Is the world against gameing?

[CrazyManBob]

Ok I know it takes alot to make a game. I know alot of people go into making them and thusly games are getting better and prettier all the time, everyone needs to be paid, servers need to be maintained etc.

But how the hell do they think we can constantly afford it?

For example I buy a game, it cost around £40-50 (which I get about £18 for if I returned it the next day I SHIT YOU NOT), I then pay my internet bills each month, which I have to pay a phone line to use, so thats around £30 in total each month, I then have to pay for xbox live every bloody month to use it, ontop of that I have to pay for new maps because I can't play a game without the fuckin things or turn settings so that I only play people with factory settings, I then have to go through the same fucking process each month, so in total a game costing £50 ends up around £80 to use properly at least, and less and less games are becoming single player focused, what the hell happened to paying for a game and being able to use the bloody thing as and when I want? And dont even get me started on stuff like steam, where if I dont have in internet every fuckin month I cant play a game I've already paid through the roof for?!

Anyone else think this system is started to get beyound a joke or am I the only one?
I love gaming, but its becomeing too much.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

snip

Well... it does kinda suck but hey, that's capitalism for ya. We'll push people as far as they can go as long as they keep buying (and we keep buying)

What bothers me is that with all these advances in technology, decent gameplay is being sacrificed for pretty graphics.

That means YOU, Ubisoft, with your Far Cry Poo, Ass Creed and Prince of Disney.

Seriously... fuck Ubisoft.

Oh, and welcome to the Escapist, Mr CrazyManBob

 

[RooftopAssassin]

Well, you could just save yourself some money and pay for XBL annually instead of monthly. Also I doubt you only use the Internets only for gaming, witch is to say you do and get a lot more services than just gaming.

 

[Starnerf]

Obviously if you couldn't afford it you wouldn't be playing it. And if you didn't have internet you logically wouldn't use an entirely internet-based distribution service to acquire your games, would you? Companies make products for people who can buy them. Or for people who can get other people to buy them for them.

 

[Nimbus]

I expect that one day in the future, what we consider now to be AAA games that cost $60 at retail, will cost half of nothing to develop. Look at Flash games. Flash as a platform is so cheap to develop for that the games are given away for free, and yet back in the SNES generation, graphics like that were unachieveable.

 

[CrazyManBob]

"Obviously if you couldn't afford it you wouldn't be playing it. And if you didn't have internet you logically wouldn't use an entirely internet-based distribution service to acquire your games, would you? Companies make products for people who can buy them. Or for people who can get other people to buy them for them."

Dude your obviously a kid who doesnt pay their bills, wait till you have a morgage, a job and have to pay everything on top of that
The simple point is why are we now expected to buy a game, then keep paying to use the fucking thing when you've already paid a substantial amount for it in the first place, surely the cost of the game should include the other variables!
Nimbus you have a very good point, but doesnt save the frustration of people now.
And just because americans are rich enough to bumfuck everyone elses econemy and throw money away doesnt mean the rest of the world is dude.

 

[babygirlmomo]

I say stop complaining and take some sort of action. Boycott, email people, do something other than complaining about it because it gets nothing accomplished. We are normal people here - we cannot heal your financial situation whatever it may be. Consider yourself LUCKY enough to have money for internet, and a phone, and a form of entertainment.

There was a time when I could not afford games or internet, even though my school was very demanding and required internet research on most assignments. I was in need of internet but instead of complaining about it, I (being 12 years old at the time) went to the library at least 3 times a week and took my hours to get my stuff done. If gaming is hurting you financially, I think you need to learn to prioritize better.

And just to let you know, even those that live closest to America's grand capital are drowning in debt. Sure, there are higher taxes all over the world which can make the loss of money even more painful, but that doesn't mean we're not in an economic crisis either. Even people that create the most expensive software in the world just a few blocks down the street are facing foreclosure and wondering where to turn next. There's only a small percentage of people that are actually still running strong; sadly, these people also have the biggest influence on US government and policy.

Think about it this way - the world's economy is crashing and you're thinking about buying the latest game.

You're no better than us Americans.

 

[dekkarax]

That's the way capitalism works.
I can't think of anything to suggest apart from spend less on games e.g. buy older, cheaper games. I have not bought a full new game since April or so, but I've been doing fine buying older games, some of which are classics that I missed as a kid.

 

[wordsmith]

"Obviously if you couldn't afford it you wouldn't be playing it. And if you didn't have internet you logically wouldn't use an entirely internet-based distribution service to acquire your games, would you? Companies make products for people who can buy them. Or for people who can get other people to buy them for them."

Dude your obviously a kid who doesnt pay their bills, wait till you have a morgage, a job and have to pay everything on top of that
The simple point is why are we now expected to buy a game, then keep paying to use the fucking thing when you've already paid a substantial amount for it in the first place, surely the cost of the game should include the other variables!
Nimbus you have a very good point, but doesnt save the frustration of people now.
And just because americans are rich enough to bumfuck everyone elses econemy and throw money away doesnt mean the rest of the world is dude.

Hey, quit the hostility, it gets no-one anywhere.

He has a valid point, why complain about the cost of online-enabled games, then play them? You want entertainment? Fine, pick up a load of single player games, you won't need patches/new maps/an internet connection to play it.

You're ranting about the cost of games... I think this says more about exclusivity than anything else. The most I've paid for a game in the last 18 months is £30 for Saints Row 2. Before that? £25 for GTAIV and £22 for L4D. You're getting charged £40-£50 because you're paying for the game twice. You're paying for the game, then you're paying Microsoft for letting them release the game on their system.

Internet... Again, you're paying twice, your phone company to let you dial out and Microsoft to let you dial in. Steam doesn't have this problem, neither does PSN.

Phonelines? You ever heard of Skype? You use your PC to call people, you don't get billed any more than your ISP fee.

Oh, and before you launch with the "But a gaming PC costs so much"... £600 got me decent parts, I built my own. Take the cost of your Xbox, plus a year or 2 of Live, plus the (presumably) semi-decent telly.... It adds up quickly.

Long story short, we've known all along that the Xbox 360 is cheaper in the short term, more expensive in the long run than the PS3 or the PC, that's just the way it is. You don't want to pay repeatedly? Don't use a service that requires a monthly fee.

EDIT: Oh, and because I know you'll challenge it... I'm 18 and I work 6 days a week so I can get my own place...

 

[Marcus Dubious]

I don't see how an internet connection and a phone line come into the equation.
To me these are life essentials and I would have them if gaming didn?t exist.

I wouldn't out of principle buy a game that charges me a monthly online fee, I won't pay twice.
WOW for example should be a free download considering you have to pay to play. there hardly making a loss.

Live has running costs, but I think they should run it without making a profit. unfortunately ideal worlds don't exist, market forces do, they will charge what most people will pay in order to maximise their profits.

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

Shop around. I just bought a £50 new game for £28 for exmaple from shopto.com. The games companies aren't overpricing the games in particular, it's the retailers that are doing it. That's why they offer so much less when they buy games back because they're making 100% profit so they themselves can afford to. Don't blame the developers or distributors.

 

[Ace of Spades]

PLAYSTATION NETWORK IS FREE HURR HURR, just kidding, I couldn't resist. Yeah, it costs a lot, but that's the price we pay for our hobby.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I know, all I have to do is look at Halo3, where if you don't have the latest maps then you can't enjoy half the game. I shit you not, but if I have to pay ten dollars to buy three maps so that I can enjoy the other fucking twenty that I already paid for then I really don't have a choice do I? I would be losing money if I didn't put up the ten dollars to enjoy the other 20 I already paid for plus the ones that came with the original game.

It gets worst with ODST where their reselling the maps plus one new map pack so that if you want to play after you've paid about a hundred dollars, then your going to have to pay another $60 to play, whether you even want ODST or not.

But I'm ranting. That's why I don't buy games just because they're fun anymore. Longevity is a extremely crucial factor.

 

[Pilot Bush]

The people in charge want the masses entertained, bros

 

[CrazyManBob]

Ok people are pickin my arguement apart and Im not saying that you shouldn't be playin if you cant afford it har har har, but my entire point was it's becomeing a state that if you dont pay regularly you cant play. The companys have gone from a standpoint of letting you pay for a complete package and useing it to giving you half of it and dangleing the other half infront of you like a carrot to a donkey.
And its becoming more and more commen, as I say take internet activated games like Dawn of War 2 or halflife 2, Im a massive Warhammer fan and have been for years but I have to use the internet to use it, so if I miss payments for whatever reason or put it on a laptop which isnt wireless everywhere I cant use it, and why should I keep paying for it just to use the basic package, you dont do that with anything else so why is it increasingly demanded in games. It alienates the gamers who simply dont have access to the internet.

PS STOP PICKING HOLES READ MY ARGUEMENT AS A WHOLE