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Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: September 23rd, 2016, 2:38 pm
by scotland
Did anyone see this
https://m.facebook.com/notes/richard-garfield/a-game-players-manifesto/1049168888532667

Richard Garfield is the creator of Magic: The Gathering, which is like being Nolan Bushnell in that world. Collectible card games also had a business model to get gamers to keep on spending, so it interesting he is writing about how odious he feels the Free to Play and Pay to Win kind of business model that has developed in mobile gaming has become. He thinks over time games will continue to develop to heighten the addictive properties, like slot machines.

Its interesting coming from a man who created something similar 20 years ago in collectible card games. What do you think?

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 1st, 2016, 2:23 pm
by Wallyworld
I think Richard Garfield has a lot of nerve to talk about pay to win games since MTG was the epitome of this type of thing. When I was younger I probably spent $3000+ on MTG. This is chump change compared to what some of the whales in the gaming community spend. I took this hobby very seriously and once placed 4th in a 1000 man tournament. A friend of mine took a mortgage out on his home so he could buy $70,000 worth of cards.

You could argue it's not the same because you have something of value you can sell when you stop playing however I only recouped about $1000 of my investment when I quit. It's even worse today than when I played because the format is set up now that a new set comes out every 4 months or so and only the most recent 3 sets (called blocks) are playable in tournament format. So if you spend $1000 to acquire the necessary 4 of each playable card from the most recent set when it rotates out the value of these cards becomes virtually nothing because the cards are no longer playable.

Switching my disposable income from MTG to retro video games is the smartest hobby switch I've ever made.

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 2nd, 2016, 6:45 pm
by scotland
That is interesting. I never played collectible card games, but it was hard to miss that it was all the rage for a time. Its interesting about making older cards obsolete. I came from tabletop role playing, and it happens there too...sometimes by the same WotC company. Video games do it too, I guess, in their way, especially with modern games tied to servers or player communities, but mobile gaming is really making it obvious.

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 3rd, 2016, 1:01 am
by Retrology
Forgot to add Earthbound. That soundtrack is amazing after a few listens. Love how unique it sounds. Heck, the entire game is unique!

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 3rd, 2016, 11:33 pm
by Tron
I never liked the idea of Free to Pay games. Still don't. Still that Arnold Shwarzeniger game is tempting. Something "Strike" I think it's called. It looks like turn based game which I love. Too bad it's not on 3ds or vita. I need a new Advance Wars bad.

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 4th, 2016, 7:27 pm
by BlasteroidAli
This is the way it works. Free to play games like Pokemon go get you buying them then suck you in with their gimmics that you need. Pokemon.. poke balls (no pun intended there but really).
I am not sure that I have ever played a good free to play game.. closest would be never winter nights on the xbox. and I have just started star trek..

Re: Free to Play Gaming getting worse ?

Posted: October 5th, 2016, 6:37 am
by Rookie1
To be fair, its a wildly different market. "Collectibles" such as MTG, or trading cards, comic books, action figures, etc. have always been about consuming more and using an edge to get you to buy more. MTG has boosters, trading cards have "chase" cards, comics have cliffhangers and story archs, action figures have variants and exclusives. However, I feel these markets are a little more black and white. You dont HAVE to buy more to enjoy what you have, and none of these things force you in to buying anything to enhance the experience of what you have already purchased. I have a series 1 magic deck that I bought when it first came out that I could still use to this day against others with the same. I still have my old comic books that I can continue to read until they disintegrate. My action figures will remain in the package and continue to look cool. These freemium games use deceptive advertising to suck you in, and right off the bat ask you for money to enhance the free content. That would be like buying a comic book and then having to pay extra to be able to turn the pages. Yes, you can play a game without paying, but it is basically impossible to do anything after a certain point, and those points usually happen extremely rapidly within the game. Not to mention the games will prompt you every 5 seconds to buy more to enhance the gameplay and there is basically an UNLIMITED amount of money you can spend on these things. I have heard of people dropping more than 5 digits on a single game.

In a nutshell, these "free to play" are not designed to be free. You cant enjoy them without dropping lots of money on them to enhance the gameplay. The advertising is deceptive in that it makes you think its free, without any mention that its not actually free. Then the games force you in to buying stuff to play them.

The other markets, as I mentioned are gimmicky, yes. But, like I said, you dont have to buy anything to enhance the content or make it better to be able to use it.