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by npteljes 294 days ago
Of course. Physical media is long out. What was the last time you saw a laptop with a DVD drive?

On PC especially, online is first. Games come with update managers, "launchers", and that's the absolute standard - publishers either roll their own, or submit to established ones like Steam.

Micro-transactions are accepted, but far from universal. People bemoan them for some reason, but I'd say that the vast majority of games don't have it.

Subscriptions normally come with games with a managed online gaming experience. How else are supposed to be funded, I wonder? I think it's normal to pay for a service, be that gaming, or a gym membership.
2 comments
sgbeal 294 days ago
> Micro-transactions are accepted, but far from universal. People bemoan them for some reason, ...

Because, for one, with them came "Pay to Win". Nothing good comes from Pay to Win except that someone lines their pockets.

A professor once told us that something like 1/3rd of people have personalities which are prone to become truly addicted to something. Microtransactions, regardless of their justification[^1], actively target personalities which are especially prone to instant gratification and the endorphins triggered by spontaneous purchases.

[^1]: They _are_ fundamentally justified - it costs money to keep any digital service going, and tons of it for a service like an MMORPG.

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npteljes 294 days ago
Yeah, I agree with you. I handwaved micro-transactions away too much, because of what an easy time I have with them. But I truly dislike them as well, especially for the exploitation factor.

To rephrase what I originally wanted to say: "Micro-transactions are accepted, but far from universal. Gaming got huge - even if you discard every game that has micro-transactions, the catalogue is still vast and impressive."

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voidUpdate 293 days ago
I have several laptops with a DVD drive, so the last time I saw one was last night
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npteljes 293 days ago
That's cool! They rarely come with them though these days. I have taken a quick look at two large webshops of my location: one had 1200 machines with 0 of them having an optical drive, and the other had 5500 machines, with 2 of them having optical drives.
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