Skate players were explicitly told map areas would not be “locked behind a paywall”

  • TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Following this period, all players can skate Grom from April 14 through May 5 […] But then, from May 5 through June 2, you’ll need to either buy Skate Pass Premium to enter Grom, or gain access by turning in 500 earnable Rip Chips for a 24-hour ticket that lets you skate in this area temporarily.

    Not only are they using microrranscations in a ‘new’ way, but they rely on fomo to call players in. “What if I miss on the period of free access? I better hurry” “Well what else can i do as a player?”

    It might be that i am playing nes games and having fun with them, but i personally think that a game that pulls this shit once can do it forever to keep me engaged against my common sense. If the conditions for the players are not fair, the smart move is not to play the game.

    Edit: if some of you want a modern looking game for the nes, try gravity armor metal storm by Irem. Arcade style, but it’s fairly advanced for being a classic 8-bit game. Maybe lesser known than the mabdatory contra rom / cartridge in the corner of your rom, but very good for modern players in particular.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      The fact anyone has bought any of their products in the last 15 years is why they can keep doing this stupid shit. Stupid things for stupid people.

  • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
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    16 hours ago

    Usual reminder:

    If you know a parent who is not an active gamer, remind them to never buy games for their kids that have microtransactions, passes, or any form of post-purchase payment. They often will have no idea what they are contributing to as it is not part of their ‘bubble’ to be aware of what these things do to their kids, their kids’ friends, and the industry and society as wholes.

  • peacefulpixel@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    i remember pointing out that this would happen in a couple places and ppl said i was just being negative. like a live service skate game is a dead in the water idea but ppl were so starved for skate content they just didn’t listen to sense. look where they are now

  • biggerbogboy@sh.itjust.works
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    23 hours ago

    Soooo, the metaverse paid plots? I swear, every company with even an inkling of a 3d environment now just wants to “build” and sell worthless plots as if it’s real land, and literally nobody who uses these actually fucking asked.

  • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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    21 hours ago

    Unrelated, but when did all Magazines start faking youtube thumbnails as the meta image…? I bet times are desperate, but I mean at what point do you understand that it’s all the deceit and desperation that drives literally everyone away to the media they imitate?

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      In this one case EA is to blame, but I do know what you mean. I think it’s just that YouTube videos have had a large impact on the form media takes, and that’s trickled out towards other forms.

  • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    We’re now expected to rent imaginary spaces for our characters to play the game we already purchased in?

    Is advocating people be burned at the stake against the ToS here? Because I’m advocating the fuck out of that.

    • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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      1 day ago

      Nobody purchased Skate, it is free to play.

      They just promised not to lock locations behind a paywall, which the executives decided to change.

    • Patrikvo@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      I see a clear correlation between the decline of tar-and-feathers and riding people out on a rail and the rise of terrible business practices.

      • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Yes. Remember when we burned people at the stake? Whatever happened to that? Just live stream a few billionaires and child rapists being slowly burned as an object lesson to the rest and I imagine things would change fairly quickly.

        • Patrikvo@lemmy.zip
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          5 hours ago

          Remember when we burned people at the stake? Whatever happened to that?

          Climate change and the rising cost of fuels is what happend.

          • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            Someone really needs to start an eco friendly, low carb, gluten free, vegan burning-at-the-stake materials company.

  • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    This is a great example for the moral justifications of piracy. The bytes for the maps are on your hard drive, why the fuck should you not be allowed to play on them? When someone playing a pirated copy has a better experience than someone on a bought licensed copy something’s not right.

  • wampus@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    People are still playing EA games after the take over by Saudis/Jared Kushner??? Sorry, I feel no empathy for these gamers.

  • audaxdreik@pawb.social
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    2 days ago

    My brain just shuts off when I read stuff like this.

    Man, I dunno. Fuck AAA gaming, I’ll go play something else.

      • audaxdreik@pawb.social
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        2 days ago

        Games are a modern media and I think suffer from a lot of modern engagement mechanics.

        We need to stop viewing them as a constant stream of “new content” and more as an established library.

        • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Absolutely the problem. They’ve stopped trying to make fun and started trying to exploit psychological weaknesses and hijack our internal reward systems to rinse us of both time and money.

          Fun is no longer the driving factor, and it makes me feel not quite angry or nauseous, but somewhere around those emotions.

          • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            They’ve stopped trying to make fun and started trying to exploit psychological weaknesses and hijack our internal reward systems to rinse us of both time and money

            Exactly, and the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was pro microtransactions really tells you the kind of scum we’re dealing with here

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I shifted to that view a long time ago. I have a selection of “classics” I play on rotation and I add a few indies or modern ports every now and then.

          The multiplay scene went in a direction I don’t intend to follow. Some old friends are thinking about hosting a retro lan party, but I’m going to make it clear that I’m walking if they try sneaking in any modern shit.

    • Strider@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      I still just buy games and play them.

      They’re just 99,99% not ‘triple A’ games but from developers or publishers who care about games.

    • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      In American-style neo-liberalism, everything must have a price tag. If it doesn’t generate a profit, it can’t exist.

      • rose56@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        Then people should stop buying, otherwise nothing will change. People complained about Nintendo switch 2, yet they bought it.

        • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          This is actually good advice… in isolation. Encouraging people to spend their money more wisely can bring awareness to an issue but it ultimately does little to implement change. Sure, you and I (and the Fediverse as a whole) might be hyper-vigilant about these kind of things but the average consumer isn’t. Continuing with your Nintendo example, Nintendo has decades of brand recognition and a zealous fanbase to satisfy the demand. An eager gaming press will gladly take free hardware from Nintendo for positive coverage.

          Real change won’t happen until the tap is turned off, so to speak. These companies are taking advantages of gaps in the law that permit them to get away with this. Antitrust law in the US dates back to a time when steam-powered trains were still common and the last breakup involved a telephone company. When AT&T was broken up, the home computer (desktop in modern parlance) was just starting to take off.

          So, yes, we should spend our money elsewhere when we see this kinds of corporate abuses but until you starve the beast, keep expecting these kinds of behaviors.

        • doublah@sopuli.xyz
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          1 day ago

          People aren’t playing or paying for stuff in Skate. The player count drop off has been substantial.

    • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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      2 days ago

      I understand the sentiment here but let’s note that you do not go buy Skate. because it’s free to play.

        • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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          22 hours ago

          Free to play games are similar to old shareware though… You get to play some of it for free then pay for the rest.

        • FryHyde@lemmy.zip
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          23 hours ago

          But… shareware was literally designed to paywall the majority of an application or game until you paid for it. It was a free shareable demo.