And people wonder why we have the term "gamer entitlement"?

[Wasted]

Honestly, if you pay for a product you have every right to complain about it regardless of how trivial the matter is to you. It is a free market society and if I find the menu font ugly enough not to buy a game so be it, even if you don't agree. Constructive feedback is more welcome than blind rage but dismissing someone not wanting to spend the money they earned (for whatever their reason) is silly.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Preordering's fucking stupid if there isn't a bonus. Now while it's unreasonable to demand a bonus on top of a preorder but refusing to preorder because of it is just a smart move overall.

 

[ForumSafari]

the first topic I notice while skimming the topics is "Why pre-purchase?" with the body "[No] discount and nothing free."

Wow. Just wow.

But why pre-purchase if there's no reason to do so? Pre purchasing is handing over money for a promise that may never be fulfilled, there has to be a reason to do that or it's just stupid. Game companies aren't entitled to money befor the game is ready and gamers aren't entitled to freebies for pre-ordering...BUT there DOES need to be a reason to pre-order and people are entirely allowed to ask what is in it for them.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't think it's a matter of gamer entitlement. It's a matter of developers needing to incentivize people to pre-order.

Pretty much exactly this. In this age of rapid downloads there's virtually no reason at all for consumers to pre-order, but plenty of reasons for developers/producers to WANT them to. Hence, pre-orders are now associated with enticements.

So yes, OP, I wonder why "we" have the term gamer entitlement, because for several years running now all I ever see is people misusing and misunderstanding it.

 

[Fireaxe]

Why on earth would someone pre-purchase a game (that is to say purchase without reviews of the finished product being out there) unless

1. They trust the dev not to fuck it up.
2. They get some kind of benefit for their trust.

or

3. They don't like their money.

 

[McKitten]

SHe admitted that it's a good game, but is seriously holding his purchase for ransom because he feels like he deserves some kind of bonus.

Are you freakin' kidding me? "Holding ransom"? Like the developer have some god-given right to this guys money and he's doing something wrong by not giving it to them? Yeah, i know who's entitled here all-right.

It's a manufacturer-customer relationship. The manufacturer is not entitled to any money, they have zero right to get any. They have product to offer and they have to persuade the customer that this product is so good the customer should buy it. The customer doesn't have to justify his decision to not give them any money. Maybe you should check your exposure to game hype if you're actually thinking people have an obligation to buy a certain game. That's almost Stockholm Syndrome.

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

SHe admitted that it's a good game, but is seriously holding his purchase for ransom because he feels like he deserves some kind of bonus.

Are you freakin' kidding me? "Holding ransom"? Like the developer have some god-given right to this guys money and he's doing something wrong by not giving it to them? Yeah, i know who's entitled here all-right.

It's a manufacturer-customer relationship. The manufacturer is not entitled to any money, they have zero right to get any. They have product to offer and they have to persuade the customer that this product is so good the customer should buy it. The customer doesn't have to justify his decision to not give them any money. Maybe you should check your exposure to game hype if you're actually thinking people have an obligation to buy a certain game. That's almost Stockholm Syndrome.

I wish there was a like button for posts like this because this is exactly the feeling I get from a lot of publishers, journalists, fans and even some devs. One game which I supported through kickstarter and which the devs have said will retail for $40 they then (after kickstarter finished) went ahead and put microtransactions into and actually openly said "well its the responsibility of players to support the game" AFTER they have paid there $40, Hell after those of us who supported through kickstarter paid a huge amount MORE

It baffles me how we ended up in such a screwed up society in which companies have come to make demands of customers when the whole point of a capitalist society was that things were the other way around. How did the world get so turned upside down???

 

[HardkorSB]

So, your way of reacting to a random guy whining on the internet is to whine about him whining?
Makes sense to me.

 

[VoidOfOne]

I've read and seen many examples of what people would call "gamer entitlement" that I wouldn't consider that, myself, but could understand the reasoning for that. This is not one of them.

This is just a person asking what is the point of pre-ordering a game if the only thing you get out of this is the game itself, and nothing else. The only point I see to pre-order in this manner is to just have the game as soon as possible. Doesn't even sound like the game comes pre-downloaded. So, I also ask, why pre-order this game? I see no incentive, so I will just wait until after the reviews to decide if this game is worth it.

Yeah, don't see how this in any way is "gamer entitlement." More people should be asking questions like this.

 

[WeepingAngels]

OP is the one throwing the fit here. Asking a question with a valid point is not "entitlement". Plus OP loses one point for mentioning entitlement, fuckin hate that word.

 

[Flutterguy]

His money, he can do what he wants with it, obviously. I tend not to buy anything until it has been out for a couple months, almost inevitable it will be 50% off the next steam sale.

If he NEEDS bonuses to buy a game that is just poor priorities on his part.

 

[WeepingAngels]

His money, he can do what he wants with it, obviously. I tend not to buy anything until it has been out for a couple months, almost inevitable it will be 50% off the next steam sale.

If he NEEDS bonuses to buy a game that is just poor priorities on his part.

Uh no, he needs an incentive to justify a PRE-ORDER. Makes sense to me. Why give them money early for nothing in return. Further, what if the game sucks and pre-ordering costed him the benefit of reviews?

 

[happyninja42]

It's not gamer entitlement. It's a risk/benefit determination. What is the incentive for the consumer to pre-order a game? If nothing is presented as incentive...well...then why pre-order? It only serves to help the company. Quite literally only serves to help the company. They get to show early on, a profit on their reports for the game, before it's even been released.

The debacle with the Aliens: Colonial Marines is a good example of this. Everyone went nuts and pre-ordered it, and it showed to be a financial success, before anyone had even played the game....and the game was a POS. So, yeah, I'm not terribly inclined to give a company, any company, my money ahead of time for a game (or any other product), without seeing what I'm paying for.

Personally, I'm never in any rush to play any game, or so desperate to have a particular product, that I have to pay them up front, before release date. I can wait, I'm patient, and I will listen to the final reviews to decide if it's worth my money. In order for me to pre-order something, in order for you, as a business, to convince me to pay you money on simply the promise that the game will be good you had better give me some incentives. Because I'm somewhat cynical when it comes to business. I've seen enough company owners that were so worried about the profit margin, that they were willing to lie and misdirect all day if it meant they got their quarterly report to look good. Again, using the market strategy that was used for Aliens: Colonial Marines as an example of why pre-order isn't in the consumer's interest.

I don't have any reason to pay you (the company) up front, when it benefits me in no way what so ever. But, just like many other businesses in the world, they will offer perk packages for those who show up and help promote their products. "Help us out, and we'll help you out." It's simple.

If you don't make it worth my time and financial risk to support your product on an earlier time line, then I'm not.

 

[senordesol]

This is absolutely entitlement.

You are ENTITLED to dictate how and under what circumstances YOUR MONEY is spent. If devs aren't willing to put a cherry on top of their pre-order offerings, why *should* I give them any money? The product is sight-unseen. I have no insight into its quality.

Now it'd be one thing if I had reviews and LPs to fall back on and make the determination if the initial asking price is worth my dollar; but if all I have to go on is the developer's assurances that it's worth my money; I'm going to require some extra motivation to pull my wallet out.

 

[Grimh]

Even if he worded it poorly he does have a point that there is no real reason to pre-order the game.
It's not exactly gonna run out of shelf space.

 

[klaynexas3]

It's a little whiny, sure, but I'd hardly call it gamer entitlement. If he said he wouldn't buy it for the sole reason that it didn't come with extras in the pre-order, that'd be entitlement, but I'd hardly call asking a question, and then deciding that he wouldn't pre-order because he has no incentive to buy it before he'll actually get it, entitlement. That's all I have to say.

 

[T_ConX]

What's so bad about expecting additional content for a pre-purchase?

The problem with pre-orders or pre-purchases is that you don't have a concrete idea of what you're getting for your money. All that's typically available for a yet-to-be-fully released game are tightly edited trailers, possibly doctored screenshots (aka bullshots), and short 'vertical slice' demos at cons.

Sometimes gamers get burned by this. They watch trailers showing off five to minutes minutes of high quality gameplay, but then later find out that those moments are just delicious sprinkles scattered around a turd cupcake with a $50 price tag.

So pre-order bonuses are a way around this. It's a developers way of saying "We know you're taking a risk here, so we're going to give you something special in exchange for your good faith." Sometimes they give you unique items, other times they give you a cheaper price (I've seen a lot of AAA games on Steam with 10% off for pre-orders).

This isn't entitlement. The guy is simply trying to figure out what advantage he gains from buying the game now, rather than waiting for the actual release and critical reviews before making a purchase. As far as I can tell, the answer is 'nothing'.