Why do casual players seem entitled to cosmetic items added in game?

[Tyintheron]

Can't believe there are people now defending MTX in a subscription MMO as a preferred way of obtaining items as opposed to actually earning it in game. Good lord.

Maybe you guys should just bookmark playerauctions.com instead of the forums

I mean, you can ignore the actual, salient points about the amounts of time involved in doing these things in a video game vs the time a lot of people actually have to do them along with their real life responsibilities all you want, but it doesn't make those isses with the MMO genre any less real.

Nobody's "destroying vidja games." Everyone's doing the best they can to enjoy their hobby.

The logical end result of "hipster culture". Having the status symbols of a subculture, but just for fashion, not for the culture / status associated with it. You'd think that zombie graveyard of pay2win MMOs would serve as lesson of what not to encourage in a game that one likes, but alas, here we are.

"The culture"? Holy hell.

Look, man - I'm old. I've played about a billion video games. And until now I figured that playing video games for about 50 years (give or take) would have been enough to be a part of "the culture."

What I've discovered, however, is that what I've needed to do this whole time is to earn this specific haircut in this specific video game by beating my metaphorical head against a wall-slash-boss' fist 300 times, with each beat followed by someone telling me I suck, followed by getting kicked, followed by waiting an hour for the next attempt.

With all due respect, I'd rather not be part of that. I have better things to do with my time. Here's $10 for a haircut for my cat girl so I can bypass that. Please.

[Lilapop]

by beating my metaphorical head against a wall-slash-boss' fist 300 times, with each beat followed by someone telling me I suck, followed by getting kicked, followed by waiting an hour for the next attempt.

The other part of the "culture" that we all like to pretend isn't part of this game.

[AllenThyl]

I mean, you can ignore the actual, salient points about the amounts of time involved in doing these things in a video game vs the time a lot of people actually have to do them along with their real life responsibilities all you want, but it doesn't make those isses with the MMO genre any less real.

And you don't understand that the whole point of a game is playing the game. And that for this kind of game, a reward structure that is significantly based on people actually playing the game (and playing it well) is a major factor of the appeal in the first place. There are a lot of games that just let you buy the best gear / cosmetics with real life money, directly in the shop. They are all part of the "zombie graveyard of MMOs". Because they go fundamentally against what makes video games as a medium enjoyable for most people.

Nobody's "destroying vidja games." Everyone's doing the best they can to enjoy their hobby.

You don't follow any industry news, do you?

"The culture"? Holy hell.

Look, man - I'm old. I've played about a billion video games. And until now I figured that playing video games for about 50 years (give or take) would have been enough to be a part of "the culture."

What I've discovered, however, is that what I've needed to do this whole time is to earn this specific haircut in this specific video game by beating my metaphorical head against a wall-slash-boss' fist 300 times, with each beat followed by someone telling me I suck, followed by getting kicked, followed by waiting an hour for the next attempt.

With all due respect, I'd rather not be part of that. I have better things to do with my time. Here's $10 for a haircut for my cat girl so I can bypass that. Please.

Culture isn't a "being" thing, it is what is lived by people. The willingness of people to swipe their card for a "cute hairstyle for my catgirl" is the reason these kinds of things are put for sale in the first place. That's why cool mounts of even ingame bosses are put on the shop, instead of being rewards for the bosses themselves. And why there is no need for the developers to bother with good and regular releases, when the weekly fantasia addicts are pouring in enough money for no additional work on the developer's side. The end result is a worse product, in this case, this particular video game.

Further, you are not getting kicked out by faceless beings. There are human beings on the other end controlling these characters, and if you get such a krass display of hostility when doing harder content, then it's likely because you are actively prog lying, i.e. you broke the implicit social contract. You are being rude to everyone else, it's little surprise that you then find yourself on the receiving end of (ToS breaking) antagonism. For someone who emphasizes how old they are, you sure aren't wise.

[Exmo]

You don't follow any industry news, do you?

I'm curious as to who or what you're thinking is destroying the videogame industry, but given how your post was otherwise unnecessarily and weirdly hostile, I'm reluctant to ask.

[Tyintheron]

And you don't understand that the whole point of a game is playing the game.

Well this reply was a heck of a ride.

I understand what "the point of a game" is, I promise you.

You don't follow any industry news, do you?

You sure do seem to be making a lot of strangely aggressive assumptions.

Culture isn't a "being" thing, it is what is lived by people

Is putting things on sale to people who want said things and who have the money for said things bad? Do you also get angry at the people running the supermarket because they're selling milk to people who don't have the time to fully immerse themselves in dairy farm culture? How about people wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey when they weren't actually a member of the team?

The point of games is the nebulous "to have fun," and "fun" means different things to different people. For you it sounds as if it's maybe raiding to get BiS gear. But for some people it's going to be "my character looks cool." If I can get the fun I want out of a game I play for 5 extra bucks I have, who cares? You care? You probably shouldn't.

So when we get to the point of the conversation where "video game culture is lived in" and I'm buying my video game Mariah Carey Christmas outfit in Fortnite because I think it'll be hilarious and make my buddies laugh - what part of that is not "the culture"? Am I supposed to report my planned in-game purchases to some sort of Twitch channel arbitration committe beforehand so I know if it's culturally-approved? Will Ninja suddenly appear and remove my graphics card if I buy the wrong hat or something?

The end result is a worse product, in this case, this particular video game.

Look, bud, I don't know what to tell you - for some people dropping ten bucks to get the shape of their horns correct is the pinnacle of entertainment that they want this weekend. Agrily telling them how wrong they are to be having fun their way is never gonna go well.

Further, you are not getting kicked out by faceless beings.

I didn't say that was happening to me. But we all know it happens.

I once had a buddy in an MMO going off about his friend's wife as being "useless" and "an idiot" because she was messing up their progression by not gearing her stats right, and that was enough for me.

All she wanted to do was see the end of the story.

One of the people in that story was being a jerk. And I'll bet you and I would pick different people.

For someone who emphasizes how old they are, you sure aren't wise.

Joke's on you. I was voted "most likely to be wise" in all three of my repeating-my-last-year-of-high-school yearbooks.