Where is your gaming Line in the Sand?

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Call me entitled or whatever, but I like to believe I have some say in what I purchase. It is my money, and it's owed to no one. When I give it of my free will, I have to feel like that exchange is deserved.

But to me, as years go by, from statements (all pc gamers are pirates), design decisions (giving you less game to sell more dlc but still charging you full game price), or just horrible treatment of IPs (you knew Aliens: Colonial Marines would be in here somewhere, didn't you?)... I find myself not willing to give in any more. I don't want to understand the companies' position in their decisions that screw me over, because they sure don't want to understand my position on why this might affect me wrong.

And yes, companies have to do that. I don't need games. I want them, but I don't need them. I can easily just put another hour at the gym, or somewhere else. I should not have to suck down online passes, outright lying demos to get my pre-order and no where near deliver on promises, and then get blamed for the state of gaming because I do not want to put out 60 dollars for a half finished project that was stream lined to look like all the other games out there.

To me, it has been Colonial Marines. Like you all, this is a beloved series to me. I saw the demo. I waited with bated breath, and I was so disappointed to see that we were all taken for a ride. Then it had the nerve to have the DLC online pass stapled to it. You couldn't even be bothered to fulfill any of your promises, but you want us to wait for more things to underwhelm? No. That's it. That where I step off and wait for companies to actually remember business is about an interplay between the customer and the producer. Both sides need to be respected, not just the companies.

But these are my thoughts, my woes. Yours are not like mine. Have you reached the point where you are standing in defiance, waiting for companies to treat you like respected customers again? If so, what was the last disappointment that made you cross that line? If you haven't gotten there yet, do you have any idea what would it take for you to take those steps over? Or even better, do you feel like people who feel like me are not justified? And why?

 

[Mausthemighty]

I have lost my faith in Bioware. After the mess they made of Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 I will no longer buy games from Bioware. The rehashed dungeons the out of thin air appearing enemies and the mediocre story soured my opinion about Bioware a bit. It was their first mistake so I forgave them for it. Accidents happen right? I had high hopes for Mass Effect 3 and thought they would redeem themselves with that.
As we all know now they made a good game, I loved it and I cried when some characters died until I heard about the ending. It wasn't that important for me if there would be a happy ending or that Shepard survived. What I hated about the ending was the fact that there was a blatant disregard of my choices and the mythology of that universe. Although they tried to patch the ending it still is a stupid ending. Instead of really fixing the ending, they threw a lot of multipleyer dlc to the masses and tried to cash in on that. And now they want to make another Mass Effect? They only care about money.

 

[Mausthemighty]

sorry double post

 

[Fractral]

It varies, but mainly I won't play any games that I don't enjoy. There isn't really much else that a developer or publisher can do to stop me from buying any games of theirs that I want, beyond making it so hard for me to play the game that it becomes no longer worth trying. For games like Aliens: Colonial Marines I simply wouldn't have bought it because it was bad, not because of any moral qualms or anger over canon. Admittedly, if a developer or publisher does shitty stuff, like using slave labour or being blatantly political in their games (either way) then I'll avoid them, but that has never happened so far.

 

[lacktheknack]

Because my internet has a habit of disconnecting for a second and reconnecting, I cannot tolerate always-online DRM.

Cannot. The end. At least Steam and GFWL don't disconnect you the instant you're offline and let you try to reconnect!

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I'm leaving behind Ubisoft in general. They put DRM on From Dust when they said they weren't going to, they choke us with always-online nonsense and I thought Assassin's Creed 3 was sloppy, with gameplay issues and poor-quality cutscenes that a AAA studio should not allow. I'm not buying a thing more from them until they shape up.

 

[Little Duck]

Westwood or whatever it's being called these days. The creators of command and conquer. I love strategy games. Hell 40% of all games I've ever owned have probably been strategy. Command and conquer was the series that got me into them and I loved it. I had C&C, red alert, red alert 2 and yuri's revenge. But when I played tiberium sun I started to get worried. It started to lose something about it. The original gams had some level of seriousness to them but after red alert, it just started to become a joke under EAs leadership. I ended up geting C&C3 and I have never regretted a single purchase more. It just wasn't C&C anymore. I just couldn't enjoy it anymore and I haven't been bothered since with the series. Every now and then I look at a review, but until it goes back to a more adult theme, I just don't care.

Side note, I did play and enjoy generals. It was close to being kiddy but seemed to stay on the adult line just enough.

 

[sniddy_v1legacy]

I'm sick of DLC

Every big game expects me to pay £10 here there every 4 months

No

Sorry I'm so far behind the market and there are so many cool indie games etc that I can wait a year or 18 months and pick up the 'gold' edition on steam for £20

And on that note Origin, EA wanna go make there own digital distrubtion - they needed to make it with Blackjack and hookers, not jack all and the only hooks in the small print

I want my games in one place, and when I started looking at stuff I wanted I wanted to play Mass Effect, then they took ME3 away, so now I wont bother

 

[Grottnikk]

Always online DRM for a singleplayer game is it for me. Never played Diablo 3 and likely never will. Steam allows 'offline mode' for those who don't know. As long as the game is updated, you can play without connecting to Steam at all. I've done it many times.

I also won't go for any game that feels the need to add SecuRom or GameShield or any such "extra" DRM on top of Steam. The Ford motor company isn't waiting outside my house to watch me put the key in my car door. I paid my money, now fuck off and let me play my game.

I also won't go for EA's Origin. I know they've made it better, but they tried to screw people over when it started. Some don't remember this, but they tried to slip a little tricky-dickey thing into their EULA that would allow them to essentially data-mine your computer and sell the info to whomever they pleased.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Because my internet has a habit of disconnecting for a second and reconnecting, I cannot tolerate always-online DRM.

Cannot. The end. At least Steam and GFWL don't disconnect you the instant you're offline and let you try to reconnect!

Same here. My consoles can't maintain a constant connection to the internet so any console that requires a constant internet connection is going to be a console I can't play games on and therefore won't buy. This is also my major issue with modern multiplayer set-ups which seem to be online only and lack of any sort of bot matches in 100% of cases and local multiplayer in 75%.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I'm one of the biggest Halo fans this planet has ever known. I've bought the games, read the books, collected (some) of the comics, and even spent a couple of years drawing a Halo webcomic.

And now I live in a world, where Halo 5 is not a definite purchase, and certainly not a pre-order. I think Halo 4 was my "line in the sand". When you strip out core features that have been in place since 2007, when you populate your game with enemies so boring that I long for Flood encounters, when you take three years to release a game that still somehow feels rushed and has a crippled file share and theater mode... well you tell me that you don't understand what is expected when you put the word HALO on the box. And you tell me that you don't deserve the loyalty you claim to covet. You tell me you are blind to what made Halo special in the first place.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

it's in the sand, apparently...

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I don't really have a gaming "Line in the Sand", while I love gaming it is just a hobby to me (my favorite hobby, but a hobby nonetheless) so I guess my only line in the sand would be if I'm not enjoying the game anymore. For example I'm not going to buy any Gearbox games anymore, not because I disagree with their business practices or anything but because I have not enjoyed any of the games that they've made so I see no reason to continue buying their games. Same thing with CoD games, I haven't liked a CoD game since CoD4 so I haven't bought a CoD game since CoD4 (well I bought Modern Warfare 2 but I didn't like it so I returned it like less than a week later). That's the reason why I continue to play Bioware games, I liked Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 and (kinda) SWTOR so I see no reason why I wouldn't continue to buy their games.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I can't tell if games are getting worse or I'm getting older. I'd like to think it's a combination of the two rather than just the latter.
-Not games games per se, but game practices that Sterling always harangues on.

I also won't go for EA's Origin. I know they've made it better, but they tried to screw people over when it started. Some don't remember this, but they tried to slip a little tricky-dickey thing into their EULA that would allow them to essentially data-mine your computer and sell the info to whomever they pleased.

Did they ever change anything, or did they just wait until the dust cleared and continue with business as usual? I don't recall any updates on this issue, besides 'Steam does it too hurr.'

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I'm sick of DLC

Every big game expects me to pay £10 here there every 4 months

No

Sorry I'm so far behind the market and there are so many cool indie games etc that I can wait a year or 18 months and pick up the 'gold' edition on steam for £20

Now, I do hate how we're continuously pumped for more cash, however I will pay to extend my enjoyment. 5 bucks for skins, these companies are out of their freaking mind. 5 bucks for a few new maps and skins that are adding to an already robust roster, then we can talk.

But DLC that has skins or trivial things like that which should have been just unlockables always pisses me off. I mean, you don't put in collectables just so you can get an achievement, as these people seem to think that's enough to do nowadays. We want to be rewarded. We want to show to our friends that sick gun skin we got by beating the entire game on Unwinnable while using the regulation blindfold that came with the game. We don't want to say 'yeah, that cost me five bucks. Sick, right?'

I'm leaving behind Ubisoft in general. They put DRM on From Dust when they said they weren't going to, they choke us with always-online nonsense and I thought Assassin's Creed 3 was sloppy, with gameplay issues and poor-quality cutscenes that a AAA studio should not allow. I'm not buying a thing more from them until they shape up.

I have really nothing of importance to say here, even though I agree with everything you say (I didn't play AC3 so I can't agree with that).

However, your avatar makes a voice scream in my head "I CHOOSE VIOLENCE!" 'VERY WELL, A VIOLENCE FIGHT IT SHALL BE!!!'

 

[Grottnikk]

They deliver you a solid thirty hours of great characters, gameplay, technical mastery, and an utter feeling that the world you've invested so much in is well and truly being ripped apart by Reapers, and you fixate upon the last ten minutes?

I never played ME 3 myself, so I won't pretend to know if the ending is good or not. I have to say, however, that the ending of any story, not just ME 3, is very important. Screwing up an ending, if that's what happened, can ruin the story for someone. Imagine a perfect dinner followed by a fabulous night of entertainment capped off by a brutal kick in the nads. It's the nad-punt you're going to remember .

 

[Grottnikk]

I can't tell if games are getting worse or I'm getting older. I'd like to think it's a combination of the two rather than just the latter.
-Not games games per se, but game practices that Sterling always harangues on.

I also won't go for EA's Origin. I know they've made it better, but they tried to screw people over when it started. Some don't remember this, but they tried to slip a little tricky-dickey thing into their EULA that would allow them to essentially data-mine your computer and sell the info to whomever they pleased.

Did they ever change anything, or did they just wait until the dust cleared and continue with business as usual? I don't recall any updates on this issue, besides 'Steam does it too hurr.'

Yeah, I think they altered the EULA a bit to address people's concerns. I honestly didn't hear much about it after that. They could have switched it back for all I know =).

 

[Windcaler]

I have quite a few lines in the sand most of them being completely against anti-consumer practices or practices that take away my rights as an American consumer. For example I will not buy any game that has DRM including STEAM/Origin (which is why 95% of my games come from GoG), has day 1 DLC (in fact day 1 DLC is boycott material for me), I do not preorder anything unless I get the game cheaper (I feel that gambling on a game that could turn out to be crap deserves at least a 10% discount).

I dont dont accept any of that because I shouldnt have to. Copyright protection is not the job of the consumer. We're buying games. We're supporting developers and allowing them to put food on the table, not to mention keeping them in business to make more games. In any sane society you do not punish innocent people for the actions of another thats how the United states judicial system works and its why theres that line of Innocent till proven guilty. The games industry isnt working like that though and while I know not all companies are well versed in US judicial philosophies I often feel like the games industry is becoming a police state in and of itself.

With Day 1 DLC I have a very clear philosophy. The game you release to the public is one made from 100% of the funds you got to make the game. If anything couldnt make it into the game because there wasnt time but was still partially created from those funds that should be free DLC because your paying for a game that was made with 100% of those funds, not 20%, not 40%, not 90%. Anything thats made outside of that total funding is free game for DLC but if thats the case it wont be day 1 DLC either. Theres just no excuse for that business practice

 

[RaikuFA]

Refusal to localize games for extremly stupid reasons.

Capcom- Refuses to localize AAI2 cause the first didn't sell as well as Okamiden

Namco Bandai-If you're a Tales fan you know about this one.

Others such as acting like an asshole to your fans(Phil Fish) or abandoning a whole demographic just to appease to the CoD fanbase(Capcom again) will turn me away.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

They deliver you a solid thirty hours of great characters, gameplay, technical mastery, and an utter feeling that the world you've invested so much in is well and truly being ripped apart by Reapers, and you fixate upon the last ten minutes?

I never played ME 3 myself, so I won't pretend to know if the ending is good or not. I have to say, however, that the ending of any story, not just ME 3, is very important. Screwing up an ending, if that's what happened, can ruin the story for someone. Imagine a perfect dinner followed by a fabulous night of entertainment capped off by a brutal kick in the nads. It's the nad-punt you're going to remember .

I'm well aware of that, believe me, but ME3 kind of was that ending. Criticizing it for the ending of the ending is like saying you didn't like the last sentence in the last chapter of the last book of a series, therefore everyone associated with it is a child eating monster.