Very nice video hitting the important points. I stumbled upon it precisely because I was arguing this with my brother and girlfriend, arguing their point about cosmetics not being important in the game (talking about the recent Tekken 8 here). I was arguing that specifically fighting games is a genre where how you look is basically as important as how you play, since the very own selection of your character is also attached to cosmetic options associated to them. However they where saying that is a subjectic view and that most people that buy stuff in the store is because they have spare money and can afford it, that the sales generated by the cosmetics in the long run cannot be used to gage if the users consider cosmetics important for the experience or not. Personally I think that the engagement the stores have with users is enough to dissprove the "Cosmetics don't matter" argument, because independently if it is spare cash or an actual buy they want to make, it shows a level of engagement they are ok with having. So yeah, that's my take though I'd love to be able to discuss it more. Great video!
@edhero4515
Жыл бұрын
Just discovered this channel. The first few seconds and the first thesis in this video...instant sub! Respect!
@TheGamingDiscourse
Жыл бұрын
NOTES: -Sorry if the audio is a little wonky. I'm still learning how to best use the lav mics and they are way more sensitive than I thought. -I did my best to keep the script as clear, clean, and non repetitive as possible while also not getting bogged down in semantics. I use a lot of phrases and words interchangeably (live-service economies, monetization barriers, cosmetics, personalization, self-expression, etc.) not because I think those things are simple, but because I think we all have a colloquial understanding of what those things mean and their slight differences aren’t important to the video’s overall point. There are a few moments in the video that some could argue I contradict myself, like my line at 7:31. At the top of the video, I said my opinion that cosmetics are a part of gameplay and affect gameplay, but as I wrote the script, I wasn’t sure how often I needed to use qualifiers like “the REST of gameplay” to keep my argument coherent. I erred on the side of not constantly qualifying my statements in an effort to keep things as smooth as possible. -New Horizons is not necessarily free of skeevy monetization (you can buy villagers), but I believe the comparison is still valid. I am comfortable speculating that the reason New Horizons lacks a lot of modern monetization is not because Nintendo thought it would all be made-up by amiibos and Nintendo Online subscriptions. Additionally, New Horizons does have live mechanics, like stores that refresh on timers or characters that only come around at certain times, but I don’t think NH’s live-service mechanics and Dreamlight Valley’s live-service mechanics are a straight, 1:1 comparison because NH doesn’t have the same emphasis on monetization. Mechanics like timed content that are not tied (or are, at most, tangentially tied) to monetization pose really interesting questions that I think are outside the scope of the video. Intuitively, I think timed content could be similar to grinds in that there are uses for it that are ethical, legitimately creative and have nothing to do with being a means to incentivize monetization. -Yes, the illusion of choice made by cosmetics is, at the end of the day, an illusion. There are only so many permutations in character creators (some far more than others). But cosmetics are only a part of a game’s experience. Even on the chance that someone in the world replicates every single decision and action you make in a game, I don’t think that invalidates your own personal connection to your own experience. -You can turn off the outlines in Infinite’s settings, but then you can’t tell friend from foe, which isn’t fun. -Regarding games ‘bucking trends’, I wanted to explain myself a little more: I’m saying that there are games that ignored certain elements the AAA industry would consider market safe and yet were good/successful for other reasons. The Outer Worlds was praised for being a (relatively) short game, and Hades is an all-time classic despite its characters having almost entirely static representations. The AAA industry is, at large, risk averse and uncreative because its goal is not creativity. Thus, it leans on formulas that review well and are considered “market safe”; big open worlds, recognizable upgrade/level up systems, TONS of “content”, etc. I think one reason game budgets continue to rise is because AAA companies have created a self-fulfilling prophecy that only expensive things will sell. This is a complicated topic and I cannot give it a proper breakdown here (there are exceptions), but I think that what I said in the video works. -I also think I should say that while Ultimate Team is a big financial monster, if EA were a better company, they would figure out a way to phase it out. What I said may have come across as me saying EA is helpless and can’t change anything, but I don’t think that’s true. Ultimate Team should go away. -Technically Disney is not publishing Drealight Valley. Gameloft is listed as both the developer and publisher, at least on Steam. But I’m assuming Disney could probably make any changes it would want to Dreamlight Valley, like limiting monetization.
@htf2387
Жыл бұрын
What a compelling video. You provided really fair and nuanced arguments. Keep up the amazing work.
@David-oo8dk
Жыл бұрын
Awesome video! Good breakdown and fair points all around.
@SheolAbaddonus666
11 ай бұрын
I like character customization, but some games need context. For instance, I don't know what kind of crack Activision was smoking that made them think Diablo and He-man characters belong in Call of Duty. Maybe if it was a game like CoD online where it was just deathmatch, but now multiplayer "seasons" have a storyline and affect the campaigns of future games.
@NoThing-wc3cs
Жыл бұрын
At first i joined in on the microstransactions bandwagon, lootboxes (my god i regret that), skins, battlepasses etc. Now I can’t stand it anymore and just avoid the game outright, because the customization IS the game for me sometimes. I am still willing to pay for dlc that brings more gameplay for a reasonable price though.
@kodoy
Жыл бұрын
straight spittin, consumer activism is bunk. unionization is the only way
@toteleitung5842
11 ай бұрын
I would rather have "pay to win". Because games, that would do this, would die really quick and then none of us would have to deal with this shit anymore. (wanna know what was really optional: map packs)
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