EA, Dungeon Keeper 2, £79.99 microtransactions {boggle}

[kandrathe]

Being a big fan of Bullfrogs original Dungeon Keeper, I was hopeful for the IOS/Android version EA was hyping; Until I read some reviews, and heard about it. Then again, I was a bit fearful of what EA might do, being that they are generally considered to be the worst company in the US.

Worse, as a parent, most of these micro-transaction games become an exercise in disappointing my children who get to a certain point in the "free" game and discover that the only way forward costs money, or endless hours of farming old content, or just waiting for days or weeks. Plus, often, there is no way to pay a reasonable one-time fee to become a "premium" player and avoid the death by a thousand micro transactions. Needless to say, in my house we've had to ensure that any subscription service we have does not keep any default credit card info to prevent my kids from secretly buying DLC, or game credits, etc.

I fear the micro-transaction model is more designed and targeted at the naive, rubes, and suckers. Sometimes, it is done correctly. Such as what I saw in in DDO, or in POE.

I think I'll just go with the old model, where you pay $6-$30 one time. As well as, either wait for the >$30 games to get older, or go on sale.

[Bolty]

Everything moves in cycles. We are, sadly, stuck in the "microtransactions are a really good idea" cycle. At some point, it will play out when the companies become so greedy that it turns off their primary customer base. We haven't hit that yet, so it should get worse in the short term.

You'll know the tide has turned when games start getting advertised as microtransaction-free, meaning that it will be an actual selling point that their game does not nickle-and-dime you. But we're not there yet.

Take a look at games like Mass Effect 3. Despite the price-gouging displayed by EA on that game, from it's day-one DLC to the high price of small bits of content, the game sold like hotcakes and made them a bundle of cash. Companies like EA will keep upping the payments until that breaking point is reached and the customers finally push back enough to make them pause.

The oddest thing to me is that microtransactions absolutely kill the essence of a game in my mind - an open, fair, balanced system where players are rewarded for time and/or skill playing. Once you can pay real cash to get a leg up on others playing the game, it no longer meets my definition of a game because it immediately imbalances the environment. I guess I'm an old fogey in that regard, because the game industry has shifted to this and the kids don't seem to care. To me though, that's why Diablo III was a complete disaster of a game; playing it felt useless and cheapened by the fact that anyone could just spend real life money to get the equivalent of anything I did in the game, whether it was long grinding or heavily-skilled play in the early days when Inferno difficulty was absolutely evil in difficulty.

World of Warcraft is now slowly going this route, too. Blizzard is opening the purchase of level 90 characters, and the slippery slope the purists were worried about just becomes more slippery. Everyone will have a point that they feel is "too far," and Blizzard is simply finding out where that point may be.

[shoju]

The oddest thing to me is that microtransactions absolutely kill the essence of a game in my mind - an open, fair, balanced system where players are rewarded for time and/or skill playing. Once you can pay real cash to get a leg up on others playing the game, it no longer meets my definition of a game because it immediately imbalances the environment. I guess I'm an old fogey in that regard, because the game industry has shifted to this and the kids don't seem to care. To me though, that's why Diablo III was a complete disaster of a game; playing it felt useless and cheapened by the fact that anyone could just spend real life money to get the equivalent of anything I did in the game, whether it was long grinding or heavily-skilled play in the early days when Inferno difficulty was absolutely evil in difficulty.

This is why I love, adore, drool, over GGG's implementation of Microtransactions in Path of Exile.
There isn't anything that you can buy that gives you a leg up. I mean... technically you could argue that stash tabs give you a leg up, but that's a stretch really. You can easily exist in PoE with the base level of Stash Tabs. Having more, just means that you can horde more.

But, if you want to look really cool, have weapon glows, helmet replacements skins, skin transfers (mogging), make your spells look different from someone elses, have a non combat pet, etc... Well, then you can pay for it. And people do. Oh, do people pay.

I am really curious, just how much GGG is making off teh game. They have a core team of 8 people, and then they have just hired 2 or 3 more people to the staff, so they aren't "that big" of a company, but even guess high, that the company has 15 employees, by the time that you factor in any "support staff" like receptionists, phone people, etc... You figure that they they are selling quite a bit of microtransactions for a game that is completely free.

[kandrathe]

This is why I love, adore, drool, over GGG's implementation of Microtransactions in Path of Exile.

But, what's that up in the tree?

[LochnarITB]

This is why I love, adore, drool, over GGG's implementation of Microtransactions in Path of Exile.

But, what's that up in the tree?

It's a rock throwing monkey, of course. Apparently, there is a gorilla, out of camera view, calling his whole pack down. You wouldn't want to see a picture taken just a few seconds later. Eek!

[Taem]

Being a big fan of Bullfrogs original Dungeon Keeper,

Also very disappointed in what I read online. It's *super* ironic that you posted this yesterday, because I had just seen it on my phone after not even searching for an iOS game for months, and contemplated downloading it until I read the reviews and knew it wasn't for me.

[Occhidiangela]

Micro transactions in LoL don't seem to be that burdensome, but that game has over a hundred different chars, so if you want to play a lot of different ones one either grinds or buys RP in order to open more characters, or to get other skins than standard.
There are something one cannot get by other than game play, to include runes.

Interesting to hear that WoW has gone ridiculous, but it also doesn't surprise me. Companies are in games to make a living and a profit.

Agree with Bolty about how AH buggered up D III ... but that isn't its only shortcoming.

[kandrathe]

I just heard about an epic battle in EVE on-line this morning where many people lost many thousands of real world dollars. I smell a class action lawsuit.

Another take on the story.

[shoju]

Only if the "supposed missed payment" was an error, and not because the account didn't have sufficient funds, could there be basis for a Class Action.

I'm more baffled at the idea of a single item in a game being worth thousands of dollars. How the EFF do people play a game like that?

[kandrathe]

I think the "missed payment" was an in game payment one player missed for sovereignty protection for an important station in question which contained billions of ISK (the currency) worth of materials owned by (Providence Bloc) PL. The war broke out when CFC moved in to take the station and deny their enemy (PL) their stuff. Note: I would hate to be that one guy who blew it for his side.

A class action would need to be based on issues that would jeopardize your "assets" that are outside your control. When you place a bet in on-line poker, you know what is at risk and that the hand has integrity. If you discover the house is rigging the game, or even influencing the "fair" outcome you'd have a case for fraud.

When you've spent weeks, or months investing and building an on-line battle fleet only to see it decimated due to lag spikes, network outages, and etc. might give you a legal position. I think in this case, one issue is that CFC had some almost double the players involved than did N3/PL, and so brought much more fire power to the fight. One might argue the game mechanic is flawed, I guess similar to how in WOW the Alliance vs Horde might feel on a lopsided server. But, it would be for the lawyers to fight out. Personally, I think people are crazy to spend more than subscription fee on games. Hence, why I'm pretty much against Micro-transactions, or any "Real World" Auction house.

Although, being that CFC is headed by Alex Gianturco, a former corporate lawyer now space tyrant, any suit would need to be pretty air tight.

[LemmingofGlory]

This is why I love, adore, drool, over GGG's implementation of Microtransactions in Path of Exile.

But, what's that up in the tree?

It's a rock throwing monkey, of course. Apparently, there is a gorilla, out of camera view, calling his whole pack down. You wouldn't want to see a picture taken just a few seconds later. Eek!

In view, however, is a kiwi. This small rotund bird will protect them using its powers of non-flight!


Relating to the topic at hand of senseless premium game content, last night I saw "Fable Anniversary Edition" (i.e. Fable 1 HD for an unthinkable $40) was released on XBLA and I proceeded not to care because Molyneux. But then I saw a DLC release for the damn thing, and my jaw dropped. Who does this? It'd be like HD versions of RE4 providing Leon's extra outfits as DLC (disc-locked content). If you release essentially an "Ultimate Edition" of a game -- most especially a rather old game -- you don't leave things out. It's giving the players the finger. Are Fable fans really this rabid that they don't mind?

-Lem

[kandrathe]

Relating to the topic at hand of senseless premium game content, last night I saw "Fable Anniversary Edition" (i.e. Fable 1 HD for an unthinkable $40) was released on XBLA and I proceeded not to care because Molyneux. But then I saw a DLC release for the damn thing, and my jaw dropped. Who does this? It'd be like HD versions of RE4 providing Leon's extra outfits as DLC (disc-locked content). If you release essentially an "Ultimate Edition" of a game -- most especially a rather old game -- you don't leave things out. It's giving the players the finger. Are Fable fans really this rabid that they don't mind?

-Lem

They do promise "All new textures and 3D models, an entirely new lighting system, a slick new interface, achievements, and all of the content from “The Lost Chapters,” make Fable Anniversary the definitive Fable experience for faithful fans and new players alike!"

I don't think it's worth $40 for a retread, but if it drops to $20 I might snag it. I started with Fable II, and I own Fable III, which I've not played very thoroughly yet. -- but I'm not a big shopper of the DLC outfits, and if I'm not mistaken many of them you can find in the game if you go everywhere. There was a nice sword and gun DLC pack I did get for free however for being MSL Gold. They are offering the entire trilogy for $60, which considering the hours of content, would probably be a good deal for the Fable newb.

[Drasca]

Kandrathe, rechargeable gift / debit cards with limited funds are useful in certain cases like the one you described. Can't overspend what isn't there.