Gaming was like breathing. It was the biggest part of my life as a teenager, one of my priorities as a college student, and eventually one of my most expensive “hobbies” as a young professional.
Then all of a sudden, after thousands of hours spent playing across genres and platforms, boredom hit me hard for the very first time in my early thirties. Some of my favorite games soon gave me the impression of being terribly long. I couldn’t help but notice all the repeating tropes and similarities in game design between franchises.
I figured it was just a matter of time before I found the right game to stimulate my interest again, but time continued to go by and nothing changed.
Is it that games have failed to innovate, or that real life is ultimately more engaging?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday January 07 2019, @10:27PM (3 children)
The "freemium formula" doesn't bore me. I boycott it. I do not play games with that kind of gimmick. File Diablo 3 away in this category. They went from focusing on the game and making it fun, to how can we monetize this. It bit them hard. With the announcement of their mobile exclusive, it shows that they haven't listened. You can't convert a good franchise into a cash grab without getting a lot of push back from your fans. I avoid mobile games for pretty much all the same reasons. The mobile game economy is literally built around people paying for virtual money that is spent. So, you can buy more virtual money to spend. PC gaming used to have real DLC, usually extra maps with stuff, an actual serious attempt at giving the customer some more fun game. Now, DLC is synonymous with, we want you to pay more, so we can keep cashing in on our game. Here's some gold color this, or worse yet a feature that should have been in the game, but we released it anyways. So, pay us money for it. If you are going to treat your "customers" like beta testers, at least release it as Early Access or something.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 07 2019, @11:01PM (2 children)
I played Hearthstone long enough that it started to resemble this formula for me in the end... they buried it well, but eventually that's what it boiled down to. I also got the sense that as a non-paying player I was used as loser fodder for the payers, not enough to completely discourage me from playing right away, but eventually...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 07 2019, @11:24PM (1 child)
I played Gwent first, so when I got to Hearthstone, I noticed the (I am cannon fodder.) feature, almost right away. Gwent was pretty fun and I hadn't felt the need to purchase anything. I played it to death in beta, and they changed up the formula on full release. The new full release is much more polished and fun as well. I just have lots of other games, that don't have that kind of gimmick in it to play.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 08 2019, @02:40PM
Occasionally I would trade dust for a good card and push my ranking up high, I forget how it went but some Rogue special card I got allowed me to compete up many levels higher than I normally did. Still fun to play at more or less any level, but ultimately just a waste of time - as intended.
🌻🌻 [google.com]