Ragashigo's post is super skippable. ;-) (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Monday, October 23, 2017, 16:50 (2591 days ago) @ Robot Chickens

Charge more than 60 dollars for your game!

It’s been established by microtransactions that many many people already do not mind paying more than 60 bucks for a game. Even more buy deluxe editions.

Charge more, and make what would have been microtransactional content available to all.

It’s even time for a price increase. Adjusting for inflation games are the cheapest they have ever been, yet they are also the most expensive to develop.

You're not wrong conceptually. I would prefer that but... it's getting the consumer to agree to that that is harder. While we may be fine doing this in practice, the 59.95 is more appealing than 60 in our heads. $30 down with $3/month over 10 months is more appealing to many. When people are figuring out where to spend that cash, $80 vs $60 is a meaningful difference in upfront cost. I would venture that the negative press (who has the audacity to think their product is worth that much more?)for such a value, or the perceived value (I could buy my niece this $60 game of this $80 game) would cut into enough profits that future endeavors would be at risk.

Also, I can pay for a $60 game and not pay for Microtransactions.

But you have to suffer the “frictions” designed into the game.

Wait. Really? This fits within your definition of suffering?

I might not have chosen the word “suffering”, but I do think that Cody’s point is valid.

Fair, but... you just got an $80 game for the cost of $60 and you can still get everything in that game without missing any content. Annoying? Perhaps, but hardly something to rail against with the indefatigable mantra that "all microtransactions make games worse." They may just make games exist.

As I’ve explained in other posts, I’m perfectly capable of ignoring all the microtransactions that clutter up many modern games. But many devs/publishers have already shown that they are willing to intentionally create content that isn’t fun, then offer the ability to buy your way past that content. So players who choose not to make extra purchases are stuck “suffering through” gameplay systems designed to make them want to skip ahead.

I agree with you on the concept, but I just don't see it in Destiny. There is no content I could pay to not play that would make any sense. I suppose I could pay for the six shooter emote, but then I'd go right back and play to show off my cool new emote. I'm not paying to skip gameplay. I'm paying to have fun with the thing during gameplay. Every activity works this way because playing any activity goes towards bright engrams. You get a cool thing for playing the game and then you look cool while doing the cool thing. There's no, "we need the strike population full so we'll make them grind out activities there with the incentive of this bright engram." You can get them playing your favorite activity and the only reason to get them is to use them playing your favorite activities.

This is really true. I think that, in this thread, there's a degree of conflating my passion against codified in-game gambling for thinking Destiny is the worst offender out there. Destiny is, as far as microtransactions go, not that bad at all. They are strictly cosmetic, you can earn a few rolls for free and with relative ease, and they occasionally let you direct buy some stuff. It's really not a terrible implementation.

That being said, I think this is still codified gambling and comes with the same risks. How do we know they aren't using metrics to see which emotes or ships people are willing to spend spend spend to roll for and then making those even less likely to appear, or so they won't appear at all until you've spent $40 or more? I don't think they're doing that, but I don't know and there is no law regulating Bungie or anyone else from doing that. Microtransactions are a dangerous wild-west frontline of consumerism and I oppose them based on how easily they can be abused, regardless of whether or not that abuse is intentional. Again, destiny seems pretty tame on the microtrans front, and yet it is still an abusable system and we have scientific evidence that in-game microtransactional gambling is addictive and abusive. Destiny isn't AIDS, it isn't Cancer; it's a little sniffle. But even a little sniffle can turn into pneumonia if it is not treated. I'd rather get a system that you can't abuse (see Titanfall 2) where you get what you pay for each and every time.