this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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And have we come full circle to god damn horse armor.

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[–] [email protected] 119 points 9 months ago (6 children)

It's crazy how far micro-transactions and monetizing games have come since Bethesda charged $2.50 for cosmetic armor to put on your horse. If you'd told someone back then that one day an in-game mount would cost more than the game itself they would have laughed you out of the room.

[–] fishos 121 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I'm so sick of this revisionist bs. Plenty of us were outraged then and warned of EXACTLY this. Y'all reaped what you sowed. Now micro transactions and paid early access are the norm. We screamed and yelled to "vote with your wallets", and by god, you did. "It's just a few bucks" is the most common one I hear. Well, now EVERYTHING is "just a few bucks".

You won.

[–] rustyfish 47 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This. That’s why I gave up on arguing with people a long time ago. There is a shimmer of hope in me that this industry still comes crashing down at some point. I would celebrate it. But by the looks of it, it won’t happen anytime soon.

The best I could do is not buying anything on release, early access or riddled with microtransactions, mostly indie games and maybe one AAA title a year, also avoid certain studios. Oh, and also don’t really care at all when these kind of news come up. I cared back then, I voted with my wallet and still do, but the other side won. Shit happens. There is nothing I can do other than get angry, but that’s not worth the hassle.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago

Unless you were in MBA school, at which point they'd hail you as their king.

[–] inclementimmigrant 39 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Yeah I remember saying that that Bethesda's horse armor bs would lead to gamers being nickeled and dimed to death and was soundly called a overreacting whinger.

And like you said here we are now and gamers are being outright exploited and you still have people saying it's all still blown out of proportion like these companies aren't hiring psychologists to manipulate us to buy this bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

But they're not being nickled and dimed. They're being Lincolned and Hamiltoned.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago

Some people would have laughed you out of the room. A lot of people, myself included, warned that this was the kind of shit we'd spiral into with these microtransactions. It was basically confirmed within a year or two with the absolutely insane amount of money mobile gaming was seeing where the base product was just addictive crap with as many microtransactions shoveled in as possible. These games just completely blew the revenue of actual AAA titles would out of the water. It was basically inevitable and we're now in a situation where we've got a generation of consumers raised on this trash.

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[–] [email protected] 92 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Every time this comes up (which is too often) I'm like "Who is buying this?" How can we make them stop? Do they need help?

[–] [email protected] 67 points 9 months ago (1 children)

People with poor fiscal responsibility skills, such as children, people with ADHD, and people with mental health issues like depression.

They literally hire psychologists to make this stuff as enticing as possible by pushing the right buttons in your brain.

[–] Etterra 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget the people with more money than sense. Whales are what keep the microtransaction mechanic alive and well.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Except the whale narrative is largely a false narrative created by the game industry to avoid saying that the money comes from kids and gambling addicts.

Those people with more money than sense do exist and they make up a portion of the mtx money, but the vast majority is from people who probably can't afford to make purchases like that (but do anyways because their brain can't say no).

The industry has been honing these skinner box techniques for decades now - it's what they used to get people to pay a monthly subscription for an mmo they only play when they log in to do their dailies.

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[–] ericbomb 53 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yes.

People who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on micro transactions do need help.

Said help probably needs to come at a government level banning things that were designed in a computer lab to be digital Crack.

[–] Carighan 19 points 9 months ago (11 children)

It's such a shame that the OW1 discussion about loot boxes went nowhere in regards to giving ingame gambling the same legal framework as IRL gambling.

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[–] bcron 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Might be the people that play only one game. I used to play WoW and then Diablo III exclusively like it was a full time job, and wound up in social bubbles with people who were equally invested. I never spent money on cosmetics or in-game items or anything but at that point it'd be pretty easy to rationalize since it's something someone is spending 20-80 hours a week playing.

Back in WoW we used to sell one slot on our Algalon raid (hardmode only raid boss) and pay for our Ventrilo and website with that lol

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[–] AeonFelis 87 points 9 months ago (5 children)
[–] Sylvartas 95 points 9 months ago (3 children)

The fact that this meme misattributes horse armor to Skyrim instead of Oblivion is bothering me way more than it should

[–] PieMePlenty 27 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Kids these days don't know shit man. Skyrim had been out long enough to concieve a kid and watch him graduate. Oblivion might as well have been a DOS title to them.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

Skyrim has only been out for 13 years. It's not that old :)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It worries me that you think a 15-year-old is able to watch their child graduate.

[–] hydrospanner 11 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It worries me that you assume video games reproduce and raise offspring and develop and receive education at a rate that matches their human analogues.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 9 months ago (17 children)

I love the "blame the consumer" mindset so much! It always leads to change and reform

[–] Carighan 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean I do blame the consumer. Specifically for not voting in harsh consumer- and worker-protection laws curbing corporate abilities.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think the issue is only blaming the consumer and especially when pointing to the cause of the issue.

Is it naive to vote for someone who obviously tells you all you want to hear but has a record of taking advantage every time they get your vote? Absolutely.

But so is walking in a city at night. All kinds of bad things can happen there but someone who hasnt seen evil firsthand will not recognize it easily.

I grew up in a very rough part of a big city. I knew you cant go outside unarmed at night and especially not linger there. But I cant expect friends from other places who havent seen this to act „wisely“ without telling them. This why we advocate without looking down on people.

Have a good one.

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[–] Arthur_Leywin 22 points 9 months ago (6 children)

If consumers as a whole keep buying overpriced skins then yes, I will blame the consumers for enabling this behavior.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago (5 children)

If youre still playing D4, I dont know what to tell you. Most people who pay attention to industry news and the game design philosophy of Blizzard knew well enough to pass it over.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I saw someone mentioned the other day in that thread about buyer's remorse that they didn't even feel like they were playing a game, that it played itself basically and that just made me think about watching my son-in-law playing Diablo 3 and all he really did was walk around while shit died around him due to his character's abilities and items, and I asked how that was even fun anymore and he turned to me with a straight face and said "it's not fun. I just want to 100% it."

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[–] Nacktmull 54 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Stop 👏 playing 👏 games 👏 that 👏 rip 👏 you 👏 off 👏

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Or just stop playing games that exist as shitty GACHA vending machines.

It isn't even the cost per-say. Its the fact that mounts were implemented in D4 as a practical afterthought. They barely affect gameplay, you can't take them into dungeons, they don't have any kind of skill progression or character synergy on their own right. Barely more than a TF2 fancy hat.

I got D4 at base price on release, played the main act, and shelved it months ago. I can't imagine still playing a game that's been nothing but bloody runs since that initial release. Nevermind paying $60 for a fucking cosmetics improvement while I grind mobs for incremental stat increases at the level cap.

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[–] TwilightVulpine 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

At least Diablo is easier to quit than games that literally condition players into a gambling addiction. But all this is easier said than done.

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[–] formergijoe 40 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, Helldivers 2's armor is like 2 bucks, and you can find the currency in-game.

[–] Mr_Dr_Oink 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Its nice to see a low cost microtransaction, and nice to see that you can get the currency in game but really thats just the same as it was a few years back before it went full 100 dollar for a reskin mode.

You are defending a game by pointing out that its money grabbing methods are less greedy than another company.

Games wont make the billions and billions they make now if they move away from the in game purchases models but they also evidently dont need billions and billions to operate.

Some of the best games on the market were made on small budgets by indie developers and sell well because the are fun and people actually want to play them.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 9 months ago

Do you guys not have phones?

[–] yamanii 28 points 9 months ago (15 children)

What happened to the micro part of microtransactions? This is why I only bought one skin in Genshin Impact since they give you extra funny money for your first time to get it, but a second skin will double than the first so I'm never buying one ever again.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I need to make a game for rich suckers.

[–] superduperenigma 40 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Step 1: make some genuinely top shelf, genre-defining games in the 90s and early 2000s

Step 2: Sell out

Step 3: Become shittier than anyone could ever imagine

Step 4: Charge 1 kidney for a shitty in app purchase

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Step 3.5: Use psychology to "convince" children and those with certain mental health issues that they need the in app purchase.

[–] Exusia 11 points 9 months ago

While simultaneously convincing parents not to vote for regulation because "its optional"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

What, dont you all have kidneys?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t people warned about this before the game even came out?

This should fall under the purview of “fools and their money.”

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

i got plenty of hate when i said years ago this is where the mtx slippery slope would get us

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

And it looks like the result of a transporter malfunction involving Baron Rivendare's Deathcharger and Butt Stallion.

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[–] FlyingSquid 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This sort of thing is exactly why I mostly just play retro games.

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[–] caut_R 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

This year‘s CK3 DLC package is also very close in price to the „base game.“ Naturally, it provides nowhere near as much content and I refuse to believe it requires nearly as much work to make either.

[–] RunawayFixer 12 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Paradox DLC policy is why I don't play Paradox games anymore.

If I were to only play 1 game ever, then the DLC system might be ok, it's basically a subscription system. But since I'd only play a campaign every other year or so, I'm not going to fork out that much money for 1 campaign. And it's way too annoying to play some game with obvious parts missing + in game ads, so now Paradox gets no more money from me.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Somehow that's not surprising, which is sad.

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