Subscription fees. I can tolerate the xbox live "50 dollars to play all the games you want for a year" type thing because it's not too expensive for what you get, but the MMORPG "15 bucks a month for one game" is fucking ridiculous.
Poll: Which of the following gaming trends do you hate the most?
- Thread starter slowpoke999
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Another previously-PC-now-come-to-consoles phenomenom is developers using day-one buyers as testers for their buggy games.GamingAwesome1 said:
I know this isn't as big a problem on consoles as it is for PC gamers, but it sets a troubling precedent.
Modern Warfare 2 is a glaring example. There are SO MANY glitches and bugs in that game, it's truly remarkable that anyone manages to play it at all. Nuke boosters, care package glitches, javelin glitch, map glitches, Model 1887s, the list goes on and on and on. They aren't minor issues either; the game is just barely playable right now. This is AFTER 2 patches addressing multiple issues.ShatteredBlack said:
On Topic: Subscription fees for games not titled 'World of Warcraft' are unacceptable. You pay for server upkeep and monthly content updates in WoW, not for the game itself.
Digital distribution.
Most everything else can be worked around or tolerated in one way or another, but if the only form your game has is a bunch of bits on a drive with no physical copy then it becomes much easier for you to lose it through corporate fiat or pure accident. [small](But don't worry, we're not going to go out of business and even if we do we'll put a patch out! We promise!)[/small]
A hard copy of a game, even one that requires activation, can always be cracked, if worse comes to worse.
Bits that you've paid money for the privilege download and maybe play (...after a server check, game-client logon and SecuROM install...) can be taken away making you either lose the game forever or force you to pirate what you've already paid for.
Most everything else can be worked around or tolerated in one way or another, but if the only form your game has is a bunch of bits on a drive with no physical copy then it becomes much easier for you to lose it through corporate fiat or pure accident. [small](But don't worry, we're not going to go out of business and even if we do we'll put a patch out! We promise!)[/small]
A hard copy of a game, even one that requires activation, can always be cracked, if worse comes to worse.
Bits that you've paid money for the privilege download and maybe play (...after a server check, game-client logon and SecuROM install...) can be taken away making you either lose the game forever or force you to pirate what you've already paid for.
I didn't have time to mention but "having to be online to play SP" is being merged with DRM because that's basically the same thing.
Subscriptions. I simply refuse to pay once for a game just to own it, then pay again to play it online (I'm looking at you, Xbox Live). Why pay AU$80 a year to play online with my 360 when my PC does it for free (and better)? That shit adds up y'know. Just 5 years (the average lifespan of a console, or at least it used to be, now it's probably a bit longer) at AU$80 becomes AU$400. Fuck that.
All of them. Seriously, where's your 'All of the above' option? You can't make me pick. They're ALL bad ideas. Yes, even pudding.
DRM. How many programs do you need to play Bioshock 2? Three or something?
Then there's Ubisoft's brilliant new save game server bullshit.
And let's not forget the SecuROM debacle.
Limited installs are pretty fun too.
I get that companies want to protect their game from being pirated, but there are better ways to do it. I shouldn't need to run three separate programs in addition to a game just to validate it. The Escapist's [user]Shamus Young[/user] explained this recently in his Experienced Points feature. (Link [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7058-Experienced-Points-I-Have-Seen-The-Future-And-it-is-Annoying])
Then there's Ubisoft's brilliant new save game server bullshit.
And let's not forget the SecuROM debacle.
Limited installs are pretty fun too.
I get that companies want to protect their game from being pirated, but there are better ways to do it. I shouldn't need to run three separate programs in addition to a game just to validate it. The Escapist's [user]Shamus Young[/user] explained this recently in his Experienced Points feature. (Link [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7058-Experienced-Points-I-Have-Seen-The-Future-And-it-is-Annoying])
I think I'll just go through with them one by one:
Day 1 DLC - I dislike DLCs as whole, not just day 1 DLC. The idea is fine, but it has been abused to death. There are too many DLCs that cost too much and give too little.
Subscription fees - Never had any problems with this. Only games I've seen this in are MMOs and those give something back in exchange. Maybe it's just because I've never used Xbox live that I don't have any problem with this one. Some people say that MMOs have too high subscription prices and thus they play on private servers, well go ahead, with experience from both official and private servers, all I can say is you get what you pay for. One last note for the people who say they will only pay for either the game or the subscription, all you have to do is wait for a while after the release and the initial purchase price will drop down to somewhere around the price of 1-month sub, which you will get included in the purchase, so essentially you'll get the game itself for free.
Digital Distribution - I actually like digital distribution, dunno actually why, maybe because it's easier to shop games when you can check the reviews and/or demos while you're at it and also the fact that the games are automatically available, you don't have to search for them. Like mentioned above, there's always the risk of the company going belly up and your games would be lost forever (There is the possibility of backups, you know). But remember, even with physical disk, there's always the chance of losing the game. Now, let's get to the upside of DD, Distributing old games becomes a worthwhile option, there's no point in making physical copies of years old games, since the selling price wouldn't even cover the expenses, but with DD, there are very little expenses. Only thing I think they should improve with DD is the pricing policy, it's kind of unfair to ask same price for DD as for physical copy, that's why I only use DD discount games and packs, oh and also for games where the physical disk has no value whatsoever, meaning MMOs.
Cutting Dedicated servers - Nothing to say here, move along.
Forced Updates - I'm sorry, but I don't see the problem. Maybe in some rare cases where the latest patch causes new bugs? Could someone please elaborate what it is that's the actual problem here, I'm fairly sure I'm missing something.
DRM/having to be online to play SP - Now here's something I truly hate. Bioshock 2 came out couple days ago, so I thought, before going out and buying it, I'd play through the first one. So I grabbed my disk, installed the game and failed the activation. "Oh yeah, the DRM!", one cigarette later the situation was actually quite funny, I have the original copy in my hand, but due to the fact that my comp gets rebuild a lot and my laziness to uninstall games before formatting my HDD, I will now have to use a crack for purchased game, oh the irony. Almost similar thing happened with Gran Turismo 5 prologue some time ago, I though I'd play it for a while but the game failed to start because I wasn't connected to the PSN. It took my ISP 4 hours to figure out the problem and get me connected again, during which time I was unable to play a single player game I've bought, this wasn't even funny.
Expansion packs - Because this was not slapped together with DLC, I'm suspecting this means those packs that cost a bit more, but actually add their worth to the game, thus, no problen with these, yet. They may get overused at some point, but right now I'm much more conserned about full priced sequels that offer content that should have been sold as low-price expansion pack. If the existence of expansion packs helps us to keep that kind of sequels at bay, then I'm ok with expansion packs.
edit:: Here's another option for the poll, a trend that has more common during few years, that is "Uncommitment to patch unfinished products". There are too many games released that are flawed to the point of being unplayable, but still the devs refuse to patch the games. This is most likely due to game development going to big companies, who fail to see the profit gained from finalizing their product, even if it was post launch. The fact that game is released broken is almost unforgivable, but leaving players who bought the game just suck it up is truly unforgivable.
Day 1 DLC - I dislike DLCs as whole, not just day 1 DLC. The idea is fine, but it has been abused to death. There are too many DLCs that cost too much and give too little.
Subscription fees - Never had any problems with this. Only games I've seen this in are MMOs and those give something back in exchange. Maybe it's just because I've never used Xbox live that I don't have any problem with this one. Some people say that MMOs have too high subscription prices and thus they play on private servers, well go ahead, with experience from both official and private servers, all I can say is you get what you pay for. One last note for the people who say they will only pay for either the game or the subscription, all you have to do is wait for a while after the release and the initial purchase price will drop down to somewhere around the price of 1-month sub, which you will get included in the purchase, so essentially you'll get the game itself for free.
Digital Distribution - I actually like digital distribution, dunno actually why, maybe because it's easier to shop games when you can check the reviews and/or demos while you're at it and also the fact that the games are automatically available, you don't have to search for them. Like mentioned above, there's always the risk of the company going belly up and your games would be lost forever (There is the possibility of backups, you know). But remember, even with physical disk, there's always the chance of losing the game. Now, let's get to the upside of DD, Distributing old games becomes a worthwhile option, there's no point in making physical copies of years old games, since the selling price wouldn't even cover the expenses, but with DD, there are very little expenses. Only thing I think they should improve with DD is the pricing policy, it's kind of unfair to ask same price for DD as for physical copy, that's why I only use DD discount games and packs, oh and also for games where the physical disk has no value whatsoever, meaning MMOs.
Cutting Dedicated servers - Nothing to say here, move along.
Forced Updates - I'm sorry, but I don't see the problem. Maybe in some rare cases where the latest patch causes new bugs? Could someone please elaborate what it is that's the actual problem here, I'm fairly sure I'm missing something.
DRM/having to be online to play SP - Now here's something I truly hate. Bioshock 2 came out couple days ago, so I thought, before going out and buying it, I'd play through the first one. So I grabbed my disk, installed the game and failed the activation. "Oh yeah, the DRM!", one cigarette later the situation was actually quite funny, I have the original copy in my hand, but due to the fact that my comp gets rebuild a lot and my laziness to uninstall games before formatting my HDD, I will now have to use a crack for purchased game, oh the irony. Almost similar thing happened with Gran Turismo 5 prologue some time ago, I though I'd play it for a while but the game failed to start because I wasn't connected to the PSN. It took my ISP 4 hours to figure out the problem and get me connected again, during which time I was unable to play a single player game I've bought, this wasn't even funny.
Expansion packs - Because this was not slapped together with DLC, I'm suspecting this means those packs that cost a bit more, but actually add their worth to the game, thus, no problen with these, yet. They may get overused at some point, but right now I'm much more conserned about full priced sequels that offer content that should have been sold as low-price expansion pack. If the existence of expansion packs helps us to keep that kind of sequels at bay, then I'm ok with expansion packs.
edit:: Here's another option for the poll, a trend that has more common during few years, that is "Uncommitment to patch unfinished products". There are too many games released that are flawed to the point of being unplayable, but still the devs refuse to patch the games. This is most likely due to game development going to big companies, who fail to see the profit gained from finalizing their product, even if it was post launch. The fact that game is released broken is almost unforgivable, but leaving players who bought the game just suck it up is truly unforgivable.
"register to our company's service or your cant play the game"
piss off, at least bioware gives me free DLC though.
piss off, at least bioware gives me free DLC though.
DRM.
completely and utterly ineffective at it's job, so only effecting the only people it's not supposed to...
doubly annoying when pointlessly layered on top of digital distribution like steam (which at least has it's benefits to counter any built-in DRM annoyances)
completely and utterly ineffective at it's job, so only effecting the only people it's not supposed to...
doubly annoying when pointlessly layered on top of digital distribution like steam (which at least has it's benefits to counter any built-in DRM annoyances)
. . . You guys realize that your subscriptions fees put back out constant updates, new content, and other stuff? Your not just paying the extra for no reason. Well people will be cheap as fuck and demand more service, i suppose.
However I find no excuse for day 1 DLC.
However I find no excuse for day 1 DLC.
I chose the removing of Dedicated Servers. I really do not see how the absence of Dedicated Servers benefits the players. I can't see how it helps the publishers/developers either.
Yeah this, I love playing games via lan. What's even worse is when games don't even allow it.Blackdoom said: