stuff like this is why modern gaming really turns me off

Hey... hey, it's telling you to "stay frosty" down in the bottom right corner of the screen.

you're not staying frosty man...

So if you haven't played it then what's your problem?
IMO, any one who purchases junk in games and/or shitty games deserves what they get. I don't so I'm good.

if they'd stop playing that game and go to another one en masse, the companies would get the message. but all the sheep will bleat and cough up the cash.
Makes me like my retro stuff that much more.

DosFreak wrote:

So if you haven't played it then what's your problem?

Good point, but the OP might be thinking a little more out of the box. The old saying, first they came for X then they came for me comes to mind here.

DosFreak wrote:

So if you haven't played it then what's your problem?

So if something that I perceive as wrong doesn't effect me directly, then I shouldn't speak out on the subject? As Dan86 implies, that's how oppression increases it's hold. And how ignorance grows. And how bad things can be seen as being indirectly supported by people who don't seem keen to speak out against them.

Cobra42898 wrote:

if they'd stop playing that game and go to another one en masse, the companies would get the message. but all the sheep will bleat and cough up the cash.

Yes. When something anti-consumer (or even if it's just perceived by a group of games as being anti-consumer) occurs, there's always a few people threatening to boycott or walk away from the product or company, and yet the game still sells massively (it mostly seems to be the big selling franchises that do these things) and a year or two later, the anti-consumer whatever-it-is is not only quietly accepted in newer games, but it's actually considered the norm.

Gamers have short memories and too much willingness to pay for bad or disappointing products.

My point is it's not going to stop. As a wise man may have said there's a sucker born every minute.

AFAICT they already came for much of what I care about but my niche still exists.

Be outraged all you want but unless you know of a way to eliminate laziness\Human nature and are doing something about it then you're just wasting your time by talking about in on a forum especially this one.

Probably the only viable solution would be yet another app that tells people why X is bad when they perform an action because X said it was bad and hope they agree with you. More than likely ignorance will prevail but give them a decade or two and they'll figure it out, mabye.

dan86 wrote:

DosFreak wrote:

So if you haven't played it then what's your problem?

Good point, but the OP might be thinking a little more out of the box. The old saying, first they came for X then they came for me comes to mind here.

When lobbying corporations get used to a revenue stream, they will first try to preserve it over investing in innovatation and competition; and we saw this play out in 1998 when Clinton signed CETA, which furthered Copyright protection by another 50 years for individuals and a whopping 75 years to corporations.

The difference between 2019 and 1998 is that "big gaming" today is the 2000 lb gorilla just like the RIAA/MPAA rackets were in the 90s who lobbied for CETA.

Given Sony, EA, and Activision have hoovered up the majority of independent publishers' portfolios from the DOS years, I can certainly see parallels playing out in years to come that harm both new and retro-gamers. I'm not sure what that scenario might look like, but surely teams of lawyers are working on it.

What you should be more outraged at is this:
https://gamingnexus.com/News/44276/New-Stadia … asonable-prices!/

"Reasonable prices"

huh?

If it's a rental then charge rental prices. Yeesh

But again I won't be using it so let them be gouged.

As long as people have a choice, then market forces will provide options (to fools who double pay and to those who make more calculated principled purchases).

It's corporate-lobbied laws that I'm more worried about.. because they outright remove options for both types of buyers.

But yeah.. ouch: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint Ultimate Edition for $60.00 USD (50% off)

$120 USD regular price? That's $158 + $23.70 (tax) or $181.70 in Canadian. Won't be selling many of those up here!

Kerr Avon wrote:

apparently (I've not played it)

Yes, that specific stat is hidden from the scoreboard in A SUBSET of the game modes on offer, which is player deaths. As the article mentions, this is likely done to deter toxicity and bullying. The cosmetic watch item allows a player to view their OWN deaths while playing these modes, if they wish.

Did they hide it from the outset with the express intention of charging for the feature later? Arguably no, since other FPS'es also hide player death counts from the scoreboard, largely for the same kinds of reasons.

Should you be able to see player deaths on the scoreboard? Probably, but since the target audience for these games have proven themselves time and time again to be massive cunts, I can see why devs would want to find ways to make their games more inviting (and thus sell more).

Should you be able to see your own death count if you want to? Sure, with a toggle in the options, ideally. Yes.

All this said, is $20 too much for this "feature"? Absolutely, no argument from me. It should be free.

"oh no my bragging Gamer number!!! THIS TIME capitalism has gone too far!111!! boycott codmw!!!" - gamer currently playing codmw most likely, sipping on the 'dew, eating the Dorite, happily consuming annual uninventive consumer products

Who the fuck cares about death numbers?

The only Activision game I care about is Warcraft III, which has become increasingly unplayable in recent years due to bugs and glitches.

How is it possible for a game that has been stable for years to become riddled with bugs?

Errius wrote:

The only Activision game I care about is Warcraft III, which has become increasingly unplayable in recent years due to bugs and glitches.

How is it possible for a game that has been stable for years to become riddled with bugs?

It will probably soon be remade with microtransactions, so breaking the original game prior to the release sounds like a good idea?

(If WC3 is available on GOG you may want to give that a try.. I'm not sure if it is though, I know 1 and 2 are..)

DosFreak wrote:

My point is it's not going to stop. As a wise man may have said there's a sucker born every minute. […]
Show full quote

My point is it's not going to stop. As a wise man may have said there's a sucker born every minute.

AFAICT they already came for much of what I care about but my niche still exists.

Be outraged all you want but unless you know of a way to eliminate laziness\Human nature and are doing something about it then you're just wasting your time by talking about in on a forum especially this one.

Probably the only viable solution would be yet another app that tells people why X is bad when they perform an action because X said it was bad and hope they agree with you. More than likely ignorance will prevail but give them a decade or two and they'll figure it out, mabye.

All true, but the point of an internet forum is to talk about subjects that interest us, and people are interested enough in this subject to post about it here and on other forums, and for it to make headline articles on games websites. Talking about this (the having to pay to see a value (your death count) that most other multiplayer first person shooters since the genre began have always shown) won't change anything, but we should be concerned when anything that seems like cash-gouging or potentially harming our hobby is taking place.

appiah4 wrote:

Who the fuck cares about death numbers?

Lots of people. Depending on the game mode, it can give you a good idea of how you're playing compared to your usual performance, or how close you are to your own Game Over (in say a Last Man Standing type mode), or even just for trash-bragging when you're online with friends.

I almost never play online, I much prefer playing against bots (computer controlled opponents) as that way you can choose to fight enemies who aren't either too good or too bad for you (try playing an online game more than a few weeks after it's been released, and there are some *amazing* players, and I get soundly trounced 😢 ), plus I get to choose the game mode, the level to play in, and so on. And I do occasionally pause the game to see my kill/death scores and any other pertinent data, such as how many flags have been captured, how long until the match ends, etc, if the game in question doesn't have those values displayed on the playing screen.

don't forget the gamers who spend half their PC build budget on RGB components and lighting

SquallStrife wrote:

Yes, that specific stat is hidden from the scoreboard in A SUBSET of the game modes on offer, which is player deaths. As the art […]
Show full quote

Kerr Avon wrote:

apparently (I've not played it)

Yes, that specific stat is hidden from the scoreboard in A SUBSET of the game modes on offer, which is player deaths. As the article mentions, this is likely done to deter toxicity and bullying. The cosmetic watch item allows a player to view their OWN deaths while playing these modes, if they wish.

Did they hide it from the outset with the express intention of charging for the feature later? Arguably no, since other FPS'es also hide player death counts from the scoreboard, largely for the same kinds of reasons.

Should you be able to see player deaths on the scoreboard? Probably, but since the target audience for these games have proven themselves time and time again to be massive cunts, I can see why devs would want to find ways to make their games more inviting (and thus sell more).

Should you be able to see your own death count if you want to? Sure, with a toggle in the options, ideally. Yes.

All this said, is $20 too much for this "feature"? Absolutely, no argument from me. It should be free.

Agreed. It probably should be an option for each player to choose whether or not to make their own death totals viewable by other players, but they should certainly be allowed to view their own death total if they so choose. It bothers me that this might be the thin end of the wedge, and in five years or so, we could be buying games like so:

- The base game, set in a Nazi Germany type environment/world, where you start off imprisoned in a prison camp, and must escape the camp, find a weapon, fight your way to the Nazi-type soldiers to the headquarters of the dictator, and face and kill the dictator.

You pay eighty dollars for the game, and for that you get the single player campaign, and one very basic multiplayer mode with two maps.

And on top of the $ 80 you've paid for the base game, if you like, you can purchase various DLC, such as:

- A co-op mode for single player = $ 20

- Two new multiplayer gameplay modes = $ 25

- Two more new multiplayer gameplay modes = $ 35

- Map pack 1: Four new maps for multiplayer = $ 30

- Map pack 1: Four new maps for multiplayer = $ 50

- Map pack 1: Four new maps for multiplayer (won't workout with the Elite pack) = $ 40

- Map pack 1: Four new maps for multiplayer (won't workout with the Elite pack) = $ 60

- Elite pack. Be the *best* of the best; start the game with two new weapons already in your possession, you have twice the health you'd normally have in-game, and you can change the colour of your uniform = $ 40

- Supreme pack. Includes all the great things from the Elite pack, but you move faster, can carry more ammunition, and your health recharges twice as fast as it does with the base game or the Elite pack. = $ 60

- Ultimate Warrior perks. Simulate the fighting skills of the very best soldiers; You can see through walls so you know where the enemies are, enemy explosions can't hurt you, there's a 50% chance that enemies will get confused and shoot themselves, and all of your bullets are now heat-seeking = $ 100

And by the way, when you get to the dictator's headquarters, then the game ends, unless you pay the $ 50 for the DLC that contains the fight through headquarters. Still, the fight with the dictator only costs another $ 20 to download and play. And they give you the ending video for free.

And we'll be looking back sadly a the days when the initial cost of a game included everything, the full single player campaig, a decent selection of multiplayer mods and maps, and didn't need a mandatory day one patch of around eight to ten gigabytes.