Getting right to the discussion of transient matters

[cuddlefish]

I think there should be laws controlling how much money it costs for hapless consumers of games to get what they paid for. For instance, the theory goes that in official RO it takes about 3 months to get a normal character from level 1 to level 99, and that's with a bare minimum of sleeping/eating/bathing/defecating. You can't do it and have a job or anything that takes you away from the computer for more than a few hours every day. A person who plays maybe 10-15 hours a week is going to need more like a year or two for the same reward. That's like $300 in subscription fees, plus the cost of a computer, plus the cost of an internet connection, plus the cost of whatever junk you bought from the online store. This is me noticing that $400 is just a touch more than the $50 most people pay for a console game.

One might argue that it's okay because with online games, you don't pay as much per hour of entertainment. Tales of the Abyss cost about $60 when it came out, and if you played the whole game and did all the fun extra stuff you might spend 60 hours on it, but every one of those hours would be busy. Compare with an online game where you spend much, much more of your time killing the same monster over and over again and talking to your friends. There are lots of hours spent on RO, but everybody knows that 90% of them are in between "boring" and "fucking torture." Oh, and of course, when you turn off the computer and go do something that is not Gravity-provided entertainment, your subscription keeps ticking. You end up paying for nothing.

The final answer is to just quit playing until Gravity, or any other company that sells an online game, gets their shit together and starts selling a product that's worth the money consumers pay for it. We all need to get over our addictions and learn to turn off the MMO faucet for a while. But there's a problem with that---just withholding money and saying you won't play will never ever ever

ever

work. No. You can't get through like that. Not to mention it sucks to have to go through a divorce with a game like that, and be reminded that you don't really have any power at all in something that got your money, love, and devotion. (I'm not going to say it's just a game, and therefore nobody should be devoted to it. Games are made to be sexy, real, capable of evoking emotions, and fun. I'm attached? Yeah, no kidding.) Why can't I have more power over how I play a game? And I don't want the power to whisper in Namco's ear that Kyle is a fucking moron---no, wait, I really want that power! Let's change it :| Er, that they need to give Reala giant bazangas and an even more see-thru babydoll!!! Supposing that was what I wanted (and it isn't) other sensible people, like me, who find that revolting, would be displeased! I'm talking about rules and guidelines for all games, from which all sorts of gamers (consumers) would benefit.

Actually, I want rules governing how long it takes to "finish" a game, but that's at least as unlikely as the establishment of basic rules for how much someone can charge for a PC game sooo... (≡ー≡)

tl;dr the world will always take pleasure in taking money from geeks and it will never happen and I am immoral/stupid/entitled/addicted

Comments

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I was hoping you'd comment X3

I used Gravity as the company I mentioned the most here because I know the most about them and I've spent the most time with RO, but I really mean every company selling a game that only brings poor horsie to yummy carrot with a long and expensive wait.

My terrible affair with RO has partly been fueled by the opportunity to make my characters look different. I don't expect to take several months to change my clothes or hairstyle, so in fact I do use a private server where I don't have to grind for what I want. I'm very fond of it---I keep going back, so at least for me, what you say about games without a grind are the truth.

The only argument I would make for grinding is if the low levels are just as charming and fun as the endgame content. I find it bewitching that in RO you can play a female swordsman with a long skirt who lives off of potatoes and milk and goes on adventures to the Prontera sewers or where bunches of Yoyos live. (I fantasize about a server where nobody can go beyond the first class (’Д‘)

Private servers are nice, but they're not the final solution. I've never found a private server run by sensible or trustworthy people. If you don't you don't like something, you're generally expected to go to a different server. I've been on a server where the guy running it was a predator RL and just evil, and obviously I had to leave, but it meant that I lost everything I had there because someone was an asshole. I felt defeated. It sucked. At least in an official game, when an employee tempts a girl to have sex with him for in-game items, you get scandal, uproar, magazine articles, etc. On a private server if you get upset about losing something you get called a carebear and have to leave.

I have to say I'm not positive that government control of video games is the way to do things. When I wrote this entry, I kind of found myself wishing there was a better way. I think industry standards might be better. Also, let me say that I really despise the idea of taxing online game consumption like cigarettes or alcohol, but when I say that the world will always take pleasure in taking money from geeks...I mean that it's perfectly possible that someone in charge will decide that MMOs ought to be controlled by punishing the players. (It would be bad business to punish the companies for having a product everybody wants! Yes!)