EA Asserts Customers Enjoy Microtransactions
- Thread starter Marshall Honorof
- Start date
Sometimes the truth is harsh. You cant say you would not feel the same way if you saw somebody bitching and moaning about say Dead Space 3 micro-transactions and then proceed to spend money on them. Another example would be somebody bitching about Valve selling TF2 hats on their store and then goes and spends money on them.Zachary Amaranth said:
A complete moron probably... but maybe also a gambler?Little Gray said:
Here's a thread from EA's Battlefield Play4Free: a F2P version of Battlefield 2 with microtransactions up the ass.
http://battlefield.play4free.com/en/forum/showthread.php?tid=113541
This guy spent about £60 (around $100) trying to get a single scope for a gun for one of his 4 characters, and because EA made the only way to get this scope through a random drop system, he didn't even get it. Mass Effect 3 had a similar randomised microtransaction item system in place that people have whittled away loads and never got the things they wanted, and the reason they spend so much is because the Skinner box theory EA have based this system off is a highly addicting and dangerous gambling incentive:
(You may have seen this already, but I'll post it here any way because it is very relevant.)
I'm not saying that scope guy linked up there wasn't to blame for his actions, but EA knows that their game design is encouraging exactly this sort of behaviour, and by implementing these random drop systems they will get people basically addicted on paying literally hundreds of dollars to unlock unimportant stuff that they honestly wouldn't even care about otherwise. (not to mention the way in which EA doesn't directly offer the items for money, but you actually have to primarily purchase special currency first of all (called funds), which come generally in large amounts, and then use on your purchases, meaning the actual buying of items is a secondary purchase, and thus people will end up paying for a lot of unused and unwanted funds)
Except that wasn't truth. That was lashing out at people.Little Gray said:
There's a difference.
Microtransactions are a really good business model, if done correctly. I've played World of Tanks exclusively for the last 8 months or so and it featured the best microtransactions I've seen to date. How good? Well, it made me buy stuff, and I never buy stuff in games. A buck here and a buck there saved me a lot of time, giving me the impression that I made a great deal in time saved to play the game MORE. They even had a mobile phone SMS feature which even accounted for the VAT value of my country. I ended up paying about 50 euros in all but felt it was a bargain.
And it was great while it didn't give me an edge in combat, just in how fast I leveled. But unfortunately it didn't last. The premium tanks were too powerful and the premium ammo (too expensive for normal free users, although still available) began to become a bit too necessary. Worse, the top tier tanks lost money without a premium account (50% more credits) so you had to grind the lower tiers for money. Still not bad for a game that plays well at any tier, but... Soon it became clear to me that instead of just releasing more maps, they release more and more unbalanced tanks. Bad move, so I stopped paying, then stopped playing. You can only nerf balanced german tanks so much before fans snap. I didn't have to put up with it.
The lesson here is that no matter how much you ***** about stuff, if you still buy EA's games, and if you still pay more after you buy, you have no right to complain. Try to understand that if you keep giving into this shit, you'll just support an industry which gives you half-finished games and forces you to pay more and more and more for stuff that used to be free. I used to love EA, back in the days of Sim City 4. Now I just ignore their games completely. Take Sim City 5 for example. I would've put up with the DRM (I'm a sailor so 6 months per year I don't have internet), but the new online stuff is just a lie. In a few months you'll pay for metro lines, which should've been there in the first place. You'll pay for bigger maps too. You'll pay for extra regions which you should've been able to terraform yourself. I want to play it... oh you can't believe how much. But not like this. They just bet that it hurts you more than it hurts them.
And it was great while it didn't give me an edge in combat, just in how fast I leveled. But unfortunately it didn't last. The premium tanks were too powerful and the premium ammo (too expensive for normal free users, although still available) began to become a bit too necessary. Worse, the top tier tanks lost money without a premium account (50% more credits) so you had to grind the lower tiers for money. Still not bad for a game that plays well at any tier, but... Soon it became clear to me that instead of just releasing more maps, they release more and more unbalanced tanks. Bad move, so I stopped paying, then stopped playing. You can only nerf balanced german tanks so much before fans snap. I didn't have to put up with it.
The lesson here is that no matter how much you ***** about stuff, if you still buy EA's games, and if you still pay more after you buy, you have no right to complain. Try to understand that if you keep giving into this shit, you'll just support an industry which gives you half-finished games and forces you to pay more and more and more for stuff that used to be free. I used to love EA, back in the days of Sim City 4. Now I just ignore their games completely. Take Sim City 5 for example. I would've put up with the DRM (I'm a sailor so 6 months per year I don't have internet), but the new online stuff is just a lie. In a few months you'll pay for metro lines, which should've been there in the first place. You'll pay for bigger maps too. You'll pay for extra regions which you should've been able to terraform yourself. I want to play it... oh you can't believe how much. But not like this. They just bet that it hurts you more than it hurts them.