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Fallout76 is now descending the slippery slope of micro-transactions. Some arguments can be made with regards to a few cosmetic items or other obvious, please support us, downloadable content (DLC), but I generally relegate all other micro-transaction games to the cash grab category. When you take a story-driven RPG with FPS elements, and take out the story elements, all you have is a husk of a game. In addition, online-only games need a certain level of income to be able to pay the bills with regards to server maintenance, etc. The reputable online-only games generally take care of that by including a monthly fee or by creating more quality content for people to upgrade to. An issue I see is that this is very much in line with what free-to-play games would do to generate more revenue. This kind of practice doesn't belong in games that already demand an up-front purchase price. It also seems to go against their original stance of no pay-to-win elements in the game.
That addition has some fans up in arms that developer Bethesda has broken a promise to keep so-called "pay-to-win" elements out of the premium game. As Bethesda's Pete Hines told Gamespot last October [emphasis added]:
If you don't want to spend money in the Atomic Shop for cosmetic stuff, you don't have to. We give you a shitload of Atoms just for playing the game. Folks that want to spend money on whatever the hell it is because they don't have enough Atoms, they can, but it's not, "I'm now better playing against other players because I spent money." It's not pay-to-win. And it's not loot crates.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/fallout-76-repair-kits-raise-new-pay-to-win-concerns/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @11:37PM (3 children)
By all accounts the game is not that great anyway. The grind fest that everybody with any experience or sense with this sort of game expected it to be.
But it is a dick move.
They provide a way to remove the artificially introduced grind for cash.
Wow.
Talk about creating the disease and then selling the cure...
It is a bit like a drug company irresponsibly selling a highly addictive drug for decades until it helps spawn an epidemic. Then selling the cure while still selling the drug.
No sensible, rational or sane society would let that occur.
It would make a complete and utter farce of the war on drugs, the criminal justice system and the politicians that allowed it to occur.
Fortunately we don't live in that sort of country. (well...most of us...)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @11:53PM (2 children)
Wow, political much?
Regardless, I'll take the bait. Your analogy has some value, but it is imperfect in that, "if Bethesda is making a boring game, it's easy for people to just not play it." This option doesn't really exist for those addicted to pain medications.
Moreover, I'm sure several time-rich/money-poor people (e.g. teenagers) prefer to have the option to have a low-cost time-intensive way to play a game for fun.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @12:53AM
It is still a dick move. Pay to win is anything that gives a gameplay advantage in exchange for money. News skins/content do not affext current gameplay so they are fine. Everything else is pay to win.
I can forgive such behavior from free to play games, but a paid game? That is crossing the line, all players should be equal on the field if they paid for the game.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:07PM
I am the original poster.
I have a degree in psychology.
I understand variable reinforcement schedules.
You should too...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @11:59PM (1 child)
Money Talks, Bullshit Walks
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:28AM
But the bullshit is generating the money so by the transitive butthole property Bethesda is shitting on their players.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:24AM
Cause last I heard, it was a bug infested train-wreck...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:52AM (2 children)
Any game where spending gives you an advantage is a rigged game, why do you bother. There are still games where the only problem is cheating and when you get gud you can spot it too. Or do like me and don't give a flying fuck about cheaters griefers and trolls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:02PM (1 child)
It's the better Fallout/Wasteland clone at this point anyway, and it doesn't USUALLY spawn enemies inside your base if you properly constructed and owned the tiles yourself.
Plus it is moddable, open source, and the people who are developing it do it for the love of the game, not for their next paycheck or corporate overlord!
Fuck Bethesda and Fuck Zenimax, it is time to move on.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday April 11 2019, @03:18PM
While, I have enjoyed quite a few text based games and even coded one myself, they have their limitations. Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 4 VR are all really good games in their own right. Fallout76 and Fallout Shelter are in the same vein in my opinion, with Fallout76 being even deeper in the cesspit of money grabbing. Bethesda/Zenimax have issues, but they could turn things around. We'll see, if they learn or make more shovelware.
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"