Ah, but you weren't listening. I didn't say that that's what's happening now. I said that that would be the worst case scenario of what could happen if idiots kept buying into this Free to Wait bullshit.thepyrethatburns said:In which case, you don't.canadamus_prime said:Ok let me rephrase that. In the worst case scenario you'd have no choice but to buy into Free to Wait if you wanted to play anything new.thepyrethatburns said:That strikes me as an issue with gamers/magpies with money.canadamus_prime said:You should care because as long as incredibly stupid people buy into this crap then more of this crap will continue to be made. And in the worst case scenario it'll come to a point where you'll have no choice but to buy into it yourself because it'll be the only thing available. That's why.DementedSheep said:Is this really a scam? It not like you can't see what it is and it's sneakily taking money from your account. If people are buying it they are getting something out of it personally or they are just stupid. Either way how much money they spend on these things is on their heads and I don't see why we should care.
"Well, I have to play this because it's the only thing coming out."
So the Rapture happened and everything gaming-related from the Amiga to the Xbox360 got called home to heaven. No? Well, then there are enough games out there that you will ALWAYS have the choice not to buy into it. The only reason that gamers would have to buy into it is because of decades of being conditioned to buy the latest thing as soon as it comes out. Only "incredibly stupid people" would feel that they have no choice but to buy into something that they don't want to.
Even if the Video Game Rapture happens and it sucks everything but free-to-wait games up to heaven...
Y'know, there are other things to do with your life.
That's the point that I'm making. We, as a consumer base, have the option to not buy into this. If that's the only thing new coming out, then play some of the games that you missed this generation (If you can say that you have played every good game on PC/Wii/PS3/360 that came out during this generation, then you REALLY need to get some sun.) and wait out that phase of game development.
I try not to bring this up a lot but I am skipping this console generation entirely. Despite this, I'm still going to have new experiences just because of the sheer number of games that I've never finished. I have games that go all the way back to the NES that I haven't finished. Last year, I thoroughly beat Rogue Galaxy (a PS2 game) for the first time. Currently, I'm playing through Sacrifice (2000 PC game) and beating all the campaigns for the first time.
Yes, maybe some developer/publishers will collapse if gamers dust off their older consoles rather than buy games they hate. Hell, we might have an even worse replay of the 1983 crash where developers/publishers crash, stores close, sites shut down, and Jim Sterling makes a video entitled "Please start buying Buy-To-Wait games. I need this job."
But meaningful change demands sacrifice. If that's what it would take to steer gaming back to a more consumer-friendly, then so be it. The power is in the hands of the consumers. We just tell ourselves that it's not because it's harder to make changes in our "I gotta have all the shinies" attitude than it is to just kvetch about the situation.
This video applies to both sides of the equation. On the publisher/developer side, this is the mentality of the people trying to pressure you into buying worthless swampland.
But it also applies to gamers. To paraphrase:
If you're willing to wield the power, it's yours. If you're not, I have no sympathy for you.
It doesn't matter what you think other people will do. That's just an excuse to avoid action.
It doesn't matter what the developer/publishers are going to do. They're the ones trying to convince you to buy into this.
All that matters is what you can do about the situation. If you don't like the direction that the industry is going, stop buying their product. It's that simple.
And you can talk all you want about voting with your wallet and whatever, but the fact of the matter is as long as enough people are buying it it's not going to go away and could possibly get worse. Am I going to buy into this Free to Wait? Fuck no! But are significant numbers of other people? I would bet money on that.
Also do you really have enough faith in your fellow gamers to sacrifice their entertainment for the sake of change? 'Cause I certainly do not.