mindbleach comments on Fortnite is getting a collaboration with a game made in Roblox, months after Epic boss Tim Sweeney referred to the rival platform as a force that could "grow and eat gaming"

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 1 point 2 months ago (8 children)

They are united in desperately wanting all video games to happen inside one video game. Even though that is, in technical terms, really fucking stupid.

The Metaverse was a joke Neal Stephenson told. A bunch of dorks who got rich did not get it, and now picture The Future™ involving one unified space where everything coexists aaand also they can own it. It'll work just like the internet doesn't. Their techno-overlord dream is slapfighting over a parody of CompuServe and charging the price of an actual t-shirt for a JPEG your character can wear.

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[–] Rose@lemmy.zip [S] 0 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Tim Sweeney's idea of item ownership persisting across games would imply people pay only once, which is a good thing. It's not exactly a novel concept because Valve and others have done it for a while, but what's new is Epic making it easier for Unreal Engine developers to incorporate those same assets into their games, as opposed to having to create them from scratch.

I don't know about other games, but Fortnite doesn't sell mere JPEGs or reskins. The different styles offered for an item are included in the base package. The models and their textures cost developer work hours, so they need to be paid, but Epic also essentially gives away its battle pass for free because after a few seasons of playing, you can have enough vbucks to pay for the premium path and get those vbucks back. That's multiple outfits, emotes and other items.

And lastly, IP collabs are fun. They're the reason people like me would check out a game I otherwise wouldn't. And making the likes of RoboCop dance is great!

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 1 point 2 months ago (6 children)

Nothing inside a video game should cost real money. The entire business model is an abuse - a deliberate confusion of value, in a manufactured environment. The fact playing more costs less is a giant red flag. Maximum revenue comes from habitual exposure to systems engineering to separate you from as much of your money as you will tolerate. What's offered is already on your hard drive so you can see other people have it and you don't. These permissions have zero marginal cost, and exist as a controlled alternative to when people would put Homer Simpson in Quake 3, for free, because it was funny.

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[–] Rose@lemmy.zip [S] 1 point 2 months ago (5 children)

The items wouldn't get made and end up on your hard drive if not for that revenue model though. One downside with mods is that other players typically don't see them, but a large part of the appeal of cosmetics (or achievements or profile customization on Steam for that matter) is that people get to show off what they like. A few days ago, someone added me in Fortnite just because we had the same emote. It's a common interest, which in Fortnite can point to music preferences, favorite films, anime, video games and so on.

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago* (4 children)

The items wouldn’t get made and end up on your hard drive if not for that revenue model though.

I just told you - people did this for free. For fun! Simply because it was interesting!

Your interest has been exploited for profit. It's leverage, to trick you into spending more than you would, if they sold games honestly as a product or a subscription service.

Which is why this abuse is in games that are full-priced products... or subscription services. This business model has spread into World Of Warcraft. It is the dominant strategy. If we allow it to continue, there will be nothing else. It's why there hasn't been a new GTA game in thirteen years. It's why the next one will inevitably develop an online hole you can throw unlimited money into.

This specific game is a billion-dollar drain on what could exist instead. Long-anticipated projects - entire beloved studios - have been shuttered, chasing the absurd money-for-nothing profit margins of "live service." It's the same lootbox pay-to-win gacha crap everybody finally grew disgusted with, barely disguised by saying "it's just cosmetic." It's pulling the same levers in your brain.

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[–] Rose@lemmy.zip [S] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

Mods are rarely as advanced as each season of Fortnite. And even then, the developers typically ask for donations for that, as seen with the multiplayer mod for Skyrim. Most would not have enough spare time on that unless they're still in college. Most games don't seem to get any mods, so your premise is true only for some lucky games like The Witcher 3 and the GTA series. And in every one of those games, you can only hope someone likes what you like enough to work to create that, and then others still don't see that interest, as explained in the other comment.

Your interest has been exploited for profit. It's leverage, to trick you into spending more than you would, if they sold games honestly as a product or a subscription service.

I haven't spent a penny on Fortnite but I have a huge number of items from every battle pass and more. As I was saying, it respects people's time spent playing and rewards dedicated players like me.

And to your other point, games like GTA V wouldn't be supported to this day if not for people's interest and spending.

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

And to your other point, games like GTA V wouldn’t be supported to this day if not for people’s interest and spending.

That's the problem.

Does that support mean there's a second island now? Was there even a proper DLC, like Lost & Damned, or Ballad Of Gay Tony? No! It's just the shark testicles or whatever, to spend on some overpowered you can grind for, or weapons that kinda ruined the PVP. The extra races were nice? But that's no substitute for how all of that money should have been going toward new games.

This business models destroys the incentive structure for anything else. Publishers want to pour everything into one massive gamble at a time, and either smother it dead after six months, or milk it forever and ever. They will straight-up erase the game you love, in order to force everyone to play another one, and pretend that's the free market at work. Did you like Overwatch? Tough shit! It doesn't exist anymore! They knew the community wouldn't jump ship from that wildly successful game, so they just deleted it, and installed its drastically different "sequel" in its place.

Why you liked the game does not matter to them. The only reason it exists is to drag people across those wallet-hooks. If you have genuinely never bought their made-up currency, they view you as a glorified bot to pad out the servers for the amusement of people who will.

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[–] Rose@lemmy.zip [S] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

Personally, yeah, I'd have preferred something like the GTA IV DLCs you mentioned even over the heists and story missions added to GTA Online post-launch, but maybe we're just living in the past, while games like GTA V and Fortnite continue to top all charts by revenue, so people seem to love what they have to offer. There's a strong leaning toward GaaS in the industry for that reason, but there are still plenty of old and new single-player games or old-school multiplayer games that would last a lifetime.

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 1 point 2 months ago*

'But it makes more money' is not a defense - it is, again, the problem.

This abuse is the dominant strategy. If we allow it to to continue... there will be nothing else. Only legislation will fix this. The entire business model has to go.

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