Games cost money to develop. Unless a game is open-source, you either pay a fixed price initially, or have microtransactions. The problem is when they get greedy and do both / make it pay to win. Selling cosmetics does not affect gameplay, so I don’t mind them doing it.
You are guided to value whatever worthless crap the game sells. If that’s even the primary way a game makes money - funneling you toward that is the only reason the game exists. That is what all systems exist for, and that is what the full might of developers’ manipulative rhetoric steers you toward.
And if it’s that or buying games, gee, can you guess which one I endorse?
Most players I know do not pay for cosmetics. ‘Whales’ - rich people who want to show off, or who love the game and want to support it - buy them. Some streamers also buy, but they get compensated by their sponsers. There is the occassional case of a kid buying it with their parent’s money, and such purchases should definitely be reversed, but otherwise I see nothing wrong.
There’s also a good chance the so called ‘whale’ isn’t actually that financially well off, and is being manipulated by the game into spending more than they can actually afford.
Path of Exile is a good example. F2P, quality game, shit ton of content, and not once did I feel tempted to buy cosmetics. I did buy additional stashes once, but that was a conscious choice to support the devs after playing for tens of hours.
Games cost money to develop. Unless a game is open-source, you either pay a fixed price initially, or have microtransactions. The problem is when they get greedy and do both / make it pay to win. Selling cosmetics does not affect gameplay, so I don’t mind them doing it.
Again:
You are guided to value whatever worthless crap the game sells. If that’s even the primary way a game makes money - funneling you toward that is the only reason the game exists. That is what all systems exist for, and that is what the full might of developers’ manipulative rhetoric steers you toward.
And if it’s that or buying games, gee, can you guess which one I endorse?
Most players I know do not pay for cosmetics. ‘Whales’ - rich people who want to show off, or who love the game and want to support it - buy them. Some streamers also buy, but they get compensated by their sponsers. There is the occassional case of a kid buying it with their parent’s money, and such purchases should definitely be reversed, but otherwise I see nothing wrong.
There’s also a good chance the so called ‘whale’ isn’t actually that financially well off, and is being manipulated by the game into spending more than they can actually afford.
‘It only rips off some people’ is not a defense.
Path of Exile is a good example. F2P, quality game, shit ton of content, and not once did I feel tempted to buy cosmetics. I did buy additional stashes once, but that was a conscious choice to support the devs after playing for tens of hours.
Don’t bother, this guy is just absolutely out of touch and unhinged when it comes to games.