Games nowadays are angry, whether we choose to believe it or not. Our collective anger stems from the fact that gaming just isn’t the hobby it used to be. In the last decade alone we’ve witnessed the rise and fall of genres and franchises, and the very disturbing trend of turning games into services, as opposed to products. Whether it’s squeekers on Xbox Live, or Destiny microtransactions, let’s count down the six reasons why we live in the worst time for gaming.
6. Consoles VS PC
There is the console war, but the PC-Console war is by far the bloodiest. On side we have neckbeards cursing the ”peasants” in the name of Lord Gaben, while said ”peasants” are trying to prove you can be a hardcore gamer even on a console. My allegiance lies within the console gaming community, due to the fact that I consider myself a ”fallen angel of the PC master race”. However both sides have very strong arguments, and very dumb ones too…
5. The Rise of Tumblr Feminism / AKA Lura Kroft iz sexis awmagawd
Feminisim as a movement isn’t what it should be. Instead of focusing on real problems concerning the molestation of girls and women in various second and third world countries, feminists nowadays like to shut down any form of media or entertainment, they deem ”offensive material”. This trend led to a substantial gain of influence for one Anita Sarkeesian, who literally made money on the back of her fans, which to this day are unaccounted for. The biggest problem however is, that this leads to censorship and the halt of freedom of expression. And people listen to them or even worse ignore them. But developers, directors and others don’t, and do their best to be ”politically correct” which I hope ends up exploding in their hands, as it’s not a healthy way of creating content.
4. Franchise milking
The act of franchise milking involves artificially extending the live of a ten + year old franchise in order to piggyback from gamers’ nostalgia. Gaming was original for the last time in 2007, let that sink in. Nowadays, most popular new releases are sequels of games people loved, and because we live in the greatest time for capitalism, supply and demand decides what people get. I’m not against sequels, but look at the new Tony Hawk, or the last Batman Arkham game, which essentially ruined the beloved franchise. And while I’m very excited for Mass Effect: Andromeda, I can’t help but feel worried, about how it turns out to be at the end.
3. Microtransactions
Microtransactions are a very deceptive way to make money, because free-to-play games usually put very important, game-changing items up for sale, but you can only buy them with real money. If done ethically, microtransactions help cover wages and production costs, while improving the game. However, a lot of the times they aren’t. The biggest culprit for this trend is mobile gaming (sadly). Most free-to-play games on phones and tablets have boost items or bonus in-game currency that you can buy, and people do it because it makes the game easier for them. The problem is that AAA developers are getting into this, seeing how successful it is, and microtransactions are slowly starting to burrow their way in AAA games, which is absolutely unacceptable. I paid once, why do you expect me to pay you more?
2. Buggy releases
Arkham Knight came out in June, but the PC is port was terrible, nigh unplayable. So much so, that Rocksteady pulled the game from digital or retail services and opted for a Novemeber re-release for the PC. We can only blame pirates for this. PC is the platform with the biggest amount of pirating at the moment, and developers just don’t put much work into PC ports, seeing how the return of investment would be smaller than compared to consoles, and I wholeheartedly agree.
1. DLC
As Danny O’wyer from GameSpot puts it, DLC still sucks. Companies are starting to catch up to this trend, and almost every new game has some sort of DLC. Some developers have high moral standards, like CD Projekt Red, that gave out free DLC for months, and only recently released paid DLC for the Witcher 3. With the announcement of a season pass for Battlefront and EA’s track record I’m seriously worried about the game, being ruined by DLC. It’s not that I don’t like paying, I’ll gladly pay for it, however companies are starting to take content from the game they’re developing, that they can sell to you as DLC at a later point. I wouldn’t be surprised if Space Battles or Galactic Conquest, two beloved Battlefront 2 gamemodes come out six-eight months from now. As is the case with microtransactions, if done ethically, DLC is just fine, however it is done for the sake of money and corporate greed and ruins games…
Updownright 