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by gregn
3567 days ago
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Saying "iTunes will never work well" is like saying the sky is blue. Why would anyone need a kitchen sink to copy an audio file to their device? Oh, wait, unless there is manufacturer locks, and controls put in place to steer consumers' capital flow. Oh yeah, that's why. From that perspective I would say iTunes is a smashing success. And this negative social virus has spread like gang-busters spawning countless imitators. |
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I feel like a similar mindset is ruining gaming as well. The best games from the past had a design that I'd compare to movies. The story and fun was self-contained and complete. If another installment was created, it was also self-contained and complete. With rise advent of microtransactions, games seem more like sitcoms or slot machines. The experience of a single episode (or pull of the lever) is a full experience, but it's intentionally designed to feel always feel slightly incomplete.
I mean, the design of games now is pretty user-unfriendly. Anything that could compete with a publisher's ability to charge more for gameplay has been crippled. Simple example -- almost every game used to include god-mode cheat codes that you could use to your hearts content. Now a lot of games charge money for extra weapons and other things that used to be considered cheats, even in the single player modes.
Another example is the team creation tools in EA sports franchises. You used to be able to copy and paste players from one team to another. My brother and I would create teams where every player on the team was our favorite player in Madden and FIFA and pit them against each other. That feature has been absolutely gutted in FIFA, most likely because it interfered with their Ultimate Team mode. However, they gutted it for offline play as well.
I don't fault the developers and publishers trying to makee money. I do think it's really lame that modern games have intentionally locked or removed simple and historically common features in the pursuit of profit. It makes every gaming experience feel like I'm being forced to buy everything from the company store, and it sucks.