3 ms·

Even the games I would have held up as shining examples of "doing it right" sucked six months later. All but the greatest $60-up-front retail games suck six mo

Even the games I would have held up as shining examples of "doing it right" sucked six months later. All but the greatest $60-up-front retail games suck six months later too. Most games just don't have that long of a shelf life - they just aren't designed for such replayability.

lotharbot 14y ago
The $60-up-front retail games that we uphold as shining examples of "doing it right" are still awesome six months later. Every game in this category I thought was awesome right out of the box, I was still playing and still enjoying years later. But I can name several free-to-play games I thought were awesome a few months ago that I've completely given up on. It's not because they lacked replayability, or because they were less awesome than I initially thought. It's because the games changed, not in ways that improved gameplay, but in ways that increased the pressure to acquire various consumables. In the free-to-play games I initially enjoyed, I'd have happily spent money on expansion packs -- permanent add-ons that let me experience more of the same sort of fun as the original game. But instead, the games keep changing to be more of a joyless slog, and then they offer to let me skip the slog and get back to the fun for a few bucks. When the game mechanic becomes so dull that it makes sense to charge players to avoid playing, it's no longer a good game.
- dkersten 14y ago
  For every one shining example of "doing it right" there are hundreds of terrible games though. Its still early days for free to play. You may be right, but I don't know yet. I currently play three free to play games (and have been playing them for a few months now): League of Legends, World of Tanks and Path of Exile. I guess we'll see in a few more months if I agree with you or not, but so far so good. (Been playing LoL for 4 months and WoT and PoE for about 5 months now)

lotharbot 14y ago

The $60-up-front retail games that we uphold as shining examples of "doing it right" are still awesome six months later. Every game in this category I thought was awesome right out of the box, I was still playing and still enjoying years later. But I can name several free-to-play games I thought were awesome a few months ago that I've completely given up on. It's not because they lacked replayability, or because they were less awesome than I initially thought. It's because the games changed, not in ways that improved gameplay, but in ways that increased the pressure to acquire various consumables. In the free-to-play games I initially enjoyed, I'd have happily spent money on expansion packs -- permanent add-ons that let me experience more of the same sort of fun as the original game. But instead, the games keep changing to be more of a joyless slog, and then they offer to let me skip the slog and get back to the fun for a few bucks. When the game mechanic becomes so dull that it makes sense to charge players to avoid playing, it's no longer a good game.

dkersten 14y ago
For every one shining example of "doing it right" there are hundreds of terrible games though. Its still early days for free to play. You may be right, but I don't know yet. I currently play three free to play games (and have been playing them for a few months now): League of Legends, World of Tanks and Path of Exile. I guess we'll see in a few more months if I agree with you or not, but so far so good. (Been playing LoL for 4 months and WoT and PoE for about 5 months now)