This week Cortyn doesn’t taste what you can buy in full-priced titles. When you buy a reward, is it still a “reward”?
Let’s get straight to the important part. I currently don’t like how the gaming market is developing, at least in the multiplayer titles sector. More and more games are relying solely on brutal, fast action without narrative depth. Matches only last about 5-10 minutes and real rewards for “loyal players” who invest a lot of time can usually just be bought with a well-filled wallet.
Where money flows, fun is throttled
The biggest aspect that bothers me immensely is the microtransactions. I explicitly do not mean free-to-play games, as they have to generate revenue somehow, and I understand that. No, what really bothers me is in full-priced titles, even if it’s just so-called “convenience” items. For me, this had a noticeable start back in Mass Effect 3, when you could buy reward crates for real money in the multiplayer – which, by the way, was incredibly good – that you otherwise had to earn over long, hard matches.
Here, developers have to walk a fine line, because on the one hand, it must be ensured that all players can somehow access the rewards, but on the other hand, it must be so inconvenient and time-consuming that a large part of the players say, “Oh, I’d rather just put another 20 euros on the table.” And exactly that is a philosophy that stands in stark contrast to what games should really be about: the fun.
Because let’s be honest for a moment, put your hand on your virtual heart and speak plainly. If the game wants to lure us into buying things that could also be gained just through playing, then the thought behind it is: “Make it as annoying as possible, then money comes easier.”
That very point bothers me immensely. I don’t even want to blame the developers for it because nobody enjoys creating a game that should be fun, only to artificially trim it back so that fun is missing at certain points and can only be extracted through thick dollar signs.
This trend continues to grow. Even newer titles like Overwatch are considering such a system, which directly diminishes my initial joy in such games.
Or to end with the cabaret artist Jochen Malmsheimer: “Nothing was better back then. But back then there were things that were good. And they would still be today if we had left them alone.”
What do you think about it? Does this not bother you? Or have you already come to terms with the fact that it “only goes this way” in gaming?
P.S: If you have a topic that is suitable for Mecker Mittwoch, let me know. I like to get upset sometimes. Then I don’t have to take it out on Schuhmann all the time.
