"I haven't touched Halo 5 and Destiny is to blame" (Destiny)

by Avateur , Friday, October 30, 2015, 21:00 (3407 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Some of the game's systems interact poorly with treating your players like people, and with respect.

I can't even pretend to take you seriously when you start talking like this. I might agree with them not properly respecting time or play styles but not treating players as people? Cut the hyperbole. It's making you say things that are needlessly insulting. Or would you really have an entire conservative face to face with Bubgie employees about how they don't recognize their fans as people?

I would. And I have. In many ways, good chunks of Destiny seem to be geared at treating the players as nothing more than a population number that must be maintained, whether through psychological manipulation or outright addiction. They started the Skinner-box tactics back during Reach. It's not hyperbole. He's right when he says that some of the game's systems interact in such a way. Just some.

Destiny was as far as we know originally planned to subsist only on DLC releases, with no subscription or microtransations. When players are no longer playing and thinking about your game, DLC does not sell as well. Therefore, such a strategy requires making sure a large portion of your audience is always engaged with the game. Hence the design of the game systems.

The inclusion of Microtransactions changes the equation a bit, but the thing you never seem to grasp is pissing off your fan base (by not tresting them like people or whatever over the top words you want to use) will lead to less sales, not more. You simply don't sell DLC to people who hate your game. Your player base will go away, will never come back, and will broadcast how terrible your game is to everyone they know.

You would think that it would lead to less sales, but it surprisingly doesn't. And they know that. The entire bullshit over their pricing model that led to steady debate and macrotransaction talk a few months back probably hurt them in the immediate short-term, but not anymore. Especially a game like Destiny, which is designed to addict people in many ways. And they know it. And it works.

They also know they can treat you in not the best of ways and that you'll still probably end up coming back and paying more. This is normally where a 343 Industries rant would go, but dead franchise and such. People talk a lot but rarely actually stop dropping the cash. Destiny, luckily, has a lot of fun and great things about it, you know? That's a good chunk of what keeps a large amount of people coming back. A lot of the more player/consumer hostile techniques bring a lot of other people back based on how they're designed to trigger that urge to return. Addiction's a powerful tool, and Destiny has done a good job of making it work (and I say that with a lot of comtempt).

I'm mostly just glad that I feel like the chunks of Destiny that aren't potentially or outright abusive to players shine the brightest and take up a majority of the game. It's a great and good time. I just have serious concerns about how far down the rabbit hole Bungie will go with it all.

Bungie's actual motivation isn't to make bad systems to keep people playing, as that is nonsensical. Rather, it's to provide people with ongoing fun and enjoyment so they buy the next DLC or game and so they spread the news that your game is worth their friends picking up.

I think that's a bit too optimistic, but I get what you're saying.

Even a year and change later Destiby has some real problems. Some people do indeed stay away because of them. But many many more actually enjoy playing Destiny because it's problems aren't nearly as bad, or disrespectful, or money grubbing as you like to make them out to be.

I'd say they are, but the majority of the game works, especially when you have a group of friends playing together and having a blast. The business side of the whys and whats that Bungie does in the game definitely aren't as fun or friendly as you make them out to be.