this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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I'm mainly talking about these new "but they're different" games, that have gotten so fucking popular, lately.

"Honky Stair Rail" and "Genshin Implants" or whatever the fuck they're called.

I don't care if you can play them without spending any money. I don't care if they're any good. None of that matters. The whole model of the game being funded by whales, spending money on in-game items and currency IS LITERALLY EVIL.

There is no way to do it ethically. That is an impossibility, on a fundamental level. There is no excuse for anyone to give these so-called developers and publishers ANY amount of money, attention, or engagement.

The only acceptable way to pay for a game as a service is a traditional MMO subscription, where you pay a flat rate per month/year to access 100 percent of a game's available gameplay.

I don't care what your excuse is. I don't care that you like anime tits and ass. I don't care if you think your chosen free-to-pay game is different. It's not.

Stop supporting this shit. Support real games.

A couple of years ago, I would have considered this to be a popular opinion, but about 35-40 percent of the internet posts I see in 2024 are related to either "Honky Stair Rail" or "Genshin Implants," and it's starting to freak me the fuck out.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is this an unpopular opinion?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My guy, you are the antithesis of your own username. If you wanna change minds you need to change your angle. Facts. Data. Not just “I’m right and you’re wrong, no I will not explain further.” All that’s gonna do is make people cling to their beliefs even stronger. So really, you’re making the problem worse without playing the games yourself. Congratulations.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel like this guy must have some mental health issues or a disorder, and they either haven't been diagnosed or they aren't being treated properly. He doesn't seem like a troll because he's putting way too much effort into it, but his behaviour's way too strange for a mentally stable, neurotypical person.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You’re absolutely right. This screams autism to me as a ND person myself.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

That was my initial thought as well. I'm not sure about my own neurotypicality since I haven't started the process of diagnosis yet, but my partner has autism and I couldn't help but see some similarities between her past behaviour and this guy's current behaviour. I can only hope he gets the help he needs, if he does indeed need it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This thread is so fascinating. I agree with the OP 100% and it's so strange to me to see the arguments against them.

Like, games as designed now are predatory. My kids get a game and are bombarded with shiny ways to extract more money.

OP's point on MMOs is that they provide servers and that means a monthly subscription and the only way (originally) to get stuff was to grind.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

To expand on that last point, the original MMO grind was also supposed to be fun and interesting, in and of itself. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but the original grind wasn't a roadblock in the way of progress. It WAS the progress.

As someone else very eloquently pointed out, the problem with the new mobile-style model is that "the developers ARE REQUIRED TO INVALIDATE your progress in some way."

That's exactly the center of the point that I'm making. That shit isn't fixable. There is no way for there to be a good or acceptable game that uses that model.

And I think that's why I've bristled so much, when people are like "uhh, could you cite some examples?"

Like I said in that other comment: that's like if I said "being hit in the hand with a sledgehammer causes injury" and people were like "hmmm, could you supply some evidence for this claim?"

Saying "fuck off" to that request isn't ME being intellectually dishonest. It's THEM being trollish for even asking some shit like that. It's some Elon Musk level shit.

Mobile-style free-to-pay monetization models are simply harmful. Period. Exactly like a sledgehammer to the knuckles.

Some people might be legit masochists and like being whacked on the hands with hammers, but that doesn't change the basic facts.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I agree. It is creating a real problem.

Out of curiosity would you include Guild Wars 2 into a good or bad system?

You pay for the game. You get the full game. When they bring out a expansion you pay for the expansion.

You can buy in game stuff but it’s cosmetic only (different skins for armor or weapons but no improved stats). You don’t need to buy anything. You can pay the full game. Just curious what your thoughts are on that type of game.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I have to admit that some of the pseudo-traditional MMO games actually do fall into a gray area. Especially if they're part of a series that used to run on a fully traditional MMO model, but couldn't be sustained any longer. It's better for those specific games to be supported in a different way, rather than just die off.

It's these "hey sailor, buy some currency...and/or a .png of an anime titty girl that you can use to fight other .png files of anime titty girls UNLESS YOU WANT TO GRIND FOREVER" abominations that are becoming normalized. And that's just not cool.

EDIT: it's especially not cool, because I see more and more traditional gamers who DEFINITELY KNOW BETTER deciding that "Honky Stair Rail" or "Genshin Implants" are somehow different and okay. Even though they really do know better than that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

As someone with an addictive personality, gw2 is just as bad as any other.

The existence of FOMO, the "gems" that are never sold in quantities to get the full value of your transaction, and the random loot boxes for mounts and fucking dyes of all things... Makes no difference if it's "just cosmetic". It's an exploitative business model for people vulnerable to those techniques. It's scummy as all hell. OP is right, there's no ethical GAAS.

And the game definitely suffers for the simple fact that the gemstore takes priority over it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I assume it’s Gaming As A Service.

I assume because SAAS is software as a service.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

OP spent their wages on Genshin and is pissed.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

There's a lot less overlap between mobile and non-mobile than you think. I agree that these are trash business practices and we shouldn't support it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I’m not sure that this is an unpopular opinion either. Not in the states at least.

All my homies hate pay to win - it’s antithetical to what gaming was about. Just the same as paid kits and scripts for hackers used to be called skids. It was about classless community on the internet period.

Fuck greed.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (16 children)

It's just a Netflix for games. Many people who don't really want to invest time (or so they think) are a new market that opened since games stopped to be a nerds' shit. And it doesn't end with the game itself: many play Fortnite or Genshin for social communications about it, it's fandom and peer pressure. You could've seen that with the last episodes of Lost that were making news and got discussed everywhere, you see it now. And no wonder it's then gets more publicity, because that's what average person consumes.

Obviously, there's a big red flag of capitalism perfecting it's hooks, now in the mainstream. But there's still a market for more engaging games. Souls-likes could've been dead in the water if TRU GAMIN has vanished, BG3 sales show that AAA can thrive, Dead Stranding kinda plays with that visible lack of gameplay while adding Kojima's shenanigans, Devolver Digital still greenlits cool projects without bullshit. And games that try to marry classic IPs with some form of gacha\gambling fail like Diablo: Immortal or Owerwatch 2, because most CEOs are fortunately incappable of understanding their shit.

I feel like your general message of not supporting these practices is kind of misguided because the crowds who play Genshin\PUBG\whatever doesn't often intersect with those who play non-casual games, and they probably aren't represented on Lemmy that much.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Dude you’re like a decade late and in the wrong economic system. This is just capitalism at work. There is no ethical consumption here, and pretty much everyone stuck with it either doesn’t realize it or they’ve accepted it and moved on. Gaming is just a drop in the bucket - look at everything we buy. Everything is a subscription. You own nothing, its all licensed. Every business is implementing predatory anti consumer practices. All tech has planned obsolescence built in. Its all designed so we cant repair it, and need to buy the new thing. Every service is full of extra fees for services that should have been included. Fuck, go buy a car with heated seats and even that is a subscription now. It’s everywhere, and we’re too late.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

You might want to not play them then.🙃

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Again I find myself on your side ChillDude... 100% with you on this one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

The biggest issue with this monetization model is that the developers ARE REQUIRED TO INVALIDATE your progress in some way. When a person buys everything they need and still plays the game, their only contribution is literally stealing bandwidth. Unless they're contributing to some external resource.

Being treated like that is extremely dehumanizing so I can't in good conscience put any money in these kinds of games.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I helped to destroy gaming by having kids. According to my game launcher, the last time I played a PC game I paid for was 3 years ago, and the game was published in 2011. So, having helped to destroy gaming already, I don't give a flying fuck what people think of me for playing Crossmath on my phone while taking a dump, during the only opportunity when I'm not being disturbed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I just looked up Crossmath. That's an actual mobile game, the way mobile games are supposed to be.

You're not spending your kids' college fund on gacha pulls, trying to unlock a sexy outfit for the number 18.

So yeah, you carry on. You're fine.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It seems someone lost their 50/50 gacha pull. Remember, 99% of gamblers stop just before they hit it big. Keep on gambling. You can only lose 100% of what you have but you can win an infinite amount of anime waifus, the math are clear on what you should do.


So you want people to play games that they enjoy less, over games that they enjoy more, because of the business model of said games?

Why dont you take it a step further. Why not make all mmorpgs illegal, since they use basic psychology, to make themselves addicting. Why do you like mmorpgs? Because number gets bigger and others can see that and it makes you feel good.

Real gamers play singleplayer games with no rpg elements. Everything else is exploitative and immoral. Paying a monthly subscription is modern day indentured servitude, ie slavery. You dont own the game, the game owns you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

What are your thoughts on the high seas?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I don't think it's possible to pirate live-service games.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Me enjoying Shattered PixelDungeon:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (7 children)

I mean for sure these games are bad for the industry but I don't think it's a moral failing for people to play them. The reality is that companies have learned how to manipulate and ease worse practices into games over time. It sucks that a notable number of people have fallen for it but accusing individuals of being at fault (especially here) isn't going to change the industry.

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