Comment on My mental health has improved after deleting games that have microtransactions in them

y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• RonnieB@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  My problem with “its just cosmetic” is that it turns the entire main screen into ad space, along with loading screens and wherever else they can jam it in. I don’t play game to be advertised to.

  Of course I can choose not to buy in, but if it didn’t have a psychological effect they wouldn’t be doing it.

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  • Exusia@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    An argument I heard, and adopted is that it’s never “just” cosmetic. Your enjoyment of the game is impacted by how you perceive your avatar. This is why fortnite skins sell so well to new players. It’s not just cosmetic to drop $20 on Cuddle Team Leader. It makes a user feel silly and increases enjoyment running around as an obvious pink mascot costume. It prolongs how long you play both by increased enjoyment, and sunk cost fallacy. In any game with cosmetics, purchases drive playtime.

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    • hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah I had to realize that as well at some point.

      Used to play games and I was so focused on gameplay, I always thought “why even have a lot of art in there”. But then you realize if the art sucks, you wouldn’t even be giving it a chance.

      And this extends to skins and stuff. If it’s “just cosmetics”, that still means there is some art that is now hidden unless you throw money at your screen. And depending on how much it is, the game might be way too boring without it. So you’re still buying bits of a game after the fact. And voila, we’re back to the reasons why DLCs suck.

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• conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You used to unlock cool stuff by playing the game.

  They removed that whole loop of discovering cool stuff by doing cool things and replaced it with cash grubbing.

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  • aphonefriend@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Played Terraria recently and this concept you speak of shined in it. Almost forgot how fun discovering new things as you play the actual game was.

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  • Nighed@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Wow still has a lot of achievement/reputation(grind) related cosmetics.

    But yeh, it’s a shame that when you see a cool/unique looking mout etc that you now assume it’s paid by default.

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• helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  But if its just like “exclusive skins”, I could give a shit.

  I think you meant “couldn’t”.

  I don’t really care about them either except that they’re relentlessly crammed down your throat in most games, with constant pop-ups and nagging every 5 minutes. That’s why I don’t even look twice at F2P games anymore.

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• Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  My default skinned character can still win against a guy in a bear-suit with a golden AK and that’s really all I need. I have no particular FOMO of not winning the fashion part of the game.

  Sure, until Activision starts using its new patented pay to win technology

  Twitter user strahfe recently shared a patent by Activision that suggests buying cosmetic items could increase your chances of being placed in games against less-experienced players. The patent reads: “The microtransaction engine may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player”

  I’m not heavy into conspiracies, but I’m suspicious enough to not give Activision the benefit of the doubt and bet that they’ve done this in secret if they have a patent for it. But really… if we’re even thinking about these kinds of things, the game is a lost cause.

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• ihatetheworld@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It is always such a satisfying feeling to loot the $999 weapon skin off your enemy dead body.

  Thank you for spending on my behalf and letting me play this game as a f2p and for letting me use your rare skin.

  I avoid any games that have p2w mtx but I can tolerate it somewhat if it is a PvE only or ‘single player’ like in Genshin-like games.

  I dislike the practice of having mtx of any kind in pay to play games so I tend to avoid those too.

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• PunchingWood@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Even a bunch of competitive games it hasn’t bother me that much unless it’s like a real big difference.

  I actually enjoy taking the shitter on people that paid to be “good”, then get their asses handed to them to someone who clearly never spent a dime.

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