That's cute

by kidtsunami , Atlanta, GA, Friday, August 09, 2013, 01:56 (4126 days ago) @ Cody Miller

You think you've caught me.

Even so, your praise of Dues Ex clearly demonstrates that even for you, player investment systems can add tremendous value to a game. This all makes your blanket opposition to them curious, which leads me to believe either you don't understand the implications of your own arguments... or you just don't believe them.

Deus Ex is a role playing game. The system is meant to facilitate role playing. That's not a player investment system.

Powering up your character =! player investment system.

I'd say that powering your character up in any game is a "player investment system". Possibly the oldest really...

Even a game where the isn't the notion of "powering/levelling up" and you basically tailored your character:
"Oh I'd like to have more powerful hits, ah I see it will slow my character down, ok, that's how I like to play"

Is an "investment" on the part of the player, this is something they've put some thought into it and it's "theirs".

With that out of the way, you begin to discuss the positives and negatives of various "player investment systems" without descending into myopia.