4 ms·

Why is the microtransaction economy illegitimate? I’m not a fan of Blizzard and I have no interest in playing Diablo IV (or any of their other recent games) but

Why is the microtransaction economy illegitimate? I’m not a fan of Blizzard and I have no interest in playing Diablo IV (or any of their other recent games) but I fail to see your point. Diablo IV players want the microtransaction economy. They hated the cheating in Diablo I & II. They want to know that items they purchase from other players are legitimate. They want to be able to participate in PvP without worrying about other players cheating to get the best items.

squeaky-clean 3y ago
You can implement those features and keep an offline-capable single player mode. Just allow characters to be offline-only at the time of character creation. I've never been interested in the online parts of Diablo, and I've skipped this game because of that.
- chongli 3y ago
  I mean that’s fair. It’s one of the reasons I’m not interested in Blizzard games either. But I don’t think it’s illegitimate. I think it’s partly an anti-piracy measure and partly supportive of their microtransaction model for monetizing their games.
rosmax_1337 3y ago
Microtransactions are added to games to pad the pockets of their shareholders, not because they contribute to the experience of the game. This makes it an illegitimate reason to stay "always online". It's something that simply should not be a part the game. Monetization can be solved in many different ways, microtransactions are always just corporate greed. >Diablo IV players want the microtransaction economy. They hated the cheating in Diablo I & II. Some* Diablo IV players want the microtransaction economy. If you have some study to prove that it was a majority of players or even a significant number of them, that simply sounds unlikely to me. My anecdotal experience is that I know of noone that appreciates the addition of microtransactions to games, even games that by their nature must be online.
- chongli 3y ago
  Diablo IV is the fastest selling game in Blizzard history. So if microtransactions are a deal-breaker for players, I don’t see the evidence of that. I don’t care for microtransactions and I don’t care to play the game, but they are a legitimate way to make money and lots of players are fine with them. I’m sure lots of people would be happy (and prefer) for the game to be free, but that doesn’t make charging a retail price illegitimate, despite the cost contributing nothing to the gameplay. I fail to see how this reasoning does not extend to microtransactions, which are merely smaller prices charged for content through an in-game (rather than retail) store.
  - rosmax_1337 3y ago
    I never stated that microtransactions are deal-breakers, I said they are an illegitimate reason for a game to be "always online". I've never said that charging retail prices for games is illegitimate, I infact said there are many ways to solve monetization, one of which certainly is retail pricetags. I could've made a rant about how microtransactions are bad for the industry, consumers and the developers in different ways, but since you mostly just misrepresented what I said, I don't feel like it.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    > Diablo IV is the fastest selling game in Blizzard history. That alone is not an argument. If you release a new game that's exactly just as fun as your previous game, you'll still hit "fastest selling game" and "most copies sold" records in your studio's history - this is a consequence of the economic and population growth in general, and in particular growth of the player population.
LexiMax 3y ago
Diablo II had two ways of playing online - Open BNet and Closed BNet. Open BNet allowed you to use your offline characters, but Closed BNet did not. The theory of the system was sound. The practical reason why Diablo II was a mess was because the game was buggy and trusted the client too much, making "Closed BNet" turn out to be not so closed after all. There is no technical reason why Diablo IV couldn't have been designed with the same two-tier system, they _chose_ not to do so.

squeaky-clean 3y ago

You can implement those features and keep an offline-capable single player mode. Just allow characters to be offline-only at the time of character creation. I've never been interested in the online parts of Diablo, and I've skipped this game because of that.

chongli 3y ago
I mean that’s fair. It’s one of the reasons I’m not interested in Blizzard games either. But I don’t think it’s illegitimate. I think it’s partly an anti-piracy measure and partly supportive of their microtransaction model for monetizing their games.

rosmax_1337 3y ago

Microtransactions are added to games to pad the pockets of their shareholders, not because they contribute to the experience of the game. This makes it an illegitimate reason to stay "always online". It's something that simply should not be a part the game. Monetization can be solved in many different ways, microtransactions are always just corporate greed. >Diablo IV players want the microtransaction economy. They hated the cheating in Diablo I & II. Some* Diablo IV players want the microtransaction economy. If you have some study to prove that it was a majority of players or even a significant number of them, that simply sounds unlikely to me. My anecdotal experience is that I know of noone that appreciates the addition of microtransactions to games, even games that by their nature must be online.

chongli 3y ago
Diablo IV is the fastest selling game in Blizzard history. So if microtransactions are a deal-breaker for players, I don’t see the evidence of that. I don’t care for microtransactions and I don’t care to play the game, but they are a legitimate way to make money and lots of players are fine with them. I’m sure lots of people would be happy (and prefer) for the game to be free, but that doesn’t make charging a retail price illegitimate, despite the cost contributing nothing to the gameplay. I fail to see how this reasoning does not extend to microtransactions, which are merely smaller prices charged for content through an in-game (rather than retail) store.
- rosmax_1337 3y ago
  I never stated that microtransactions are deal-breakers, I said they are an illegitimate reason for a game to be "always online". I've never said that charging retail prices for games is illegitimate, I infact said there are many ways to solve monetization, one of which certainly is retail pricetags. I could've made a rant about how microtransactions are bad for the industry, consumers and the developers in different ways, but since you mostly just misrepresented what I said, I don't feel like it.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  > Diablo IV is the fastest selling game in Blizzard history. That alone is not an argument. If you release a new game that's exactly just as fun as your previous game, you'll still hit "fastest selling game" and "most copies sold" records in your studio's history - this is a consequence of the economic and population growth in general, and in particular growth of the player population.

LexiMax 3y ago

Diablo II had two ways of playing online - Open BNet and Closed BNet. Open BNet allowed you to use your offline characters, but Closed BNet did not. The theory of the system was sound. The practical reason why Diablo II was a mess was because the game was buggy and trusted the client too much, making "Closed BNet" turn out to be not so closed after all. There is no technical reason why Diablo IV couldn't have been designed with the same two-tier system, they _chose_ not to do so.