There is nothing wrong with instant gratification

[busta]

Modern mmos give every kid a trophy for participation. It doesn't matter if you suck. You don't have to work hard. It doesn't matter if you lost. Did you have fun? Here, have a trophy.

[Raiz_Cineris]

Modern mmos give every kid a trophy for participation. It doesn't matter if you suck. You don't have to work hard. It doesn't matter if you lost. Did you have fun? Here, have a trophy.

No, modern life is giving every kid a trophy for participation. Its the downfall of society as everyone is rewarded for doing nothing thus making nothing acceptable by economic standards.

[Hayward]

No, modern life is giving every kid a trophy for participation. Its the downfall of society as everyone is rewarded for doing nothing thus making nothing acceptable by economic standards.

Oh, for the days when kids were called losers if they struck out in Little League or threw a game-losing pick 6 in Pop Warner. Being berated by teammates built character and if they offed themselves, no big deal. The world's not built for losers, right?

See, I can throw out absurd arguments as well.

On topic, I don't think the thread starter was arguing against delayed gratification as much as arguing for some balance between instant and delayed gratification. If anything, FFXI showed that overly depending on delayed gratification can have negative effects as well (see: Mythic Weapon requirements, Voidwatch, Dynamis before it was opened up).

[Raiz_Cineris]

Oh, for the days when kids were called losers if they struck out in Little League or threw a game-losing pick 6 in Pop Warner. Being berated by teammates built character and if they offed themselves, no big deal. The world's not built for losers, right?.

Well yeah, ummm why would you want to grow up to be a loser? Unless you really just don't care to be exceptional in anything in life and are ok with being less than a productive member of society......... Not sure where your argument is going.

Regarding FFXI the game itself had major time sinks but people were revered for their accomplishments.

[Daragust]

On topic, I don't think the thread starter was arguing against delayed gratification as much as arguing for some balance between instant and delayed gratification.

But the point is, the game has plenty of instant gratification. You receive your class specific, iconic armor by 50. It looks good and has enough stats to do just about anything in the open world. I won't argue that some instant gratification is good. It peaks interest in what else could be out there. But complaining about the amount of work required to move forward is tantamount to saying "I got a free ride through college, now I expect someone to give me a job just because."


If an individual is given everything for free, it breeds both a sense of entitlement and a dependency on the system to continue to provide rewards with no effort. The combination of the two is a perfect storm that will destroy any development team attempting to provide for it.

In other words, when something is given easily or for no effort, it should feel like a treat, not something we expect to happen.