Welcome to 2001. (Destiny)

by Funkmon , Thursday, April 02, 2015, 19:44 (3329 days ago) @ ChrisTheeCrappy
edited by Funkmon, Thursday, April 02, 2015, 19:57

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php

Hopson wrote about psychology of game design and making people continue to play games in 2001 here. This was no mystery to many of us.

For me, though, I don't really play the game to get stuff. I play the game because it is fun, then I get stuff as a bonus! Sometimes I put on Halo or Borderlands (both are games I haven't even completed the story for) and think "Why am I playing these games? They're less fun than Destiny." Then I go play Destiny, if I have time. But do it in moderation.

The beauty of Destiny over a game like Halo is you get a different loadout and a huge selection of guns, since they carry with your character, as opposed to being limited by the map. So, you get to play missions again in a totally different way than you might have before. As multiple classes, you get to double, triple, even sextuple that. By playing again, you even get bonuses like possibly getting new guns to vary your playstyle even more! People give Destiny shit because there's so little to the game, but FFS, there was way less in Halo Reach. They had bounties, but what did they do? You got cosmetic gear. Greaaaaat. In Destiny, the bonuses do stuff! Neat! To top it off the 30 seconds of fun is better than any game I know.

The main thing for me, Chris, is shooting the shit with my friends. I signed up for Banana's lagfest later not because I think I'm going to accomplish something, rank up factions, or do bounties, but because the game is something fun to do while chatting with dudes I know. I have only done hardmode Crota a couple times because the last part isn't fun, but I like to help my buddies so I still sign up occasionally.

I'll buy the expansions and Destiny 2 day 1 because I legitimately like the game, and I like playing with friends.

If you were only playing for loot, you were doing it for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, Bungie counted on this, so they got a lot of gameplay hours from you.

That being said, how the hell are they supposed to suck money out of you when you paid $60 for a game you got 800 hours out of? Every few months dump some expansions which add a lot of fun and variety to the game for a reasonable price? What's malicious about that? They aren't charging you extra, they aren't screwing you, they are literally just making you like the game more.

tl;drComplaining about this is like complaining that Olive Garden puts extra butter in their unlimited salad and breadsticks so you want to eat more of it at a reasonable price.