Irridium said:
Tom Phoenix said:
Irridium said:
And people wonder why people love TF2 and Valve so much. Its because when most developers say "supporting with DLC long after launch", they just put out one or two DLC stuff which is just two or three maps and charge $10 or so for it, put out a couple updates, and call it a day. Valve actually supports their games long, long after launch. By releasing shitloads of updates and free content.
As much as I love Valve (although I mostly love them for their singleplayer games; never actually played Team Fortress 2...or the original TF, for that matter), they don't support
Team Fortress 2 out of the kindness of their hearts (well, not entirely anyway
). Even if people don't pay for them with money, they
do pay for it by having to use Steam and being constantly exposed to adverts and Steam sales.
You know what they say....there is no such thing as a free lunch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/view-from-the-road/7655-View-from-the-Road-No-Such-Thing-as-a-Free-Lunch].
Well yes of course I know that. But those adverts don't cost any money. Steam doesn't cost the consumer anything,
the updates don't cost the consumer anything. Thats what I'm getting at.
Of course it costs someone somewhere something, but that should go without saying.
Its like when I say "everyone loves Mythbusters" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/7962-Stolen-Pixels-219-Mythbombers]. Of course not
everyone likes them, but that goes without saying.
That is the thing...they
do cost the consumer...especially the consumer. Not monetarily obviously, but nevertheless, the consumer is still "
paying" for it by being exposed to those advertisements and buying games off of Steam.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that, considering that the consumer is paying for the updates in a sense, it makes Valve's actions seem a lot less kind-hearted then most people make them out to be. Don't get me wrong, I love Valve and I am sure they would have updated the game a great deal even if there was no Steam. Still, these updates are as "
free" as free-to-play MMO's; while you don't have to pay for them monetarily, you
will be paying for them in a different way.
Plus, to be honest, I would be more then willing to pay for updates if it meant that I didn't have to use Steam. Yes, it is the
least intrusive method of DRM.....but that doesn't equal to "not intrusive at all". But to be fair to Valve, at least they don't pull off the stunt of making you pay for updates AND still have to deal with the same kind of DRM, if not worse.
