtransactions. So I am not “the problem”. You all are thinking with this algorithm the game with it only can be played when you buy these extra items and that you only get matched with better players who have purchased something. This sounds like a game that is totally bullshit, no fun to play and bad at every corner. Now you are saying: “Exactly, that’s it!” But if a game were actually like that, no one would ever buy it! There are tons of websites and magazines who review games… Read more »
“I believe this is not very different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people”
Yeah I remember the last time I bought an album, and listened to it, it made me listen to it with someone who had won the exclusive bonus tracks from the loot boxes, which made me want to buy some loot boxes myself to see if I could win the exclusive bonus tracks too.
Oh wait. That didn’t happen because this is VERY different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people.
“Not very different” and not :”exactly the same” You are quite blind if you don’t see how they try to influence you. Football champion chip: When the player enter the arena, every single one of them wears shiny red beats headphones. Football-/ Pop-/ and TV-Stars making ads for watches, clothes or razors and say that it is their one and true favorit product. “Hm yeah I just buy it because it’s more expansive then the bottle next to it with the same ingredients but without my beloved superstar.” But okay, stick to your comparison, that really makes no sense, but… Read more »
They want to frustrate players by match them agains better players and then help them for money, thats sooo Evil that Satan is like “Wooooooo thats evil, I wouldn’t made this up myself”
Imagine if you small kid and you want to go out to play some footbal and I ended playing agains pro adualts players and some slimy guy would come and say “U see mate, you can win next time, if you buy those growing hormons.”
DannyboyO1
6 years ago
Yep. Good reason to never again touch a product by Activision. Oh, it’s… they really just do CoD. I never play that. I mean, why would I? I could be punching dragons or shooting starships. Military porn is like… sports or those hunting games. You have the power to do ANYTHING imaginable, so you do the shitty thing you could actually do in reality. Unfortunately, the only way to combat this would be to have your code reviewed by a trusted 3rd party. Otherwise, there is no way to tell if it’s being implemented. Which also makes it a pretty… Read more »
This makes me so mad. It’s –literally– making your game worse; pairing you up with other players who have better gear then you, in order to emphasize that you could do better with this paid gear, then rewarding the player with putting him in scenarios in which his gear gives him an advantage. I could not think of a clearer example of “pay to win” than this… well, unless they had people paying for invincibility cheats or something. Don’t pay? The game makes sure you lose more. Pay? The game makes sure you win more. The one shining, light here… Read more »
But Overwatch has no microtransaction except skins that don’t do jackshit but influence appearance. Hearthstone i can get behind cause the cards influence the gameplay heavily, but not Overwatch.
Overwatch only just cleared its first year a few months ago. This is Blizzard, the same chums behind WOW. Plenty of time to introduce new premium features to a loyal customer base.
You don’t have to play any games at all! And I believe you don’t buy any game you heard only crap about, or do you? So let’s say a publisher is about to release a game with all the points you just mentioned. Magazines and blogger/vlogger are posting their reviews and say the game is totally garbage because of these things. No one will buy the game. End of story. No income at all for the devs and publisher. You are enraging yourself over something that isn’t going to happen like this ever! Keep calm! It’s good to keep an… Read more »
Typically the big review companies are blacklisted by game companies if they release poor reviews. And for better or worse, people tend to look at Game Informer, IGN, and their like as their main source of gaming reviews, since they are well established. The last several reviews I’ve seen in either site have been “good” even when the game itself isn’t. Also, following the thread I see you keep bringing up boycotting a game. That has basically never worked. That would require people to all look at the information on release and say Hey, this game is awful! Let’s all… Read more »
Jesse
6 years ago
Ironically, it wasn’t micro transactions that led me to quitting free 2 play/pay 2 win PC games. It was the players who wouldn’t stop complaining about micro transactions. If it bothers you so much you have to harass other players about it, you shouldn’t be playing the game.
Sometimes there are games that have EVERYTHING that people want in it, but rely heavily on microstransactions to make more than miniscule progress. Games that you enjoy but that the difficulty curve is so harsh without engaging in microstransactions that you basically are stuck doing the same levels again and again to an extreme. Sure, there has always been grinding. Sure, some games were requiring serious grinding. But when a game is made to shove people who aren’t paying EXTRA (this is for non-free games mostly) it is simply aggravating.
Liam Rogers
6 years ago
Then there is always “free trials” that lets you play with the boosts for a certain period of time. For me those are one of the worst. I don’t really know why but for me it’s the worst.
John
6 years ago
Microtransactions are indefensible. Period. Even setting aside that EVERY microtransaction system is specifically designed to exploit those who are least able to afford them, whenever the community says “eh this isn’t so bad” they push harder until it comes to this. When Activision does attempt to implement this (and they will,) and if the community accepts it, I can’t even imagine what the next step will be.
They’ll just combine microtransactions and subscription. So, you puchase a sweet loot box for a dollar or two, and if you like the items (or even one of them), you get to pay that much every month to keep them.
And then you have loot boxes to determine if you can continue to subscribe to your loot boxes which themselves have microtransactions.
You get something like “Astral Sky Skin” from a loot box that cost a dollar. You then pay a dollar each month to get a loot box to see if you can keep on owning it. If you don’t get it, you can try again for a dollar fifty in 48 hours OR pay 3 dollars to get the ability to pay a dollar to open it now.
Do not do it
6 years ago
This is why you can’t defend microtransactions in the slightest. Give them an inch and they’ll steal a mile. It was the same with website ads earlier, they got more and more intrusive and now people run ad blockers.
No?
The ads got really bad but now there are like 2 ads over on the side and one in the corner which you can choose the look at. If you don’t want to look at it, do something revolutionary. Look at the middle of the screen. And why would you have a problem with reading a webCOMIC that isn’t centered around audio muted?
Kaian
6 years ago
Going to run the opposite way a moment.
I like it at this level. The idea of it will look at my buying tendencies and suggest items I might want as opposed to items I do not. Great go for it. Hopefully better than the banner ads chasing me to buy the game I just bought though.
And if micro transactions keep them from trying to put ads on login screens or worse in game, I am also for it. As ads are getting too intrusive and clogging things.
Hamstermer
6 years ago
…Do major gaming companies need MORE money? Sure they aren’t like oil companies that are making an obscene amount, but you’d think that with loot boxes and standard microtransactions they would be making a gargantuan profit as is. Eventually you reach a point where all you are really doing with more money is paying for someone to make the toilets shine twice as much. Whether in real life or in a game I don’t even know. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT putting down anything, it just seems a bit odd for there to be THIS many attempts at increasingly underhanded ways… Read more »
Hamstermer
6 years ago
On a happier note, when does the next “Comic Book” set come out (I assume Analog and D-Pad)?
I can hardly wait for Zeke 2.0, The End Of The Galaxy As We Know It, and whatever is going to happen next to the Adventurers.
Dreamer
6 years ago
Microtransactions are way to get money from players when you are not going to risk bad sales of traditional games. It is exploitation, but one players bring upon themselves. We can only go play something in peace that will never have microtransactions.
Like Splatoon 2.
Speaking of Nintendo… Is it just me or it keeps control of hype on Switch by revealing it’s capabilities at the last moment through patch notes? It feels like they are somehow balancing between overhyped and unhyped, in some weird zen-like tranquility, towards the start of official online service…
SWM
6 years ago
I’m pretty sure this patent is really close to breaking laws against subliminal manipulation in certain places and/or countries. Turns out that people don’t like being tricked into buying stuff.
Also, if this is not a sign that microtransactions and loot boxes need governmental regulations in order to stop them from getting completely out of hand, I don’t know what is. Sure, the government may be slow to act, taking their time with everything they do and cover everything with mundane paperwork, but I’ll take that over the fucking Wild West that is the gaming industry in its current state.
Goverment regulations won’t occur until someone who is upset about loot boxes gets a job in government.
Or until someone realizes that their 12 year old son has been spending 105k on loot boxes
24
Lovely
Everyone is labeling it as pure evil and made from demon devs… I have a quite neutral state to it. I have read some parts of it as far as my understanding of this goes. To put it simple, I believe this is not very different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people (not to mention Google and Co with personalized ads). They try to sell items to player in which they might be interested in. You still don’t have to buy anything. The game industry is a growing one, but the selling concept haven’t changed… Read more »
The problem is that by the very nature of this system, for it to be effective, the transactions must be Pay to Win. because they are pushing people who don’t have item X purchased into a matchup with someone who does have it purchased, specifically with the aim that the person without the item will loose and want to buy it in order to match up more favourably.
The difference for me is that it’s a bit like buying a movie and being charged extra if you want to see the special effects, or certain scenes. These micro transactions don’t seem to be selling extra bits and pieces but rather things that would’ve been in the standard game a few years ago. They’re purposefully removing/keeping back bits of the game to make you pay again.
But this isn’t advertising; this is controlling what experience you’re getting and making sure you’re getting a worse experience than you would naturally get, and making sure the whales get the best experience. If you’re comparing this to TV, it’s as if AT&T changed the show lineup on all its basic cable channels to The Joy of Painting, Bewitched reruns, and Young Sheldon for 23 hours of the day, with a break around 2:30 AM for ‘primetime,’ all while advertising HBO and Starz on every commercial break. And then if you pay extra for those networks, THEN you also get… Read more »
I don’t think this is as beneficial to whales as you might think. Take Heroes of the Storm, for instance. If the matchmaking was prioritized to match people that have the currently On Sale Item matched with people that don’t have that item it is potentially going to have a negative effect on the whale’s time to find a game and additionally the quality of game as they won’t be playing against their peers but rather people most likely new to the game. In team-based games there is nothing worst than getting matched with people who don’t know what they… Read more »
This doesn’t seem evil at all, though it does run counter to the idea of the games. When you play a competitive type game, a large part of it is getting good and winning on your own merits. People don’t want to win because they bought a sniper rifle and then were matchmade with a bunch of idiots who constantly wander out in the open without any sort of cover. Also it tricks people because they might play and see that all the best snipers have a paid for gun but that isn’t true, the system just always places them… Read more »
@ Eldest Gruff I am the kind that never does microtransactions. So I am not “the problem”. You all are thinking with this algorithm the game with it only can be played when you buy these extra items and that you only get matched with better players who have purchased something. This sounds like a game that is totally bullshit, no fun to play and bad at every corner. Now you are saying: “Exactly, that’s it!” But if a game were actually like that, no one would ever buy it! There are tons of websites and magazines who review games… Read more »
Yes, because boycotting games has worked so well in the past.
“I believe this is not very different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people”
Yeah I remember the last time I bought an album, and listened to it, it made me listen to it with someone who had won the exclusive bonus tracks from the loot boxes, which made me want to buy some loot boxes myself to see if I could win the exclusive bonus tracks too.
Oh wait. That didn’t happen because this is VERY different from what the TV-, Cinema- and Music-industry is doing with people.
“Not very different” and not :”exactly the same” You are quite blind if you don’t see how they try to influence you. Football champion chip: When the player enter the arena, every single one of them wears shiny red beats headphones. Football-/ Pop-/ and TV-Stars making ads for watches, clothes or razors and say that it is their one and true favorit product. “Hm yeah I just buy it because it’s more expansive then the bottle next to it with the same ingredients but without my beloved superstar.” But okay, stick to your comparison, that really makes no sense, but… Read more »
They want to frustrate players by match them agains better players and then help them for money, thats sooo Evil that Satan is like “Wooooooo thats evil, I wouldn’t made this up myself”
Imagine if you small kid and you want to go out to play some footbal and I ended playing agains pro adualts players and some slimy guy would come and say “U see mate, you can win next time, if you buy those growing hormons.”
Yep. Good reason to never again touch a product by Activision. Oh, it’s… they really just do CoD. I never play that. I mean, why would I? I could be punching dragons or shooting starships. Military porn is like… sports or those hunting games. You have the power to do ANYTHING imaginable, so you do the shitty thing you could actually do in reality. Unfortunately, the only way to combat this would be to have your code reviewed by a trusted 3rd party. Otherwise, there is no way to tell if it’s being implemented. Which also makes it a pretty… Read more »
They also own all of Blizzard’s games, those ones with loads of microtransactions already.
WoW has never kept my interest. And overwatch is… I like the art and the… inspired art.
“inspired art”
So you claim…
…
…
._.
This makes me so mad. It’s –literally– making your game worse; pairing you up with other players who have better gear then you, in order to emphasize that you could do better with this paid gear, then rewarding the player with putting him in scenarios in which his gear gives him an advantage. I could not think of a clearer example of “pay to win” than this… well, unless they had people paying for invincibility cheats or something. Don’t pay? The game makes sure you lose more. Pay? The game makes sure you win more. The one shining, light here… Read more »
But Overwatch has no microtransaction except skins that don’t do jackshit but influence appearance. Hearthstone i can get behind cause the cards influence the gameplay heavily, but not Overwatch.
Overwatch only just cleared its first year a few months ago. This is Blizzard, the same chums behind WOW. Plenty of time to introduce new premium features to a loyal customer base.
But they can still license their patent to other publishers
Oh God, that’s true.
You don’t have to play any games at all! And I believe you don’t buy any game you heard only crap about, or do you? So let’s say a publisher is about to release a game with all the points you just mentioned. Magazines and blogger/vlogger are posting their reviews and say the game is totally garbage because of these things. No one will buy the game. End of story. No income at all for the devs and publisher. You are enraging yourself over something that isn’t going to happen like this ever! Keep calm! It’s good to keep an… Read more »
Typically the big review companies are blacklisted by game companies if they release poor reviews. And for better or worse, people tend to look at Game Informer, IGN, and their like as their main source of gaming reviews, since they are well established. The last several reviews I’ve seen in either site have been “good” even when the game itself isn’t. Also, following the thread I see you keep bringing up boycotting a game. That has basically never worked. That would require people to all look at the information on release and say Hey, this game is awful! Let’s all… Read more »
Ironically, it wasn’t micro transactions that led me to quitting free 2 play/pay 2 win PC games. It was the players who wouldn’t stop complaining about micro transactions. If it bothers you so much you have to harass other players about it, you shouldn’t be playing the game.
Sometimes there are games that have EVERYTHING that people want in it, but rely heavily on microstransactions to make more than miniscule progress. Games that you enjoy but that the difficulty curve is so harsh without engaging in microstransactions that you basically are stuck doing the same levels again and again to an extreme. Sure, there has always been grinding. Sure, some games were requiring serious grinding. But when a game is made to shove people who aren’t paying EXTRA (this is for non-free games mostly) it is simply aggravating.
Then there is always “free trials” that lets you play with the boosts for a certain period of time. For me those are one of the worst. I don’t really know why but for me it’s the worst.
Microtransactions are indefensible. Period. Even setting aside that EVERY microtransaction system is specifically designed to exploit those who are least able to afford them, whenever the community says “eh this isn’t so bad” they push harder until it comes to this. When Activision does attempt to implement this (and they will,) and if the community accepts it, I can’t even imagine what the next step will be.
They’ll just combine microtransactions and subscription. So, you puchase a sweet loot box for a dollar or two, and if you like the items (or even one of them), you get to pay that much every month to keep them.
And then you have loot boxes to determine if you can continue to subscribe to your loot boxes which themselves have microtransactions.
You get something like “Astral Sky Skin” from a loot box that cost a dollar. You then pay a dollar each month to get a loot box to see if you can keep on owning it. If you don’t get it, you can try again for a dollar fifty in 48 hours OR pay 3 dollars to get the ability to pay a dollar to open it now.
This is why you can’t defend microtransactions in the slightest. Give them an inch and they’ll steal a mile. It was the same with website ads earlier, they got more and more intrusive and now people run ad blockers.
No?
The ads got really bad but now there are like 2 ads over on the side and one in the corner which you can choose the look at. If you don’t want to look at it, do something revolutionary. Look at the middle of the screen. And why would you have a problem with reading a webCOMIC that isn’t centered around audio muted?
Going to run the opposite way a moment.
I like it at this level. The idea of it will look at my buying tendencies and suggest items I might want as opposed to items I do not. Great go for it. Hopefully better than the banner ads chasing me to buy the game I just bought though.
And if micro transactions keep them from trying to put ads on login screens or worse in game, I am also for it. As ads are getting too intrusive and clogging things.
…Do major gaming companies need MORE money? Sure they aren’t like oil companies that are making an obscene amount, but you’d think that with loot boxes and standard microtransactions they would be making a gargantuan profit as is. Eventually you reach a point where all you are really doing with more money is paying for someone to make the toilets shine twice as much. Whether in real life or in a game I don’t even know. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT putting down anything, it just seems a bit odd for there to be THIS many attempts at increasingly underhanded ways… Read more »
On a happier note, when does the next “Comic Book” set come out (I assume Analog and D-Pad)?
I can hardly wait for Zeke 2.0, The End Of The Galaxy As We Know It, and whatever is going to happen next to the Adventurers.
Microtransactions are way to get money from players when you are not going to risk bad sales of traditional games. It is exploitation, but one players bring upon themselves. We can only go play something in peace that will never have microtransactions.
Like Splatoon 2.
Speaking of Nintendo… Is it just me or it keeps control of hype on Switch by revealing it’s capabilities at the last moment through patch notes? It feels like they are somehow balancing between overhyped and unhyped, in some weird zen-like tranquility, towards the start of official online service…
I’m pretty sure this patent is really close to breaking laws against subliminal manipulation in certain places and/or countries. Turns out that people don’t like being tricked into buying stuff.
Also, if this is not a sign that microtransactions and loot boxes need governmental regulations in order to stop them from getting completely out of hand, I don’t know what is. Sure, the government may be slow to act, taking their time with everything they do and cover everything with mundane paperwork, but I’ll take that over the fucking Wild West that is the gaming industry in its current state.
Goverment regulations won’t occur until someone who is upset about loot boxes gets a job in government.
Or until someone realizes that their 12 year old son has been spending 105k on loot boxes
Excellent…
Gotta cover your bases