(Request) Preorder Bonus Items

[Bonbori]

Despite what modern day gamers think, pre-order bonuses have been around for products for decades. They're not inherently predatory.

They are. The normalisation of FOMO does not ethically validate it.

As far as I'm concerned, any incentives that prey on people's impatience/fear of missing out are a glaring indication that the publisher does not trust the product to sell on its own merits. If I worked on that product, I would find it a bit insulting, personally.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

They are. The normalisation of FOMO does not ethically validate it.

As far as I'm concerned, any incentives that prey on people's impatience/fear of missing out are a glaring indication that the publisher does not trust the product to sell on its own merits. If I worked on that product, I would find it a bit insulting, personally.

Or, hear me out, it's a bonus to those who have been playing the game. Chances are, the Preorder item isn't swaying you to continue playing xiv. Most people who are playing will end up getting the next expansion, so there isn't a reason not to Preorder.

They could just take them out of pre-orders and send them to everyone who's subbed in the 3 months before a launch, but people would complain about that too.

Preorder bonuses are more standard, so that's the method used.

[CazzT]

They are. The normalisation of FOMO does not ethically validate it.

As far as I'm concerned, any incentives that prey on people's impatience/fear of missing out are a glaring indication that the publisher does not trust the product to sell on its own merits. If I worked on that product, I would find it a bit insulting, personally.

I don't know what FOMO stands for.

Not all pre-orders "prey" on anyone's anything. They are just simply bonuses for people who already know they're going to be buying the product. In my case, with ShB, I knew I would be buying it. Knowing that, why would I not take advantage of some bonus loot at no extra cost? If the pre-order cost more, then I might consider taking the "predatory" accusation seriously. This is not a black and white thing.

EA is notorious for predatory behavior. Most of their pre-order things are predatory. But not everyone's is. Saying "all pre-orders are predatory" because some publishers are scummy trash is like saying "all hammers are dangerous" cuz some psycho used a hammer to assault people. It's how it's used.

I've found, over the years, that the people who use the blanket statement of pre-orders being bad, and the reasoning being that they're predatory, tend to be people who lack the self control to avoid being victims of said predatory practices.