Poll: What do you think of DLC today and do you wish you had protested in when it began?

[Maraskeen]

As long as the base game is solid to begin with, for me there's nothing wrong with it having DLCs - especially if they're released later on instead of being pre-purchase perks. Being able to go back to a gaming universe I previously enjoyed is something I like as a general principle. Some of them arguably bring little to the buyer and/or are overpriced, but that's a matter of form, not substance. (not to mention a pretty subjective one: I tend to favour additional quests and story-driven DLCs. Other would enjoy additional weapons or find value in reskins I myself would find mostly pointless.)

 

[Olas]

How can anyone be against the CONCEPT of DLC? Like anything it can be good or it can be bad, it can be a bargain or it can be a rip-off. If I see DLC that interests me and the price is right I'll drop the money for it. If the DLC looks shoddy or is too expensive I won't buy.

The only genuine issue I see with DLC conceptually is in multiplayer games where it has the potential to fracture a community or give some players an unfair advantage. It's up to the developers to try to find ways of implementing it without ruining the experience.

Well, let me explain.

Look at mobile games that are built around microtransactions, the very design is flawed. A game designed with loads of DLC planned is likely to come out incomplete. If I remember correctly, FF 13-2 didn't even have a proper ending unless you bought DLC.

Then your problem isn't with DLC but with incomplete games being sold as complete. If a game is sold in a certain state then it should be judged and reviewed in that state, and if it lacks a proper ending it should receive negative reviews for it.

You have already mentioned multiplayer DLC problems so I don't need to go into that. So what if DLC turns the AAA market into what the mobile market has become? Would you then be able to see that DLC itself is a design flaw?

No, because you're still only talking about a particular kind of DLC implementation, and the entire triple A market will only become like the mobile games market if consumers let it. If there are gamers like you and me who have zero interest in games that operate like the free-to-play model then games will still be made that cater to us.

If the nightmare scenario you're suggesting ever were to come true, I would blame the gaming community, not developers and certainly not the abstract concept of DLC.

Now when I look back at games from the PS2 and before I don't see them as incomplete. Their lack of DLC has not harmed them even after DLC has been a thing for years. I don't think DLC is solving a real problem but is instead creating new problems that didn't need to exist.

DLC shouldn't exist to solve a problem, it should give players more content for a game they enjoy, possibly after the game has already been finished and/or released.

If DLC is required to have a complete game, then effectively the price of the game has just been increased. I think that's a stupid, and manipulative use of DLC which I don't support, but again, it's an example of DLC used POORLY.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I don't care. DLC hasn't taken my job. It hasn't kicked me in the teeth. It hasn't stolen my TV, spray painted my windows (living on the 5th floor I'd like to see someone try that) or done any actual harm to me. Gearbox software made IMO the best DLC of last generation with Borderlands 2, and for that I'm glad. I'm currently working through the Artorias DLC in Dark Souls, and I'm so happy that a game I'd sunk triple digits worth of hours into feels all fresh and new again. I've also heard the DLC for DSII is great.

I really don't get what the big problem with DLC is supposed to be. If you don't find a particular game's DLC appealing, vote with your wallet. Though that's not to say there aren't plenty of absolutely fucking bonkers retarded implementations of DLC in the market. For example, I recently bought 4 new costumes for God of War III. There was a 4-pack that featured 4 costumes, priced 3,95 ?. Problem is, the costumes cost 0,95 ? individually. That's right, the bundle pack actually cost more than buying the stuff individually. What fucking half-apes does Sony think their customer base consists of?

Also, I'd love to play the various "King" DLCs for Dark Souls II, but they only come in the Scholar of the First Sin pack on the PSN Store. Do I really have to buy the whole game again just to play the DLC? If yes, then that's a massive dick move on From Software's part.

 

[Aetrion]

I just buy the gold edition of a game 2-3 years later for 10 bucks on steam. Ever since you can buy old games online without any fear that you simply won't be able to find a hard copy anymore once it's gone down in price there is no good reason to buy full price unless it's a title you want to support or there is a significant multiplayer component you want to get into.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

DLC is the logical result of successful Expansion Packs.

Like Expansion Packs, some DLC is better than others.

 

[Namehere]

What if, and I'm shooting totally blind here: THERE FUCKING AREN'T ONLY TWO FUCKING SIDES OF EVERY FUCKING ISSUE?

I dunno I've been thinking and can't put my finger on it but it seems like it could be true. In theory.

I used to take a neutral stance to DLC, weighing each on their respective merits and making a decision on their value or lack thereof.

However, OP has made it clear that either I hate it like poison and want to fight it, or I like it and want to cuddle it, so I guess I love DLC now. Sorry guys. All DLC is amazing.

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with this, it's really not a fair split there. Some DLC is good. Some DLC is bad. Some of it is worthwhile, some of it is not, and a lot of companies are releasing a lot of low-content, or exploitative crap.

Don't see what "protesting" would have done, and I'm going to keep doing what I've always done: Paying for what I think is worth it. If a game is too short (Maybe because they cut stuff for DLC), then I'm not going to want to pay full price.

If you don't think that shallow games, short games, or just overpriced crap, were being sold before DLC, then you must be very, very new. At least now with youtube, and various publications, you can get an idea of what you're getting first, whether it's a game or DLC.

Also, expansion packs were "DLC", at least in that they were extra content for an extra fee(Barring standalones of course, but then you often end up with content/price decisions again). Deal with it.

"Expansion packs were DLC." This is an interesting statement. I'd modify it myself though: "DLC used to replace Expansion packs." Seems more reasonable to me. Consider for instance, Age of Empires 2 and it's Expansion, as opposed to COH2 and it's DLC 'options.' Expansions always carried a guarantee of fairly vast content - regardless of game type - and often an alteration by way of extending the game play - added wonders, new features, updated GUI, that sort of thing. These days DLC is a new skin, a hat, or numerous other things. I think a lot of people feel nickel and dimed over that issue. So DLC is a bit of a mixed bag and to some greater or lesser extent it was always going to go this rout, baring an intervention from god itself. I mean, business exists to make money and this does. I mean, you don't buy a Civ expansion anymore, you by individual races. Once upon a time you shelled out an added 20 or 40 dollars even, got five new races and all the trimmings and maybe an advance in the diplomacy system or something. Not anymore. People miss those easier to manage days I think. And again, feel a little nickel and dimed.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*complex issue with more then two 'right' ways of thinking, only puts two options in the poll*

seems legit and well thought out this one ....

I'm neither for or against DLC though, before you think you need to get cute with me like the other guy.

There's bad DLC and there's good DLC, there's 'meh' DLC to. It's up to the consumer to weed through them and pick out the ones they think is worth dropping the extra coin on, and whining about how 'all DLC is an evil cancer' doesn't solve anything by the way, not when its pretty clear we're stuck with it at this point.

 

[WeepingAngels]

*complex issue with more then two 'right' ways of thinking, only puts two options in the poll*

seems legit and well thought out this one ....

I'm neither for or against DLC though, before you think you need to get cute with me like the other guy.

There's bad DLC and there's good DLC, there's 'meh' DLC to. It's up to the consumer to weed through them and pick out the ones they think is worth dropping the extra coin on, and whining about how 'all DLC is an evil cancer' doesn't solve anything by the way, not when its pretty clear we're stuck with it at this point.

Whining about the poll doesn't solve anything either. I also never said ALL DLC was a cancer.

Of course, we all know that there's good and bad DLC and we knew that before you mentioned it. In fact the threads purpose was never to have everyone repeat what everyone already knows. It was to get everyones overall opinion of DLC today, after considering the good and the bad.

Oh and being stuck at this point is neither true nor does it stop discussion. If today most gamers decided they wanted no more DLC and quit buying it, it will slowly go away.

 

[DoPo]

Whining about the poll doesn't solve anything either.

You seem to whine a lot about the whining, too.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Latest DLC policies have made me pretty happy. I now buy games for $10-$15 on Steam with all the DLC included and I couldn't be happier. Buying a game in any other way would make me feel like an imbecile nowadays. The only exception is The Witcher 3.

I wonder who are the people that are going to buy Black Ops 3 after their DLC announcement. It's CoD. If you don't get CoD DLC you're practically buying 1/3 of the game. So you have to pay $110 or you're not getting anything worthwhile. It's not really a hard choice to simply tell Activision to fuck off.

 

[sky14kemea]

I was after discussion but I changed my mind. So much hostility in this thread towards me for not making the perfect poll. Yes, we can close it now.

There is a strange amount of hostility over a single poll...

C'mon guys. I know you can be civil when you want to be.