Who Killed Videogames? [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

jjp9999 writes "Video game developer and novelist Tim Rogers exposes the underbelly of free-to-play games that use real-world currency. They're not trying to entertain you — they're trying to get you hooked. Every minute you play is being analyzed by men in suits reeling you into a cycle of addiction so they can keep you coming for more, and hopefully opening your wallet to buy premium points here and there. To do this, they intentionally give you an hour's worth of gameplay dragged out over the course of a week to keep it on your mind, dropping coins here and there for you to pick up, and playing on your own sense of work and profit to keep you coming back."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.






More...

[Poofta!]

i have noticed this trend and it is downright soul crushing. A lot of promising and interestingly concepted games on android (and i assume iOS) are like this. i find it so depressing that companies would rather create shit clones of a shit game like farmville instead of even porting old games.

My cellphone is as powerful as my PC from 10 years ago, theres no reason why they cant start porting or expanding classic franchises. i would kill for Jagged Alliance or Fallout or any Bullfrog game on my cellphone.

[Gameguy]

They're not trying to entertain you; they're trying to get you hooked. Every minute you play is being analyzed by men in suits reeling you into a cycle of addiction so they can keep you coming for more, and hopefully opening your wallet....

Unlike every arcade game ever made.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Hokum

OMG, somebody is monitoring preferences to tool a service toward user desires!

Seriously,

[BydoEmpire]

Unlike every arcade game ever made.

I hear this analogy a lot, and while there are some similarities, there are some really big differences between classic arcade games and freemium/social games. The whole philosophy of their design is different, and the model of their business is different.

In the heyday of arcades (before, say 1985), games were made to be good games FIRST. They were designed to make money and keep players coming back, but you could play for 24 hours if you were a great player. Later games simply made this impossible. As the business got more sophisticated, they removed a critical element from the design of the games - the ability for a great player to get 'just one more level.' This also lines up withe gradual fall of arcades. Not a coincidence in my opinion.

Facebook and freemium games are designed to be an economy FIRST, and good games... well... somewhere else down the line. The game is created soley as a way to get a stream of money, with hopefully something entertaining wrapped around it. This is NOT the way classic arcade games were made. Those games were created to be fun and addicting, and because they were fun, they would make money.

[calthaer]

I really do hate this micro-transaction BS. The social network games the article describes are bad, and silly, but the real problem - as others have mentioned - is when "real" games start to buy into this model, and you can't have horse armor or some other thing in Oblivion without shelling out an extra $5.

It used to be that expansion packs would come out, cost $20-30, and offer a whole raft of improvements - new units, new levels, new content to enjoy. Nowadays, they just put out a different hat you can wear and expect you to shell out $5 to wear a silly hat while playing the content they already gave you. Pathetic.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I think the more important question is:

Who Shot Johnny Rock?

[Emperor Megas]

Is it safe to say at this point that "Horse Armour" has cemented it's place into the annals of gaming history, forever?

[Gameguy]

I hear this analogy a lot, and while there are some similarities, there are some really big differences between classic arcade games and freemium/social games. The whole philosophy of their design is different, and the model of their business is different.

In the heyday of arcades (before, say 1985), games were made to be good games FIRST. They were designed to make money and keep players coming back, but you could play for 24 hours if you were a great player. Later games simply made this impossible. As the business got more sophisticated, they removed a critical element from the design of the games - the ability for a great player to get 'just one more level.' This also lines up withe gradual fall of arcades. Not a coincidence in my opinion.

Facebook and freemium games are designed to be an economy FIRST, and good games... well... somewhere else down the line. The game is created soley as a way to get a stream of money, with hopefully something entertaining wrapped around it. This is NOT the way classic arcade games were made. Those games were created to be fun and addicting, and because they were fun, they would make money.

I remember games like Double Dragon 3 where you had to buy power-ups using actual money, that was just annoying. I know not all arcade games are that greedy for your money, but that's basically how they're all designed. They have to be fun so you'll like playing it, but they choose how difficult the game will be to make it balanced. Not too difficult so you'll hate it, but not too easy that you'll be playing it for hours without paying more cash. There's always a few guys good enough to keep playing it on the first credit, but most players won't be that good.

Of course the business model is a bit different now as there's no coinbox on PCs or consoles, but the basic idea is the same. Get people to keep paying for a game instead of just paying once. An MMORPG is the same kind of thing, I pretty much avoid these types of games where there is no end yet you keep having to pay money to play it.

My main point was that this new type of business model isn't completely new, games have always been about making money. That's why arcade owners paid hundreds or thousands for machines, they wanted to make money from them.

And for fun there's this;
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81302474/

[Icarus Moonsight]

C'mon now. If you are going to be an irrational alarmist hack, there are much bigger fish to fry than this measly nuisance. Don't alarmist hacks even have priorities anymore? Oh wait... Nevermind.

I'm going to send the following to Yahoo! News for publication. They don't have standards, so it's a perfect match.

Addiction, addiction everywhere!
Three things you and everyone you know is addicted to, right now, backed by factual data.

I wanted to know who is responsible for our ceaseless addiction to oxygen, food and water... I mean, I never asked for this burden! Did you? Of course not. Obviously, we've been set up by some crafty-BAMFs that hate us all. Let's go down the rabbit hole...

Stop eating food long enough, and you'll have a seizure. That's how addicting it is. You can't even function without any of these substances for long. Worse still, their supply is finite! Typical greedy capitalist ploy there. Grocers, oxygen tanks, and bottled water? We're on to your fascist plan greedy pigs! And we're not going to take it anymore.

Take any person on the planet, and every single one of them who will be alive a month from now have a 100% usage rate of all three highly addictive substances. It's downright diabolical. This tyranny must end.

Solutions? A simple three point plan. Like 9-9-9, but far less tragic. Just say no to food, ban dihydrogen monoxide, and set the atmosphere on fire. Someone must act quickly to save us all, or we all might live. Imagine how horrible that would be.

Stu Pidass Kant

Remember, only you can end female suffrage. Fight the power!

[calthaer]

Is it safe to say at this point that "Horse Armour" has cemented it's place into the annals of gaming history, forever?

Read the following developer interview today, and thought to myself: "Yes, yes it is safe to say that..."

"I don’t like what DLC implies, like you pay $5 for horse armour — there’s no value there, just a money grab."

[j_factor]

Tim Rogers

'nuff said.

[exit]

Was it the radio star? I hear they've been looking for blood since 1981.

[Nz17]

Was it the radio star? I hear they've been looking for blood since 1981.

I don't know - I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the videogames.