Agreed. Unless we collectively boycott all of these companies, these practices will never go away. They'll become the new norm just like every other anti-consumer practice that came before. And it will get worse. It always does. So for fuck sake, grow a brain and stop this while there's still time.KingsGambit said:
It's a nice idea to boycott but that does not work when a company looks at sales globally. A few tens of thousands of people boycotting or not buying the game means nothing to EA. They all ready calculated your reactions long ago during the financial predictions of this game.Adam Jensen said:
I was waiting for someone to pop in who hasn't actually read/comprehended any of my posts but felt the burning need to jump in anyway. *Crosses that box off of the Escapist Forum Bingo Card*Canadamus Prime said:
Rangaman said:
Given that EA beat out banks that were kicking people out of their homes for "worst company in America"....twice (which I disagree with but gamers have never had a sense of perspective), I kinda feel that most "downvoted Reddit thread" isn't really going to be the straw that breaks anyone's back.hanselthecaretaker said:
And for some fucking reason, they had people defending microtransactions right up until this point. What I want to know is if these people have finally had enough, or have fully succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome.tf2godz said:
Boycotting doesn't even work nationally, it doesn't work period. These companies understand nothing but money and we don't influence that in any real way. Like it or not, the people who actually give a damn about their entertainment and are perfectly aware of the fact that things like microtransactions are screwing them over are, have been, and always will be a tiny microscopic minority in ANY entertainment industry, video games are just one industry among many where this happens. The people who are intelligent repeat customers have NEVER been the audience most of the video game industry has been catering to and seeking to exploit with these awful business practices, far from it, it's the blind fanboys who will buy up anything that company makes or with a particular IP and casual gamers who will buy anything that looks shiny and popular enough to grab their attention no matter how crap the game actually is or how much it screws them over that games like Battlefront 2 are aiming for because those people are significantly more numerous and highly likely to buy into crap like these microtransactions. The reason why developers in general focus upon graphics and fanfare so much over any actual substance is because they're trying to attract those casual gamers, anybody they lose as a result is going to be more than made up for by a factor of about a hundred by the endless crop of casual gamers and blind fanboys. We who actually know and care can never influence the industry in any actual way no matter what we might try to do because we simply are not the ones most of the industry wants to attract.RobertEHouse said:
Maybe you didn't defend that specific practice, but you still seem awfully eager to come to the defense of greedy mega corporations that don't give 2 shits about you. They only think of you as cattle, or should I say whales.thepyrethatburns said:I was waiting for someone to pop in who hasn't actually read/comprehended any of my posts but felt the burning need to jump in anyway. *Crosses that box off of the Escapist Forum Bingo Card*Canadamus Prime said:
Where have I actually defended the Loot Box practice? Go over my posts and pick out the defense of the Lootbox practice. Stating that "You aren't going to be able to pay 2002 prices for a 2017 product" does not actually constitute a defense of the Lootbox practice. To those who still think that it is a viable idea to pretend that games are somehow immune to 15 years of inflation:
Financially speaking, EA's mostly floating on their sports games while their other games largely take hits (Though still turn some profit, none of these big controversies have actually properly sunk a game).Dirty Hipsters said:
immortalfrieza said:
We're not responsible for other people who are stupid. You don't give up doing a smart thing just because there are too many idiots. That's just the laziest form of succumbing to peer pressure. So yeah, you go ahead and join the 'feeding the monster' crowd. I'll be in the 'still having money' crowd. It doesn't even matter if you think it has no effect, which I doubt. It's just common sense not to pay for something you don't want. I don't want this. Now, make ANY argument against that. I'll just stonewall you, and you can rinse and repeat to your heart's content.RobertEHouse said:
Uh huh. Go ahead and ignore what's right in front of your face just because you don't want to admit it all you want, it doesn't change the fact that it's still true. The gaming industry stopped giving a damn about people who actually give a damn about video games a long LONG time ago, they have no reason to and never will again. You don't want to pay for what you don't want that's fine, I'm not talking to people like you anyway who had decided long ago not to buy this game just because the publishers were EA even if none of these awful business practices were in the game at all and it was the best game that was ever made. I'm talking to the people who DO want this stuff and are considering boycotting it instead because they think it'll actually make a difference, all I'm doing is pointing out that it won't. Is it smart to not buy into this crap? Of course it is, in the same way realizing repeatedly beating your head against a wall when it's not going to knock that wall down no matter how many times you do it is a dumb thing to do thus not doing it is smart, it's a "Well Duh" thing. Does doing so actually do anything to solve this problem whatsoever? No! If boycotting did do anything these business practices would have failed right out of the gate and ceased to exist after the first publisher that ever tried any of them, or at worst not long after other publishers trying picking it up. The fact that these business practices not only still exist but continue to spread to more and more of the industry is all the proof any rational person needs that boycotting simply does not work and never will.FalloutJack said:
I've been saying this to anyone who will listen for about three years. Most people that I explain it all to IRL just shrug and say, "It's capitalism." and carry on buying this shit. People will still tend to buy games in franchises they like, despite knowing that doing so is actually harmful to the medium, because they want the dopamine hit and the consequences be damned. My WoW guildies have been pestering me to play Destiny with them and I went on a bit of a rant on Discord about Activision's business practices; only one other person agreed with me. I hate to say it, but it feels like a losing battle.KingsGambit said:
I would say it's a matter of conditioning. In behavioral economics, people are graded on their patience, how willing they are to defer gratification for increased incentives. Since video games are about as instant gratification as any medium can get, I imagine it's just that players are conditioned to "need" access to games from minute one, hence the pre-loading options on PC.Zontar said:
Gamers have been saying no to the games that have MTX they don't like. I said no to Battlefront and Shadow of War. There's no ethics involved here even. if you're selling a product you are free to sell it however you like. That's sellers right. Buyers have the right to refuse purchase. So people will in theory only ever buy something for a price that is less than or equal to the perceived value of the product.Adam Jensen said:
