I’m still salty they turned Marathon into an extraction shooter. Marathon, one of the all-time narrative greats!
Why make millions releasing games people want when you can potentially make billions by abusing addiction research to keep users playing long past the point they enjoy your game?
(I’m vaguely associated with the gaming industry. I knew things were about to go downhill when I started getting invites to lectures on retaining players and extracting money by using unethical psychological tricks - this was nearly fifteen years ago and targeted at mobile devs, but it’s long since infected the entire industry)
Not that video specifically, but the others were along the same vein. They were all completely open about how they abused psychology to get people hooked, and spoke about players using dehumanizing terms like assets or cash cows. It was disgusting how shameless they were.
I don’t think it’s actually gotten much worse (things even got slightly better after a few countries threatened legislation for going after children), it’s just that those tactics have slowly made their way out of the mobile space (where post-installation monetization strategies are a result of users expecting mobile games to be free, or at most a couple of dollars) and into regular gaming.
A free-to-play gacha game on Android having a scummy monetization model is nothing new, but an $80 (soon to be $90) AAA game double- and triple-dipping into your wallet with paid season passes and FOMO banners and all that other junk, plus plastering ads on its menus? That’s still relatively new to consoles/PC, and putting that crap in games you paid for represents a new level of greed.
Wow… Just… go fuck yourself man.
Tap for spoiler
I hate how goddamn accurate this is
I’m still salty they turned Marathon into an extraction shooter. Marathon, one of the all-time narrative greats!
Why make millions releasing games people want when you can potentially make billions by abusing addiction research to keep users playing long past the point they enjoy your game?
(I’m vaguely associated with the gaming industry. I knew things were about to go downhill when I started getting invites to lectures on retaining players and extracting money by using unethical psychological tricks - this was nearly fifteen years ago and targeted at mobile devs, but it’s long since infected the entire industry)
It’s only Marathon in name.
Wait did you get an invite to this,?? (PocketGamer Connects - Helinski)
https://youtu.be/xNjI03CGkb4
This video really opened my eyes to F2P manipulation and because of this I mostly avoid it now.
Not that video specifically, but the others were along the same vein. They were all completely open about how they abused psychology to get people hooked, and spoke about players using dehumanizing terms like assets or cash cows. It was disgusting how shameless they were.
Wow and that was 15 years ago. Think of how much worse it has become now
I don’t think it’s actually gotten much worse (things even got slightly better after a few countries threatened legislation for going after children), it’s just that those tactics have slowly made their way out of the mobile space (where post-installation monetization strategies are a result of users expecting mobile games to be free, or at most a couple of dollars) and into regular gaming.
A free-to-play gacha game on Android having a scummy monetization model is nothing new, but an $80 (soon to be $90) AAA game double- and triple-dipping into your wallet with paid season passes and FOMO banners and all that other junk, plus plastering ads on its menus? That’s still relatively new to consoles/PC, and putting that crap in games you paid for represents a new level of greed.