Jimquisition: The Trap Of Gamer Gratitude

[GonzoGamer]

This is so true, so very true.
Yet, I've seen it happen countless times.... players being grateful to the developers for fixing game problems.

Heck, sometimes I even stumbled into topics saying "thank you for making this game!!". While I appreciate the enthusiasm, they do not deserve any thank you for making a good videogame. Because it's not like they gave it to you completely free as a gift.

You're right but some games have an obscene amount of content. You don't always get much play for your $60 and while that doesn't necessarily make a game bad on its own I do recognize when I've been given a good value.
Which brings me to Borderlands 2, which did microtransactions right: they sold costumes for the characters for $1 each. You don't need to buy them, they only have an aesthetic benefit, and there were tons to unlock in the game. That's proper microtransactioning.
GTAOnline is kind of skating on the edge of decency with the shark cards. On one hand they do allow people who don't have a lot of time to play, to buy some of the more expensive apartments and cars and all the other dlc has been free. However, their double XP&$ 'weekend' lasted 36 hours and is a rare occurrence. The thing is, if you do have time, there is a shiton of content (both R* & user made) so you never have to play the same job twice if you don't want to. Even if you're saving up for an attack chopper, a tank, and 5 super cars. That's the thing, I'm not really going to buy a shark card but they do have my gratitude for giving me a hell of a lot of entertainment for $60.

 

[shtoops]

I really want an episode "dedicated" to Valve. By that I mean an episode about them. Because I'm curious to see Jim summarize Valve in a video and show me its faults. Because as much as Valve seems more or less incapable of wrong (besides Steam's issues that Jim has mentioned before) I want to know them better.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

"You're not stupid".

Really, Jim? Really? You don't know me very well then. I'm capable of moments of stupidity that would make Steve Carrell's character from "Anchorman" seem positively bright by comparison.

Please also note that, as mentioned by a previous poster, 50% of people are in the bottom half of IQ rankings, yet nobody here thinks that one of those people is themselves. If you guys want some completely unjustified flattery, I guess I could hypothesise that "Escapist" readers - specifically the ones who comment on videos - are naturally so smart that the bottom 50% is seriously under-represented here. But of course!

Anyway, yeah, I agree that people should not be grateful for companies for fixing "mistakes" that were intended in the first place, and also that it's a bad thing that this even needs to be stated.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I think it's important to differentiate between a developer trying something new, realizing the feature or play element didn't work the way they anticipated/hoped, and then fixing the problem.

And the behavior on display here where a developer intentionally makes a frustrating game and then proceeds to sell you the method to make the game less frustrating
(Doubly so if the game is already bought and paid for and they're selling you the solution)

Agree with this. Hell, forget just "thanking" a developer, I'd give Ken Levine a wet snog for "System Shock" and "System Shock 2". (I'd punch him in the nose for "Bioshock Infinite", but that's a whole different story.)

Anyway I think the takeaway that you guys should get from this post is that Ken Levine has at least two reasons to avoid being at places where I'm at.

 

[Demonchaser27]

Thank God for Jim for calling out that Kotaku article. It read like a marketing campaign written by someone with absolutely no idea how the product actually works.

No Jim, you're wrong. These people ARE fucking stupid. And this is why I don't have any faith in consumers.

Unfortunately, half of the world's population is below average intelligence. Those are the people that keep companies like EA afloat. They are, after all, 50% of the market.

I still wonder what will happen if and when they finally sink like THQ and people have game libraries trapped on Origin.

Then people will no longer have access to their Origin games.

Valve at least has promised to patch out the DRM if Steam should happen to cease. EA has made no such promise.

That's the scary thing about EA. I have absolutely no doubt that at the end of the day they'll take the money and run if they have to. Someone really should get EA to make a similar promise to Steam's.

What I'm hoping for is that it'll finally get people to realize that these unnecessary "services" shouldn't exist. Then maybe they'll all have to adapt a model similar to GOG, i.e. you have an account but you just download the game to your computer and it works whether they close down or not. That would be sublime. Losing access to an account (banned) should not surrender your entire library of games, which on Steam and many others can currently happen. People are already starting to question Amazon for that Disney exclusivity deal last December.

 

[gamegod25]

Yeah I really want to take the writer of that Kotaku article and everyone else who agrees with them (or has a similar mindset) and give them a good smack across the face. DON'T BE GRATEFUL! There is nothing to be grateful for! It's like being grateful you can pay extra so that the cook won't spit in your food...as much. Don't thank someone for doing what they should have done in the first place especially if you are paying extra for it. I'm glad that EA finally patched the online requirement out of Simcity but I'm not going to thank or praise them for doing it.

These companies are NOT and never will be your friend. At best the relationship between them and us is one of mutually beneficial symbiosis. At worst it's outright exploitation and war against their customers with shitty DRM and micro transactions.

 

[FoolKiller]

I still wonder what will happen if and when they finally sink like THQ and people have game libraries trapped on Origin.

Then people will no longer have access to their Origin games.

Valve at least has promised to patch out the DRM if Steam should happen to cease. EA has made no such promise.

If, like THQ, EA gets chopped up into bits to be auctioned off, I wouldn't be surprised if Valve (Steam) wouldn't swoop in and buy Origin and all its assets (the online library). They have the money. It would make Valve loved even more as saviors. And it would be good for gamers that have Origin content.

 

[Thanatos2k]

"You're not stupid".

Really, Jim? Really? You don't know me very well then. I'm capable of moments of stupidity that would make Steve Carrell's character from "Anchorman" seem positively bright by comparison.

Please also note that, as mentioned by a previous poster, 50% of people are in the bottom half of IQ rankings, yet nobody here thinks that one of those people is themselves. If you guys want some completely unjustified flattery, I guess I could hypothesise that "Escapist" readers - specifically the ones who comment on videos - are naturally so smart that the bottom 50% is seriously under-represented here. But of course!

Anyway, yeah, I agree that people should not be grateful for companies for fixing "mistakes" that were intended in the first place, and also that it's a bad thing that this even needs to be stated.

Ten or twenty years ago, I would argue that gamers were very likely to be in the upper 50%. Games were HARD, and you had to be smart enough to try to figure them out instead of quitting. The game didn't care if you sucked, and it didn't care if you weren't smart enough to figure out how to defeat it. Stupid gamers were as such weeded out.

The dumbing down of gaming has in turn let the dumb enjoy them as well. How many could figure out a game without a tutorial nowadays?

 

[Demonchaser27]

They don't spend all of that money on development. Otherwise we would have massive games that took 6 years to completely build. Would be awesome, but that's not usually it. Most of it is advertising/marketing revenue. At least half of it usually is. Especially for Call of Duty. Its an unnecessary expense usually since one could have done like Demon's Souls or Dark Souls and made an incredible game and just make one or two ads to get it noticed and let the fervently addicted community do the rest. This is how a lot of games worked in the past. There wasn't a ton of advertising in gaming until the early 2000's.

Smart developers can create buzz without much of a budget. Many games get popular via word of mouth and increasingly via Youtube. Yes this has led to some 'PewDieBait' but overwhelmingly it has led to a lot of good games getting a lot of exposure they wouldn't otherwise. Games like FTL and other rougelike/rougelite games.

Most people on Youtube Simply won't cover games by Sega or Nintendo anymore after they killed a LOT of people's trust via copyright strikes. They are also reticent to cover other big publisher games in case the licensed music used in them or any other piece of the game allows some bottom feeding fucking parasite to copyright claim their video.

If you ship a game early to a YouTube channel, assure them all the content is yours and you will give them full permission to use it then you are likely to get coverage if your game interests them. That's a great way to get free marketing.

Yeah Sega and Nintendo pretty much shot themselves in the foot with that stunt.

 

[Demonchaser27]

"You're not stupid".

Really, Jim? Really? You don't know me very well then. I'm capable of moments of stupidity that would make Steve Carrell's character from "Anchorman" seem positively bright by comparison.

Please also note that, as mentioned by a previous poster, 50% of people are in the bottom half of IQ rankings, yet nobody here thinks that one of those people is themselves. If you guys want some completely unjustified flattery, I guess I could hypothesise that "Escapist" readers - specifically the ones who comment on videos - are naturally so smart that the bottom 50% is seriously under-represented here. But of course!

Anyway, yeah, I agree that people should not be grateful for companies for fixing "mistakes" that were intended in the first place, and also that it's a bad thing that this even needs to be stated.

Ten or twenty years ago, I would argue that gamers were very likely to be in the upper 50%. Games were HARD, and you had to be smart enough to try to figure them out instead of quitting.

The dumbing down of gaming has in turn let the dumb enjoy them as well. How many could figure out a game without a tutorial nowadays?

It is quite hilarious how few people will actually "test" buttons to see what they do. I've seen people stand there with controller in hand and say, "How do I jump?" What you don't have 30 seconds to try each button to see what it does? I mean I'm not angry or offended by it, but its just like, dude seriously?

 

[DrOswald]

[
Well that's taking it a bit far. The ideal relationship between a content creator and a content consumer is a relationship of mutual benefit and respect. Ideally we should be thanking them for creating great games and they should be thanking us for buying them. This promotes a strong dialog between the two parties that will result in a net gain for everyone. If we don't acknowledge and appropriately reward behavior we like (not only with a purchase but by vocalizing our satisfaction, consumer loyalty, and spreading the word) then there is no reason for companies to behave in a way we want. You should be thankful, you should be loyal - but only when a content creator deserves it.

If our relationship with content creators is based purely on financial transaction how can we expect them to do anything but base all their decisions purely on financial gain?

Are you telling me videogames deep down aren't made purely for financial gain? Especially nowadays. Ever wondered why we don't see new IPs anymore?

First of all, there are plenty of new IP's. FTL, Titanfall, Wonderful 101, Destiny, Monaco, Gone Home, Watch Dogs, Tearaway, The Last of Us, Bravely Default, the list goes on. Those are just some of the titles I can think of off the top of my head and all recent or soon to be released.


Second, no, games are not made purely for profit. No more than movies are made purely for profit or books are made purely for profit. And it is not just indie game makers. Did you know most video game programmers make less for their work than they could make doing something else with their programming skills? It is also typically more challenging work. The same is true for artists that work on games. These people work on games because they want to create games even if it means taking a financial hit. Just because profit is the primary motivator does not mean there cannot be some other motive at play.

Third, who says financial motivation is divorced from the concept of consumer gratitude? Everything I mentioned is financially valuable - good press, free word of mouth advertising, and a loyal consumer base. A loyal consumer base, and knowing you have a loyal consumer base, is in particular valuable.

At the top levels of the game industry far too much money is being thrown around for them to take big risks. This is why we get so many games that are conceptually similar - this is risk mitigation. A loyal consumer base is the best form of risk mitigation. A company with a loyal consumer base doesn't have to play it safe and create COD clone 37. They can afford to take risks because their consumer base will give them a chance to prove the new idea is good.

Anyway, if the game was free, or exceeded what I paid for, a thank you might be in order. But I just never feel like saying "thank you" to developers that made a videogame I paid my money to play.

If you find a cool shirt and buy it, do you say "thank you to the company for making this cool shirt"?

I would if I want them to keep on making cool shirts.

Any form of selling and buying does not require any thank you. They do not deserve to be thanked for making good games, because if the game wasn't good, they wouldn't get money.

Of course it does not REQUIRE a thank you. But if you want people to be motivated to behave in the way you want them to then you have to give them a reason. And they cannot possibly measure consumer loyalty, for example, if you don't say something.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

Coupla things.

~ EA has already (now, long since) burned away all its trust. I won't play games that require the Origin client. Period. And I won't play anything from Google Play that has the EA name on it. Period. And so far, since the 100% Origin shift, EA hasn't made any games even worth considering[footnote]At very least nothing that hasn't been seriously flawed. So, since Mass Effect 3 all their "worthy" titles have each been a big cause of grief though DRM requirements or poor design or bad story choices... And it's not like the market is lacking in alternatives.[/footnote]. Period. Now, myself, I'm willing to overlook some fabulous future title from EA (should one ever surface) to avoid Origin and persistent online DRM, and microtransaction-laden gameplay. What amazes me is that there are others who are still willing to do this, even though EA is as famous as Comcast and Microsoft XBox for shitting on its clients. Even though microtransactions offer way less content for the dollar than DLC and future titles. Even though DRM schemes do nothing except add additional inconvenience to paying customers.

~ PvZ: Garden Warfare is so far removed from what PvZ originally was (a sophisticated tower defense in the guise of a casual game) that I'm not sure what its appeal is, other than as a shooter with nostalgia beats from Popcap's good old days. While I love me a good shooter, GW is not what I would ever want from a Popcap franchise.

~ I thought better of Kotaku, though I don't read them regularly unless linked. I guess I was wrong about them. Disappointed.

238U[footnote]As of this posting I have not received a US National Security Letter or any classified gag order from an agent of the United States.
This post does not contain an encrypted secret message
Monday, May 05, 2014 12:07:52 PM
suicide kennel microscope choir staple turtle tennis butterfly[/footnote]

 

[Marik2]

No Jim, you're wrong. These people ARE fucking stupid. And this is why I don't have any faith in consumers.

Sometimes, I feel like i'm stupid as a consumer. When Dead Space 3 was coming out... I had a throbbing thought at the back of my head to not buy it. But because I was such a fanboy of the series... I pre ordered it.

You can blame Jim for convincing you to buy it : P

 

[RealRT]

Thank God for Jim telling people what their common sense failed to tell them.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Jim you are absolutely right, you are my friend and if you're ever in the area I would buy you a beer or two. As for the rest of the video, it's even worse than the time saver DLC for Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag in which you pay real money to learn the locations of in game secrets.