Valve does it again (in a bad way)

[Grabbin Keelz]

Lemme just get this out of the way by saying that I love Portal 2 to 42 extremes of awesome and it was fun as any fun sauce I've tasted in a while. This is what bothers me.

So stop me if you've heard this one before. There's this thing in the Portal 2 co-op called 'Robot Enrichment' which allows you to customize your own Atlas and P-body. In order to get some of the features (e.g. skins, taunts, flags, and of course HATS) you have to pay real money. The flags represent different potato sack games, but you still have to buy them. I would think that they would just give you watever flags that matched the games you had, but no you have to buy them for two bucks each. Also even though most of the bought taunts are exactly the same (Atlas fist pump, P-body fist pump) you have to buy them for each individual robot. So if you bought a cool Atlas spin dance and got stuck playing as P-body, well sucks for you.

I know Valve kinda needed the money when the did this with TF2 to make better games and keep the servers running but haven't they made enough? Are they going to do this with every game now? I don't want to see my favorite video game company become corrupted with greed trying to make a quick buck every chance they get.

And just in case you were wondering, no I wasn't stupid enough to buy any of it (although I WAS stupid enough to buy a few keys in TF2)

IMPORTANT EDIT: Well I've learned a lot from this experience. I've read all of your responses, and you know what? Your all absolutely right. I had no good reason to get all up and mad about that, especially while there are other perfectly good things to get angry over. The part I was impressed most with was that while your comments were objective, they weren't negative. That's something I would never expect from a Youtube comment or a 4-Chan thread, so it's good to know I can trust a community that respects my idiocy. So thanks for that.

 

[darkfire613]

I've gotten a few of the flags for free. I haven't paid for anything. It seems everything you can buy is also unlockable in-game.

 

[Woodsey]

They wanted to experiment with it in TF2, and the players mostly seemed to like it, now its in Portal 2. You don't have to buy anything, and I've earned a couple of things just from playing the game; whether this applies to everything in the store or not I don't know, but as its all cosmetic it doesn't matter. In fact, I believe the Mann Co. store also comprises of player-made items that those players are then paid a percentage for each time their item is sold. Wouldn't be surprised if they do the same for Portal 2.

I mean Christ, if we're still getting all the actual DLC for free who gives a flying fuck what meaningless micro-transactions there are. Don't want it, don't buy it.

Also, read: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...oints/8819-Experienced-Points-DLC-for-Dummies

 

[Irridium]

People bought the shit out of items from the TF2 store, it was a success, so of course they'll put it into other games.

Don't want to see it anymore? Then stop buying stuff from the stores. Simple as that.

 

[Aidinthel]

You know Shamus just wrote an article on this. Maybe you should read it.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Like it or not, it looks like Valve's new in-game stores are here to stay. They've mentioned before that the TF2 store was a test to gauge player reactions and work out reasonable prices for items.

Turns out enough players liked it and were willing to shell out enough money to convince Valve to use the system for Portal 2.

Personally I don't mind too much if the items are either purely cosmetic (like TF2's hats) or can be obtained by some alternate in-game method (like TF2's drop/craft options). Still, I feel the prices they charge for these items is a bit excessive.

 

[KalosCast]

Paying for cosmetic upgrades is the entire business model of Riot Games and they're rolling in dough... and charge up to $20 USD for some of these skins.

Would you rather that Valve charged you an extra $10 to shoot orange portals? No? Then stop whining about things that don't effect your game at all.

 

[lord.jeff]

I haven't played the game yet, but it sounds like it's just new skins they are charging for, something not even needed to play the game, so they're just charging you for bonus content, I see no problem for this.

 

[monkey_man]

Next time in HL3, HATS! HATHAHTSHATGDUHVEJDHEHE
Or crates in l4d ! You'll need to battle a tank with FISTICUFFSSSS!!! for keys though.

I've gotten a few of the flags for free. I haven't paid for anything. It seems everything you can buy is also unlockable in-game.

hehe, seriously though, /thread for me, It's just a hat, and some other stuff.It's not vital for sustaining Human life.

 

[Dr.Nick]

You don't have to pay for anything -.- you can earn flags for free. It's just optional if you want.

 

[Sean Strife]

Edit: Posted in the wrong thread. Crap.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Do you suggest they pull a CoD map pack?
Do you want an 'expansion' with three chambers for 15$?
It's all optional, mate.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

I've gotten a few of the flags for free. I haven't paid for anything. It seems everything you can buy is also unlockable in-game.

Strange, I had bought Killing Floor but they didn't give me the flag for it yet, so I just assumed they weren't unlockable.

 

[darkfire613]

I've gotten a few of the flags for free. I haven't paid for anything. It seems everything you can buy is also unlockable in-game.

Strange, I had bought Killing Floor but they didn't give me the flag for it yet, so I just assumed they weren't unlockable.

Killing Floor flag was the first I got. Maybe you need to have X amount of play time in the title? I don't know.

 

[Thespian]

I know Valve kinda needed the money when the did this with TF2 to make better games and keep the servers running but haven't they made enough? Are they going to do this with every game now? I don't want to see my favorite video game company become corrupted with greed trying to make a quick buck every chance they get.

Ohhh, naïvity...

 

[Singularly Datarific]

I personally see it as extracting extra profits from rich and lazy people, and for that I have nothing against it.

 

[valleyshrew]

It's so weird how Gabe has talked about games being too expensive before and yet he's willing to charge $2 for a hat, while actual decent deep games that took years to make get sold on sale for barely double that. Valve are no different than EA or activision, they're all about the money. Steam has over $1b in revenue a year according to Forbes estimate, and Valve get a huge cut of that, but what do they do with it? They certainly don't pump it back into making more games and buying development studios like EA or Sony do. They make primitive shallow cheap games that are polished and well marketed, it's mind boggling how people seem to think they're a great gaming company. I'm always seeing people say that Valve do things right and know how to treat their customers. Fuck that, customers want their money spent making more good games and so far Valve have only made 1 deep game (half-life 2), took 6 years to do it, and the rest of the games they've made are on the same level as call of duty or any other of the standard ea/activision trash. They're really clueless, have no idea how to make an engaging narrative or setting, and only get highly rated because of simple easy to understand gameplay gimmicks that appeal to a mass audience, like the gravity gun, zombie AI, or the portal gun. Left 4 dead is one of the most lazy attempts to cash in on a trend I've ever seen. That people are happy with a game that has 5 levels, no narrative at all, and generic shooting mechanics is just crazy. They have no ambition to make an outstanding game, they're simple minded and unambitious, and people love them because people are idiots.

Paying for cosmetic upgrades is the entire business model of Riot Games and they're rolling in dough... and charge up to $20 USD for some of these skins.

Good, milk the idiots who are willing to pay for pointless skins, and let the rest of us play for free. Valve don't release portal for free so you can't use the same argument here. It's fair enough to charge for things in that business model. It's not right when you're selling a full retail game and rolling in cash to milk your customers. If multiplayer it makes a bit of sense to pay for servers. I'd be fine if they charged $0.10 for a hat, something reasonable. The amount of work that goes into the hat is pitiful, and it's ridiculous to charge $2.

 

[Sansha]

It's so weird how Gabe has talked about games being too expensive before and yet he's willing to charge $2 for a hat, while actual decent deep games that took years to make get sold on sale for barely double that. Valve are no different than EA or activision, they're all about the money. Steam has over $1b in revenue a year according to Forbes estimate, and Valve get a huge cut of that, but what do they do with it? They certainly don't pump it back into making more games and buying development studios like EA or Sony do. They make primitive shallow cheap games that are polished and well marketed, it's mind boggling how people seem to think they're a great gaming company. I'm always seeing people say that Valve do things right and know how to treat their customers. Fuck that, customers want their money spent making more good games and so far Valve have only made 1 deep game (half-life 2), took 6 years to do it, and the rest of the games they've made are on the same level as call of duty or any other of the standard ea/activision trash. They're really clueless, have no idea how to make an engaging narrative or setting, and only get highly rated because of simple easy to understand gameplay gimmicks that appeal to a mass audience, like the gravity gun, zombie AI, or the portal gun. Left 4 dead is one of the most lazy attempts to cash in on a trend I've ever seen. That people are happy with a game that has 5 levels, no narrative at all, and generic shooting mechanics is just crazy. They have no ambition to make an outstanding game, they're simple minded and unambitious, and people love them because people are idiots.

Games are supposed to be fun. Remember fun?

Who remembers fun before video games were expected to have the same narratives and themes as films?

 

[Mute52]

This DLC is completely cosmetic, not affecting gameplay at all.
If Valve wanted all of your money and was "corrupted by greed", they'd make you pay for maps and content that actually affects gameplay. But TF2 and Left 4 Dead get updated, i get new maps and content, and don't pay a cent. (Paying on Xbox is Microsoft's doing)

If some people want to create their own economy based on virtual hats, they can do that, i can still play the game without needing to buy anything.

 

[valleyshrew]

Games are supposed to be fun. Remember fun?

Who remembers fun before video games were expected to have the same narratives and themes as films?

Videogames are not supposed to be mindless fun, they've just got stuck with that name, it doesn't define them. It's like saying films are supposed to be silent because they're called "movies" and not "talkies". I can have fun playing sports and multiplayer games. Singleplayer is not just fun, it's for engaging experiences like fallout, mass effect, gta, yakuza etc. It's easy to create a linear shooter, stick some bots in it, and put in a mute protagonist and one or two other characters. It's 5 hours of mindless entertainment. Multiplayer/sports games give you hundreds of hours, and deep singleplayer games give you a memorable intellectual experience. That we're still regularly giving these primitive games 90%+ reviews is ludicrous. The only reason they haven't gone extinct is because they're cheap and easy to make and sell well.