YES

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Friday, March 01, 2013, 12:26 (4064 days ago) @ mnemesis

You're assuming that every thing that can be included in the game has an absolute value with regards to making the game "better," but there is no such absolute value for all players. The 'exclusive content' might be NASCAR-style stickers to apply to your armor. You might think that is "crap content,' but there are very likely a whole lot of people who would think the opposite. So, microtransactions might be enabled to allow for individual players to augment the game in ways that make it more fun for them. Artistic integrity is preserved, in that the developer has provided all of the possible great things they can think of for their game, but provided some of those things in such a way that only the people who want them need to acquire them.

Having options to customize would fall under making the game better. Even if you don't like all the options, the fact that they are there is a net positive.

Even if the extra content is something more significant, like another weapon, the argument's the same. The core game has all the functionality that the developer feels is necessary, appropriate, and fun. They provide extra weapons, abilities, etc. for the kinds of folks who like having more options and better ability to maximize their skills. I know you think that everybody should want to maximize their skills and abilities, but that's just not the case.

You're saying that extra weapons make the game deeper, but some people don't want to explore that depth, therefore it shouldn't be included in the game? Why would you want anybody to play the version of your game that is less deep (since nobody has the weapons at launch) ? Why would you want your game to be less deep? What if the person playing craves depth but is poor? Why are you endorsing a practice which makes games worse?