the future of games(microtransations)

[Blueknight78]

hello, after read this post and many others and having many years of "playing games from atari/odissey to nintendo to master system to megadrive to supernes to arcade to computer to playstation 1, 2, 3 to xbox 360 well seeying almost all the things of game world finally we are start to heading to a new and even more dark age of games where the evilness of triple A companies like EA finally are able to put they plot to steal money at max in play
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/ex-b...tization-plans

for years EA aways wanted to mix "mobile with consoles/pc games and aways the "gamers fanbase" tried to fight against it but now looks like finally after some generation and some sucess like overwatch loot boxs the big greedy monsters like EA finally found they "fanbase" to steal money and looks like many games all will be about "microtransations" like pay to win, pay to play and things like that and no more "single player games" only multiplayers with microtransations even at the moment you turn on the console/pc, it's really sad see the things going like that and see what was supposed to be awesome being turn in crap due to large companies like EA like capcom and even now warner trying to turn what is supposed to be cool and awesome in a "whore market" selling or unfinished games or poor developed and make us have to pay 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or even 10x the game price and the worst peoples accepting it as if money grow in trees and thing is cool to have to pay for everything in the game.

let me know what you think about it, you like what is happening??? yes???? no??? what you think about that "future"???

[Sparda4]

Microtransations should be in my eyes be removed as a whole from the industry along with the season pass system.
The image bellow also explains the reason for the return of the "scene" who indirectly fight microtransations.

Images

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[Chase]

Sad state we are in, im not supporting any games with loot boxes if they ask for money upfront. Knowing that, it won't stop this train coming. People are ignoring it and will continue to go out and buy them cuz its tied to their favorite franchises. IMO it should get the gambling treatment and be regulated. Of course ESRB and PEGI folks disagree, big surprise there.

[Kafriel]

First off, EA lies at the bottom hell - that's where their HQ actually are, it's the worst "gaming" company at the moment.

Now that we got that out of the way, microtransactions as they came to be are not as often seen nowadays. Season pass style is dominating the market, including DLCs and deluxe versions that encompass all sorts of minimal charges in one big bundle; it's not really micro anymore.

That being said, I do not completely disagree with the way things have come to be. At least now you know what you're signing up for and, admittedly, there are many games that are more than worth their price.

[Sparda4]

Microtransactions are gambling but it's so in plain sight nobody( unless your actually worth something) gives a damn(read as s**t). Season passes also fall into that category but on a smaller scale. Why ? Because it can happen that you don't get the content you paid for IN ADVANCE. I'm not saying they don't deliver(it would hurt the company's rep a lot) but there is a chance.

[Blueknight78]

and here more microtransations in your face
https://kotaku.com/assassin-s-creed-...-ju-1819881872
you gona get not only loot boxs but also online shop, they said which "almost everything" can be found in game but pretty sure they will be like hidden in the most unfair hardest possible way to get, where you need to expend like 99999 hours to get a single stuff or go to shop to get it.

another game which also is coming which ofcourse thanks to EA heavy microtransations based will be the new star wars battlefront which while dlcs "will be free" you gonna get to have a lot of weapons and weapons upgrades only obtainable by buying in store and others things.

it's really becoming dark the gamers day and as long blind "rich" followers will keep giving money the triple A developers will be doing that crap and for now the only hope will be indy and small developers, it's really sad.

[Kafriel]

You know, it really used to be much, MUCH worse. I remember playing an MMO that had a huge patch with 4 new maps, but to get inside one of them, you had to grind a 100-floor tower and get a rare drop from the boss there... which respawned once every 2 days! OR you could just buy the entry item from the cash shop. Same deal with the other map, but on a smaller scale.

Now, when you have a player base of half a million players, you cannot seriously expect ANYONE to keep 2-day timers on a boss and pray they get a rare drop, that was the lamest excuse of a "quest" I've ever seen. Suffice to say, I dropped the game at that time (8 years ago). As for today's market, you'd be surprised to know how many crappy games there are that make a whole lot of money just by following a roulette/random draw pattern in their cash shops. Paying $10 to get a single item may sound rough, but paying $1 for a chance to get the same item is far worse. I've seen people throw away literally thousands of dollars for games that they wouldn't play for more than a year...but, at the end of the day, that is their decision, even if it fuels a corrupted market plan that companies really like t favor.


P.S: It has even spread in mobile games! Forget about time management and energy, drawing heroes in games like Fire Emblem is all the rage now.

[Eisdrache]

Most of these games live on the basis of a few whales that support the entire thing. Free player opinions barely matters anymore. That's the biggest problem in my opinion. Games prey upon those couple willing to throw 4 or 5 digit sums at them, drain their money until it dies and then create a new game on the same principle. There is no incentive to create quality anymore.

The blame for that lies with the whales as much as with the developers. It's their money and their decision how to spend it but spending money on an overpriced product that will soon get replaced by another equally expensive but slightly better item (repeat process infinitely) should at least raise some eyebrows. As long as there is no change in the mindset the problem will keep existing.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

P.S: It has even spread in mobile games! Forget about time management and energy, drawing heroes in games like Fire Emblem is all the rage now.

The blame for that lies with the whales as much as with the developers. It's their money and their decision how to spend it but spending money on an overpriced product that will soon get replaced by another equally expensive but slightly better item (repeat process infinitely) should at least raise some eyebrows. As long as there is no change in the mindset the problem will keep existing.

Mobage live off gacha-ing. It's what you get for an F2P game which still needs to survive somehow. They even tell you upfront it's gambling so what's the problem? For traditional video games, 20 years ago, people paid large sums of money to buy games. I don't see why it should suddenly become a big deal now. If people wish to spend on something they like and can afford, more power to them; it makes no sense to blame whales for doing what they do. If that does not appeal to you, one is always free to go play something else. This isn't actually even new per se since games 10+ years ago generally had expansion packs and the like....which you still have to buy unless you just pirate them.

On the gambling nature of mobage, the rates are all publicly posted so players should know it's an online casino essentially. In such cases it's really on the onus of the player themselves to see it as not paying to get something but paying to support the game (like in an actual casino where your losses are not paying to win but paying for use of the casino's games)

[Eisdrache]

It becomes a problem when the game aims to regularly release new items on the principle that you need to buy them or drop out of the top ranks, then shortly after release more items that you have to buy again. This serves no other purpose than to make whales spending repeatedly and they blissfully comply. It explicitly aims to take advantage of addiction and gambling syndromes.

These games don't care about F2P. Dolphins barely matter either. All they want is to milk the 0.1% of their player base that spends more than 99% combined. It's a spiral of offering shiny new toys without regards for balance or game health. Get as much money as possible, then let the game die and create the next one. The market is getting flooded with lower and lower quality but whales don't care as long as they get their rank 1. They are as much part of the problem as the devs.

[Blueknight78]

for me the big problem lie which nornally the "microtransation games", are normally or "free to play" or mmo which due to need to maintain a large server to support a large community need to "get some money" time to time", but when you add that to specially full priced single play games or turn single play games in multiplay as excuse to have it, is when come the problem, because you are pulling something not "wanted or needed" in a gender which never really needed or wanted it in first place, one thing is you have dlcs which add "more content" than what the game already was supposed to give, let's get a exemple as the witcher 3, the game alone already have countless hour of game play and while the 2 dlcs add more huge content they don't feel "true needed" for the game and are "extras" but now publishers like EA are giving the game in "parts" like making a unfinished game to promisse finish it later in updates or add use free updates as excuse to add things which where supposed to be in base game in first, then add later 9999999999999999999999999 ways to take money, like loot boxes, online shops, payed dlc, deluxe version, pre-order, premium version and a lot of others way to steal money making the gamer ending have expending 2x, 3x,... 10x... 20x more than what he payed in the base game and many times for things which already where in the game (marvel infinity a exemple) but you need to "pay to unlock" a perfect exemple of cash cow full priced game is the "the sims" specially the 4 which was the game with less content and more bugs and a lot of things in beginner with the promisse to add "more content later" in "free updates" with things which where supposed to be on base game but where added later because they have a need to release the game bugged and unfinished and used a crap enginer to developing leaving peoples with a crap high priced game and later as all the sims games start to release 999999999999999 type of dlcs, with expansion packs, stuff packs and themed middle packs making you in the end having to pay forever for a game which not was supposed to be like that.

while the dlc thing is not new, it was never so agressive as is being now, with games where you have to buy characters later as dlc and others things.

for me the "cancer" of all the things started on mobiles and "asia" which is the country of microtransations" where majority of games are based on microtransations and farms and after many years finally that cance reached the western non mobile games with publishers like EA teaching others publishers/developers how to be greed and brainwash they fanbase to accept any crap.

another note in majority of cases where part of the blame where "developers" actually not where developers fault but the "big publisher behing them" many developers leaving big publishers because of it, they see how that big companies like EA, Activision are greedy and hunger for money and see they names being throwed in the mud making some of them want to leave because many times they really didin't wated to do that but where forced by they "bosses" to do that, them normally the fault fall over the big pubblishers shoulder all they nasty actions, ofcourse you also have some nasty and greedy developers, but overal the problem is really over the publisher shoulders because they normally are the ones making all trends in the triple A market game.

the big problem now is which companies like EA and Ubisoft and even warner bross are trying to tie "everything" in the same game, instead of we have a game with let's say dlc and deluxe and pre order we are getting games with deluxe, pre-order, premium, shop, loot box, seasson pass, dlc, almost every way of steal money possible in a single game which make things crazy and unfair.

but as someoone told the fault also still on the "whales/bad costumers" which don't care and keep accepting and paying for everythging and making that action worth of it and aslong we have peoples whilling to paying 999999x more than base game price and that peples money can cover for the ones which don't do that they will keep doing over and over, which can lead maybe to the death of trible A market game and make indies or middle developers which still not doing this get the spotlight, ofcourse it's just "maybe", aslong we have peoples with money and desire to pay for any crap then really the only "changes" and future will be dark.

[Kafriel]

Mobage live off gacha-ing. It's what you get for an F2P game which still needs to survive somehow. They even tell you upfront it's gambling so what's the problem? For traditional video games, 20 years ago, people paid large sums of money to buy games. I don't see why it should suddenly become a big deal now. If people wish to spend on something they like and can afford, more power to them; it makes no sense to blame whales for doing what they do.

You're not wrong for the most part, but here's the deal: my entire PS1 and PS2 libraries combined cost about €3k, a rather large sum - but worth it for 10+ years of gaming. A single year of Deck Heroes (gacha CCG) cost my guild leader $4800, a steady $400 per month, in order to secure spot #12 on the world rankings (and then he quit and we're back to the bottom of top 100). I've met him in person and he's no gambler, he just took the best deals the game had to offer during the awesome discount "events" - but here's the thing, the developers find it absolutely rational to give you a new rare card for free, if you pay up $100. Not only is that unfair, it also drives people into a "shut up and take my money" attitude, while at the same time barring F2P players from the game meta.

Now, think about the difference in people paying $70 for a brand new AAA game and basically saving up a part of their salary as a kind of subscription fee in order to play a timesink mobage. The whales, who pay up thousands of dollars each month, promote and enforce the same behaviour on players who don't want to stay behind, but have no other way to progress in a game.

[DragoonKain3]

The way I see it, it's really no different from TCG... actually scratch that, it's no different from the way I did TCG since I either brute force bought the card or bought packs for random chance. Trading always for me seemed like a hassle, so I just fork the money up front. But it's fun, and I get way more value out of money than say, going out for dinner or watching a movie.

So as long as you enjoy the game, and the money isn't giving you financial difficulties, go for it. I personally can't afford more than one gacha game at a time since I'm not well off, but at least I recognize that there's only a certain budget that I can use before going into debt.

Of course, my primary games are still 'regular' games or LoL, which is a game that I already spent so much money with that everything not cosmetic is practically free. I still like those games WAY more than gacha, but sadly vast majority of android games are pretty shit, and the only games that I liked that I can easily get on the go are FEH or FF:BE. So it's more of a "I have nothing else to do outside, so better just play FEH" rather than because I think FEH is an awesome game or anything (it's really not XD).

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

So as long as you enjoy the game, and the money isn't giving you financial difficulties, go for it. I personally can't afford more than one gacha game at a time since I'm not well off, but at least I recognize that there's only a certain budget that I can use before going into debt.

It's a giant irony that you need to be well off in order to play gatcha games, at least if you're aiming to be anywhere near the top. Gatcha games are something you play to pass your time. While some of them are fairly well made they do not come anywhere close to the quality of AAA titles. You said yourself that FEH isn't a great game but you still have spent 4 digits on it. It has to be said that FEH is on the tame side of gatcha. Meanwhile you have a growing amount of money draining games that regularly and purposefully powercreep their last items that players spent money on in order to make them spend even more money. You may justify it with getting enjoyment out of it or having enough money to not worry about the expenses and supporting the game since you like it and so on but in the end it's nothing more than daylight robbery that the victims are fully aware of but still willingly participate like a flock of sheep. It is working frighteningly well and thus encouraging this development even more.

[Jazzrat]

I don't really like how much gatcha's or random loot boxes are monetized in games these days. It's too much of an encouragement to kids on gambling. Also, it's a fairly dumb method to extend a game's lifespan.

I prefer to pay for what you want.
Full priced games with monetized random loots boxes is the usually the element that puts me off the most.

[Drake]

The saddest part of this whole sorry state of affairs, is that its the gamers fault its gotten this bad. People ignored and even defended the outright predatory practices some games employ nowadays, instead of voting with their wallets.

Just today I've read about the new Call of Duty WWII, and how it's managed to make lootboxes even more egregious and predatory. In short players online in the "player hub" can actually see when other players make a lootbox purchase, but it gets worse.... The crate parachutes down on to the bloody beaches of Normandy and splays forth its contents for all to see. Undoubtedly designed to garner the envy of others, in a hope they'll shell out for some lootboxes of their own. In essence turning the players opening them into ingame advertisements.



The AAA game industry is really just beyond saving at this point.

[Chaos2Frozen]

At least one AAA game developer still has their head on straight.

Source: Monster Hunter World Devs Weigh In On Loot Boxes

For anyone with nagging feelings about it, rest easy knowing that Monster Hunter World will not have MT and lootboxes

Monster Hunter World, like previous games in the series revolves around killing massive beasts over and over again and then carving them up for the chance to get rare parts to turn into new gear. So loot boxes seem like something Capcom could have considered as a way to give newcomers to the series more chances to get some of the rare loot that otherwise requires lots of luck and even more skill.

During a recent preview event, I asked Monster Hunter series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto whether his team ever considered adding loot boxes to Monster Hunter World. "I think that Monster Hunter has already built that kind of randomized, item reward into the gameplay," he answered. "Whenever you carve a monster after a hunt, you don't know what you're gonna get within a certain range. You've got certain rare parts that you almost never get. You've got some of the ones you don't need that you get a lot of. And then there are the rewards for the quest as well. There are some [rewards] that are standard, there are some that are randomized, and a bit bigger or smaller chance of getting them."

He explained that it just felt like Monster Hunter World doesn't need that kind of system. "You've already kind of got loot as a core gameplay aspect without having to shove a microtransaction version of it in," Tsujimoto said.

The mechanics are, essentially, a part of the game, but what about saving a player's time? "Our focus is on wanting to get people to play our action game and feel the kind of satisfaction that comes with the achievement you get with completing a hunt and getting rewards," Tsujimoto said. "We want people to have the experience that we've made for them rather than the option to skip the experience."

In a separate interview game director Yuuya Tokuda echoed that response. "I wouldn't see a paid loot box or paid system for getting random items as fitting Monster Hunter because it isn't a game where the strength of the items is the key aspect of how you proceed," he said. "The idea is that the time you spend hunting and the action part of the game is how you brush up on your skills. And then of course you get rewards of better items; but by skipping out on the part where you get better and hunt--if you're simply getting more items--I don't think that'll be a very satisfying experience for players because it wouldn't even necessarily make it that much more of a time saver if you haven't got the skill to use the items you've gotten."

[Sparda4]

GIVE THAT MAN A PRIZE AND 2 HUGE CASES OF MONEY!!!

That is game development with the RIGHT mindset. It's the experience not the size of your wallet.

[Kafriel]

To be perfectly honest, even with loot boxes and uber gear from the get-go, MH is one of the few worlds where you really have to learn before you can win. Also I agree, its loot system is random enough (20min fights for a 2% drop for rare), it doesn't need to reach a mythical level of rarity with the addition of loot boxes.

[Yu Ominae]

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/04/19...oxes-gambling/

The Dutch are taking the initiative.