Mogstation taking another step to the darkside

[SamRF]

Players in general aren't that principled, if anything player behaviour has shown quite the opposite that there's almost none. Basically every major planned boycott by players due to company decisions gets ridiculed when the most fervent players ends up being the first to break from their supposed values.

If SE's sub went up to get rid of the cash shop you'd see far more people leave over the extra money, even if it's inconsequential- because regardless of what people signal regarding their feelings on MTs (and right now it's generally considered hip and progressive to hate it when companies make money of any kind), at the end of the day everyone's out for themselves and other people buying cash shop items to keep their own sub lower is always preferable.

It's a different story when the RNG elements of loot crates or the p2w aspects of the cash shop actually start to affect your in game content, but in this case that's not happening to anyone other than the few who both greatly want the new mount, and also greatly despise MTs.

I overall agree with what you're saying here.

I've mentioned in earlier post that players likely aren't ready to pay for higher sub despite inflation, which leads me to believe Cash Shop practices will only get more significan in the future. It's this standard of 15$/month since forever that I don't think any MMO would dare to question any time soon. WoW might have had the opportunity to set a new standard but they seem to have gone the Cash Shop route.

Personally I'd gladly pay more for sub if it meant no Cash Shop at all. It's out of principle and desire for greater sense of immersion in the game and also prevent potential slippery slope (I realize slippery slope might be fallacy, but it would still put my mind more at ease knowing it's out of the question).

However it's pretty likely I'm in minority with this opinion (for now at least) and there is no solid niche game at the moment that would satisfy this principle. Thus you make a good point imo.