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

[xephyris.livejournal.com]

That's just inferior endgame design on RO's part. The MMORPG revenue generation model requires that their players have something to do for a long time, and in RO's case that is the grind.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Games like Team Fortress 2 don't have a grind, and people come back and keep playing. I have friends on my Steam list and we've all been playing since it launched a year and a half ago. The issue is actually designing something fun and non-repetitive that players can do forever. Pangya is the same way. Some guy made chess many centuries ago and look at how long people have been playing that.

But, the real crux of the issue here is: You like some parts of RO. It's got spirit! So it's difficult to speak with your wallet, but even then I don't think governing games is the solution. What to do... private ser(ry

[xephyris.livejournal.com]

I wrote a long response and then LJ ate it by saying no POST info or something so here's the TL;DR:

A lot of games are the same way as RO, even the much fabled WoW. It's just really well hidden.

Mythic tried to make a game where you played the endgame right from the start and the players still rushed to the end. Sometimes, it's not the game's fault, it's the people.

Private servers can be like that. I think this is part of the misery of the human condition (lol internet) and it makes me sad.

I also think the solution lies not just in communication between players and developers, but also have strong competition between not only the developers but the players as well. You should have to earn your privilege to play a good game. That'd weed out the trash both ways, don't you think?