Free To Play (Destiny)

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Saturday, January 06, 2018, 12:24 (2354 days ago) @ Claude Errera

But nothing about the menu interferes with you eating what you've bought. The menu is on the table-- it isn't stapled to your steak when it comes. Salt and pepper are available for use-- they aren't an upsell opportunity.

In the US, it's common (though not universal) that bread is put on the table - you can eat it, or not. It's part of the service.

In many countries around the world, they bring bread - but if you eat it, they charge you. If you don't, they don't.

Americans are often disappointed (even angry) when they discover this, at the end of the meal.

So maybe all of this angst is coming from expectations, and not the actual situation?

Expectations are part of the situation.

And yeah, overseas I am that guy-- asking the waitperson to take the bread away because I didn't ask for it.

However, in the US, I think I'm just a guy who grew up playing videogames, same as many others. I don't have a cultural barrier to understanding why it isn't ok for my full price product to contain a built-in store designed to sell me extra stuff, that I'm expected to visit in the normal run of play.

Expectations may very well be changing. Certainly the industry is hoping to change them. Change isn't always good, however, and I think this change is worth resisting.