Commodify All The Things! (Destiny)

by BeardFade , Portland, OR, Friday, January 16, 2015, 14:26 (3400 days ago) @ SonofMacPhisto

The rest of the argument (while possibly a bit purple) is relatively sound.

No, it's all crap, and here's why: we're talking about a game, and this person is talking down to Cody like some kind of stuffy, bootlicking slave to the system giving a lesson in economics 101.

There's a lot of crap in Destiny, and Cody is damn good at pointing it out.

Then this sentence actually happens:

"This definitely isn't a game flaw, it's a financial management flaw. And that's all on you."

For fucks sake. How is this defensible at all, unless you're someone that's commodified EVERYTHING and has little to no human soul left?

And yeah, I'm taking the piss here a bit, because it's that absurd.

You do realize you haven't made an argument here. You've insulted me, established that Destiny is a game, but games and economies aren't mutually exclusive categories (in fact most games require economies of some sort) and you made no argument why they should be. There's no substance here.

My arguments are defensible because it is an economy. We are literally talking about the currency of the game, a tool with which to fairly exchange the value of goods and services. How is this not economics 101? Every player in this game is responsible for handling their own assets. Bungie doesn't steal your glimmer each month because you store it with them like a bank charges you checking account fees. They don't pay out interest for having it stored in their system. No other outside agent or force modifies the amount of glimmer you have other than your choices. So, logically, this entails that full financial responsibility befalls the player, and thus any shortage of glimmer or other resources also falls on the player.

As for commodifying everything, I'm not sure how that makes me soulless, as I'm not the one doing the commodifying. Commodities exist and are ubiquitous in Destiny. Pointing out that they exist and there's an in-game economy doesn't make me soulless.