Jimquisition: Fee-to-Pay and the Death of Dignity

[Thanatos2k]

While I agree that microtransactions in already paid for games are dumb, I'm not entirely sure "psychological manipulation" is the correct term there. Saying companies are "psychologically manipulating" you is just saying "I can't control my spending habits". It completely removes any sort of responsibility on the consumer's part to not just blindly throw money every time the game say "Press X to spend more money." It's not "conning" if it says "give us this much money for this." That's just called "charging for a product", and if you feel that amount is too much (and I agree $100 is a lot of money for most anything), that still only makes it a gross example of overcharging.

I just don't understand it. The companies aren't stealing your credit card number and forcing you to buy this. They haven't kidnapped your family and threatened to off them one by one unless you buy the super expensive red rocket racer car. So why does this cross from the realm of idiocy into some sort of evil, horrific, greatest atrocity against capitalism since Stalin? Literally this giant "problem" is fixed by going, "Nah, I'm not gonna buy that."

The con is that you think you're getting the complete game if you don't pay more - you're not. And you've been duped into paying $60 for an incomplete experience that many people will then try to convince themselves and others that it *is* complete, because otherwise they would have to admit they'd been duped, and the mental defenses spring up.

And we aren't as adept at recognizing we're being manipulated as we think we are. That's what they're counting on.
All they need to do is inconvenience you through the gameplay and offer ways to remove that inconvenience. That is psychological manipulation, and the gameplay has suffered for it.

The experience, as with any experience, is only as complete or incomplete as you believe it to be. I never purchased the Warden DLC for Dragon Age, but did I feel my experience was more incomplete? Objectively, my experience was incomplete only relative to those that had purchased it. But, that too is also a manner of whether or not I decide that's relevant to me.

If you don't have all the content your experience is incomplete....by definition. Getting into the "well was this really necessary content for a complete experience of the game" is pure nonsense. If it's part of the game it's part of the game. And yes, that means they can make the experience incomplete by releasing DLC later. One of the biggest reasons I despise DLC.

And if they inconvenience the gameplay in order to make us pay to convenience ourselves, my question would be why would you play that game at all?

I wouldn't, which is why I don't play any "free to play" games or games with microtransactions.

 

[irishda]

The experience, as with any experience, is only as complete or incomplete as you believe it to be. I never purchased the Warden DLC for Dragon Age, but did I feel my experience was more incomplete? Objectively, my experience was incomplete only relative to those that had purchased it. But, that too is also a manner of whether or not I decide that's relevant to me.

If you don't have all the content your experience is incomplete....by definition. Getting into the "well was this really necessary content for a complete experience of the game" is pure nonsense. If it's part of the game it's part of the game. And yes, that means they can make the experience incomplete by releasing DLC later. One of the biggest reasons I despise DLC.

And if they inconvenience the gameplay in order to make us pay to convenience ourselves, my question would be why would you play that game at all?

I wouldn't, which is why I don't play any "free to play" games or games with microtransactions.

Uh, no, it's only incomplete if you feel the game is incomplete because of it. Have you tried every sexual position and sexual act during sex? Do you feel incomplete afterwards if you haven't? No one's taken a shit on my chest during sex, so, by definition, my experience is incomplete in your eyes. Yet I feel quite satisfied afterwards despite having a, by definition, incomplete experience.

Just because something's been released for a game doesn't mean you have to have it. If you're perfectly happy with a game experience, then why should a lack of extra content lessen your enjoyment? I play a couple free to play games, and haven't spent a dime.

 

[Thanatos2k]

The experience, as with any experience, is only as complete or incomplete as you believe it to be. I never purchased the Warden DLC for Dragon Age, but did I feel my experience was more incomplete? Objectively, my experience was incomplete only relative to those that had purchased it. But, that too is also a manner of whether or not I decide that's relevant to me.

If you don't have all the content your experience is incomplete....by definition. Getting into the "well was this really necessary content for a complete experience of the game" is pure nonsense. If it's part of the game it's part of the game. And yes, that means they can make the experience incomplete by releasing DLC later. One of the biggest reasons I despise DLC.

And if they inconvenience the gameplay in order to make us pay to convenience ourselves, my question would be why would you play that game at all?

I wouldn't, which is why I don't play any "free to play" games or games with microtransactions.

Uh, no, it's only incomplete if you feel the game is incomplete because of it.

What are you going on about. If you don't have all content the experience is not complete. How could anyone argue otherwise? You're suggesting that you ordered a 5 course meal and they only gave you 4 courses but since you were full after 4 courses you claim the meal was "complete." No it wasn't, and stop settling for incomplete meals.

Have you tried every sexual position and sexual act during sex? Do you feel incomplete afterwards if you haven't? No one's taken a shit on my chest during sex, so, by definition, my experience is incomplete in your eyes. Yet I feel quite satisfied afterwards despite having a, by definition, incomplete experience.

Ok this got weird. Maybe time to stop with the analogies. I made a food analogy because of Garme Jurnalizm but you're creeping me out now.

Just because something's been released for a game doesn't mean you have to have it. If you're perfectly happy with a game experience, then why should a lack of extra content lessen your enjoyment? I play a couple free to play games, and haven't spent a dime.

And just because you're happy with an incomplete experience doesn't mean the experience is complete. It just means you have low standards.

 

[GamerFromJump]

Wow, is the Wii U the only Gen 8 system I will buy? Have Sony and Microsoft really managed to piss away that much, that I can't be convinced to follow the multisystem pattern I had for the past 4 generations? It feels like a big part of my life might come to a stop. At least I have lots to go back to, that I haven't yet played.