4 ms·

What worries me is that kids growing up today will think that this is normal, just part of "how video games are". I miss the days when you paid once and got fu

What worries me is that kids growing up today will think that this is normal, just part of "how video games are". I miss the days when you paid once and got full access to the entire game, limited only by your own skill. When the game designer's chief concern was fun and playability, not artificial roadblocks to spur paid "upgrades". It's a sad trend.

Terr_ 11y ago
On the flip-side, we've moved away from "fixed in the cartridge" games which were Nintendo Hard. [0]: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard
- CM30 11y ago
  Those things still exist, they're just reserved for completionists now. The optional content in any current era Mario game is arguably more awkwardly designed than anything from similar games in the NES era, with the assumption being that anyone attempting it is the kind of person who liked the 'Nintendo Hard' titles of the 80s. Presumably, designers now often see the 'main' adventure or campaign as for everyone, the multiplayer mode as a way to keep most people playing instead of fake difficulty and the 100% completion 'optional' content as for the masochists.
soylentcola 11y ago
I look at it as an evolution of arcade games. Granted, arcades were also meeting/hangout places and they often had games that looked and played better than anything you could get at home. Still, from the perspective of the companies that made them, it was similar. Look at the earlier games or even the current gen of pachinko games that are still popular in Japan and you can see the sort of overlap between video games and the exploitation of impulses and reactions typically associated with gambling. I remember not understanding why my folks never wanted to give me money to go screw around in the arcade at the mall but looking at microtransactions and "energy games" on mobile, I completely get it now. Sure, to beat an arcade game or beat a high score can take enormous skill but in order to develop that skill, you need to keep feeding an endless stream of quarters. It's the original gaming microtransaction.

Terr_ 11y ago

On the flip-side, we've moved away from "fixed in the cartridge" games which were Nintendo Hard. [0]: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard

CM30 11y ago
Those things still exist, they're just reserved for completionists now. The optional content in any current era Mario game is arguably more awkwardly designed than anything from similar games in the NES era, with the assumption being that anyone attempting it is the kind of person who liked the 'Nintendo Hard' titles of the 80s. Presumably, designers now often see the 'main' adventure or campaign as for everyone, the multiplayer mode as a way to keep most people playing instead of fake difficulty and the 100% completion 'optional' content as for the masochists.

soylentcola 11y ago

I look at it as an evolution of arcade games. Granted, arcades were also meeting/hangout places and they often had games that looked and played better than anything you could get at home. Still, from the perspective of the companies that made them, it was similar. Look at the earlier games or even the current gen of pachinko games that are still popular in Japan and you can see the sort of overlap between video games and the exploitation of impulses and reactions typically associated with gambling. I remember not understanding why my folks never wanted to give me money to go screw around in the arcade at the mall but looking at microtransactions and "energy games" on mobile, I completely get it now. Sure, to beat an arcade game or beat a high score can take enormous skill but in order to develop that skill, you need to keep feeding an endless stream of quarters. It's the original gaming microtransaction.