Is the tide of rage against IAPs and microtransactions hitting critical mass?

[Anubis]

WTF is a IAP?

 

[KidNiki1]

in app purchase

 

[monkeydelmagico]

WTF is a IAP?

Only Hypershilling micronerds care.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I'm fine with DLC and some IAPs. If I dont think its worth the money I wont pay it.

I actually agree. Well done DLC is a boon to the industry. It gives developers incentive to patch problems with the game so they can keep selling content and allows developers to support popular games long after they would have been abandoned in the past. If more developers did DLC this way I think few people would have a problem with it.

But it has taken a decided turn for the ugly with day one DLC, reseller exclusive DLC, and developers holding back important parts of a game to sell extra or designing games around the concept that DLC (or microtransactions of some sort) are required to have a good experience.

The problem is that most consumers are poorly informed and most reviewers do a half-ass job at best so that using coercive or deceptive DLC practices are more profitable then adding real content.

Fixing this is more of a matter of educating the public on the problem and informing them on what publishers are practicing it then simply not buying the problematic DLC.

 

[schmuckley]

I don't know whats worse microtransactions or the sheep who defend them.

lol

Microtransactions I've made=0

Ones i ever will make=0

If you buy a game..then have to spend more money;There's something wrong.

 

[darkewaffle]

But they have killed Dungeon Keeper mobile completely. To have it take 24 hours or about £1.50 to dig out one square is ridiculous.
The actual game isnt that far from being a great game either, and thats the annoying thing. They have deliberately cocked it up by making everything take so long that unless you spend stupid amounts of money on it you just cant progress at an entertaining level.

I never played Dungeon Keeper so I don't know how it's 'supposed' to go or what the expectations for it are. But I think "long view" games are a legitimate idea, especially on mobile. I mean my friends and I have opted to play marathon Civ games before (the current one is on turn 700 or so and is less progressed than a standard game on like... turn 200 or something and has taken us about 12 hours in separate sessions) and other implementations like Civ V's "pitboss mode" or Freeciv's "Greatturn" essentially purposefully elongate games as well to accommodate different play styles/schedules.

Of course the "gem shop" or whatever it is is intended to make money off the people who want to play it but can't be bothered to wait for anything, but when I look at the time requirements on it I don't see it as a game I'm going to sit down and play for hours on end, but something I would start up a few times a day and check on the queued jobs, start new ones and something that I would slowly build and accomplish over a long period of time by playing here and there every day - not something that I micromanage constantly. That's not going to suit everyone certainly, but I don't think it's a bad idea.

 

[dguy6789]

DLC is just the new(not really new anymore) word for expansion packs(which everybody loved). Quit the conspiracy nonsense. Gaming isn't ending as we know it or really even changing all that much.

 

[SMOGZINN]

DLC is just the new(not really new anymore) word for expansion packs(which everybody loved). Quit the conspiracy nonsense. Gaming isn't ending as we know it or really even changing all that much.

Never before have we had launch day expansion packs, or reseller exclusive expansion packs, or even pre-sell exclusive expansion packs. Never before have we had games with dozens of expansion packs in the first month of release.

I think something has changed.

 

[Red Storm]

DLC is just the new(not really new anymore) word for expansion packs(which everybody loved). Quit the conspiracy nonsense. Gaming isn't ending as we know it or really even changing all that much.

I don't remember day 1 expansion packs...

 

[artemicion]

Ten-ish years ago, people thought reality tv would be the death knell of quality scripted television because it was programming that tv producers could make very cheaply (compared to paying actors, writers and special effects guys to make a sitcom or drama) and consumers appeared to be eating up ravenously. This was proven to be false. Sitcoms and dramas still exist. TV producers did not have absolute control over the market and force everybody to watch reality tv because it was cheaper for them to produce and was more profitable. Breaking Bad was made and was one of the greatest scripted TV shows of all time despite the existence of cheap reality tv. The demand for quality scripted television still existed, ergo the market created a supply of it.

To be blunt, if you think FTP, DLC, IAP's, micro-transactions, etc. are going to drive "traditional" games to extinction, you have a pretty dim view of economics and how the market works. Supply AND demand drives the market. This thread proves that there demand for "traditional" $60 video games exists, ergo the market will create supply for it. Nor will there be any appreciable decline in quality. Demand relies on variables such as perceived value and opportunity cost. People will buy games that they think are worth $60 and will decline to buy games that aren't worth $60 to them. In a healthy, non-monopolistic market, devs do not have unilateral control over price: any dev who tries to shortchange consumers by peddling in subpar products will eventually be rolled over by competitors eager to make their own profit.

 

[snarfbot]

feels like im being accosted by panhandlers playing games these days, makes me fucking sick.

 

[Jodell88]

Ten-ish years ago, people thought reality tv would be the death knell of quality scripted television because it was programming that tv producers could make very cheaply (compared to paying actors, writers and special effects guys to make a sitcom or drama) and consumers appeared to be eating up ravenously. This was proven to be false. Sitcoms and dramas still exist. TV producers did not have absolute control over the market and force everybody to watch reality tv because it was cheaper for them to produce and was more profitable. Breaking Bad was made and was one of the greatest scripted TV shows of all time despite the existence of cheap reality tv. The demand for quality scripted television still existed, ergo the market created a supply of it.

To be blunt, if you think FTP, DLC, IAP's, micro-transactions, etc. are going to drive "traditional" games to extinction, you have a pretty dim view of economics and how the market works. Supply AND demand drives the market. This thread proves that there demand for "traditional" $60 video games exists, ergo the market will create supply for it. Nor will there be any appreciable decline in quality. Demand relies on variables such as perceived value and opportunity cost. People will buy games that they think are worth $60 and will decline to buy games that aren't worth $60 to them. In a healthy, non-monopolistic market, devs do not have unilateral control over price: any dev who tries to shortchange consumers by peddling in subpar products will eventually be rolled over by competitors eager to make their own profit.

Does that mean EA will disappear soon? :awe:

 

[BoberFett]

DLC is just the new(not really new anymore) word for expansion packs(which everybody loved). Quit the conspiracy nonsense. Gaming isn't ending as we know it or really even changing all that much.

Really?

Buying in game currency with real currency is an expansion of the game?

Speeding progress for impatient people is one thing, but as others have said some game designers are starting to design their games around annoying the user into spending more money, rather than designing a good game and then selling cheats to impatient users.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Never before have we had launch day expansion packs, or reseller exclusive expansion packs, or even pre-sell exclusive expansion packs. Never before have we had games with dozens of expansion packs in the first month of release.

I think something has changed.

Expansion packs? No...none of what you described is an expansion pack in my view. An expansion pack like Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is actually very rare these days. What we have are not even close to an expansion pack. It's easier to work on incremental updates and small content than it is to create a full fledged expansion which could in some ways be sold as a stand alone game.

The use of the term expansion to describe a couple of maps released for Battlefield is pretty much a joke to me. So I disagree with dguy6789 that today's DLC is the same as the expansion packs we used to wait 6 months for.

 

[NickelPlate]

lol

If you buy a game..then have to spend more money;There's something wrong.

Pretty much this.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Does that mean EA will disappear soon? :awe:

People still buy madden every year so...no

 

[ImpulsE69]

Everywhere I turn, someones asking "Do you want fries with that?"

 

[shortylickens]

Well, I dont like it. But it seems to me the majority of people are quite happy with it. Or at least willing to bitch and spend money at the same time.

 

[smackababy]

Never before have we had launch day expansion packs, or reseller exclusive expansion packs, or even pre-sell exclusive expansion packs. Never before have we had games with dozens of expansion packs in the first month of release.

I think something has changed.

Never before?

Ultima 8 released, in 1994 concurrently with the Ultima 8 Speech Pack that included only voices for characters in the game. Not only did that happen, they released a gold version that included it.

This has been happening for years. Just because you think it's new, doesn't mean it is. Everyone still loves Garriot btw!

 

[Zorander]

I never played Dungeon Keeper so I don't know how it's 'supposed' to go or what the expectations for it are. But I think "long view" games are a legitimate idea, especially on mobile. I mean my friends and I have opted to play marathon Civ games before (the current one is on turn 700 or so and is less progressed than a standard game on like... turn 200 or something and has taken us about 12 hours in separate sessions) and other implementations like Civ V's "pitboss mode" or Freeciv's "Greatturn" essentially purposefully elongate games as well to accommodate different play styles/schedules.

If you have played Warcraft/Starcraft/C&C and any other RTS games, this is akin to your gatherers taking 4 hours to return with their resource haul. DK is more like RTS than epic strategy games like Civ and this is what makes the 4 hour timer plain ridiculous.

 

[artemicion]

Never before?

Ultima 8 released, in 1994 concurrently with the Ultima 8 Speech Pack that included only voices for characters in the game. Not only did that happen, they released a gold version that included it.

This has been happening for years. Just because you think it's new, doesn't mean it is. Everyone still loves Garriot btw!

Ahh Ultima 8. So many fond memories of slogging through a bug-ridden game that was terrible in so many ways. That reminds me, I owe a swift kick in the nuts to whoever thought it would be fun to meticulously click and drag reagents around a pentagram and making minute adjustments, because who knows which one is one pixel off from being placed in the correct spot.

 

[pmv]

With books increasingly being sold in digital form, I'm looking forward to this nickel-and-dime approach being applied to other forms of media!

Literature will never be the same .

Read Dostoyevsky and you only get two Brothers Karamazov - part way through you get the option to pay extra for a third Karamazov brother with some bonus philosophical themes and theological discourse thrown in! Pay still more and Sherlock Holmes turns up halfway through and solves the murder, making it a more positive ending!

You want Dickens? Basic edition is only A Tale of One City, but you get the deluxe Two Cities edition if you take advantage of limited edition pre-order!

Tolstoys 'War' is greatly improved by the addition of 'Peace' for a small additional sum! Plus the exciting 'discourses on theories of history' pack, and the death of Prince Andre, yours for only a couple of dollars!

 

[artemicion]

With books increasingly being sold in digital form, I'm looking forward to this nickel-and-dime approach being applied to other forms of media!

Literature will never be the same .

Read Dostoyevsky and you only get two Brothers Karamazov - part way through you get the option to pay extra for a third Karamazov brother with some bonus philosophical themes and theological discourse thrown in! Pay still more and Sherlock Holmes turns up halfway through and solves the murder, making it a more positive ending!

You want Dickens? Basic edition is only A Tale of One City, but you get the deluxe Two Cities edition if you take advantage of limited edition pre-order!

Tolstoys 'War' is greatly improved by the addition of 'Peace' for a small additional sum! Plus the exciting 'discourses on theories of history' pack, and the death of Prince Andre, yours for only a couple of dollars!

Uh, sorry to burst your bubble, but the terrible post-apocolyptic literature world you are envisioning already exists.

First, I'm pretty sure every book you cited is in the public domain, so the "basic" versions are freely available on the Internet.

Second, yes, publishers charge extra for their versions of these works largely because they include extras like their own commentary, different translations, etc. E.g.: Bible (free) vs. Study Bible (not free)

Third, see: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. What you're describing already exists.

 

[Zak_]

Speeding progress for impatient people is one thing, but as others have said some game designers are starting to design their games around annoying the user into spending more money, rather than designing a good game and then selling cheats to impatient users.

This is the biggest problem, and it comes straight from all those crappy mobile games that aren't designed to be good, just addicting and profitable.

I hope that the mobile world doesn't make that sort of game acceptable to the masses and have it spill over more and more into the pc/console area.

 

[artemicion]

Just to fan the EA hate over Dungeon Keeper just a little more:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/07/dungeon-keeper-android-makes-it-difficult-to-rate-app-less-than/

Apparently, when the app asks you in game to rate how good the game is, selecting 5 stars will post that rating on the Google Play stores, but selecting 1-4 stars WILL NOT post the rating, and will instead ask you to provide direct feedback to EA about the game.

Hilarious--I love the "Pawnee Election" reference in the Joystiq article.