Commentary: Gamer's Choice

 

By Nydia Tungsten

Gaming companies have been going out of their way to really PISS OFF their customer base! Sony taking away physical media, and telling everyone they own nothing and Sony can take it away any time, be it games or movies YOU pay for. IF we don’t own it, it should be a hell of a lot cheaper, wouldn’t you agree?

THEN you have the game companies shoving their politics down our throats by creating games no one wants. A good example would be “Concord” it was pulled only two weeks after Sony launched it. (That and it was an obvious rip-off of “Overwatch” I mean if you're going to politicize a game, at least be original) And don’t even get me started on A.I. Dev’s trying to make money by doing nothing, letting A.I. do it all. Don’t get me wrong, A.I. in games CAN be useful if it is used to augment the game, not make the whole game. Devs are trying to use A.I. for the game and firing the creative teams that do the work, that brings the lore and gameplay together, the heart of the games…

That is the most famous of the recent game disasters.

 

And it doesn’t end there, you would think they would learn from that alone, but no, you have games forcing their ideology down our throats every time we turn around.

 

THEN we have the money grubbers that want you to “Pre order” Basically give them our money and get nothing until it is released. And when it IS released it may not even be the same game you thought you were getting.  BUT they promise you all these “goodies” if you give them your money…. That everyone else will have within a year by the way. And any of the goodies they were supposed to send you, may not even be what you were promised! (Yes we’re looking at you “Fallout 76”)

Lets not forget those poor players that “Pre-ordered” “ARK 2”. How many years ago was that announcement? And still NOTHING!

And let’s not forget the games with “Early Access” Basically we pay THEM for the right to work for them by finding all the bugs in it. Heaven forbid they release a completed game from the start!

AND charge us premium prices for games that:
Aren’t ours
Come with agendas we don’t want
Want us to pay for even when we cant play
Or have us work for them by testing their unfinished game (Then try and charge us again once it’s done)
IF they even put any work into the game they’re selling and not just throwing A.I. crap at us.
And after  ALL of that still charge us out the Wazoo for it.

I have said it before and I will say it again WE control how they treat us, but some many have forgotten. 
WE CONTROL THE MONEY! 

If we don’t like what a company is doing, stop buying ANYTHING from them,  *period*!

You might be saying “Oh but I won’t get the game I am looking forward to” You’re right, you may have to… (GASP) wait!

I am not going to “Pre-order” or “Early access” or  bow to someone else's agenda and dish out 80 to 100 bucks for the privilege!

So here are my recommendations to every gamer out there, get yourself an older game you enjoy that can sit on your system or you have the disks for. Grab your Cheetos and Monster drinks or whatever you like (Me? I like coffee and twinkies) and just enjoy them for a while, not by this crap they are offering and you will see, if we all do this those companies will turn around and start offering what WE, the ones paying for it, want. I already have my choices (Thank you steam) Skyrim, Fallout 4, ARK, Saints Row and a few others that I OWN and reside on my computer. 

So I have my plan in place. I hope more do it as well. As for YOU! 

Well, it is your choice, we still live where you can choose, it’s all up to you and what you choose. I can only hope you agree, but maybe you don’t agree at all and think I am full of crap. Let me know your views and thoughts on this, until then…

GOOD GAMING TO YOU!  

 

Nydia Tungsten

 

Commentary: Game Company GREED

 

From Nydia Tungsten,

 

In Alpha… In Beta… Early Access… Pre Orders…

ARE ALL SCAMS!!

When I first started gaming, Alpha and Beta stage games ...
They weren’t sold.

 In fact, they invited you to play their game and sometimes even paid you to do so. In exchange, you helped them by telling them about bugs and problems. When they were sure of their product, they released it to the public.

A great example of that would be Rust and ARK,
 

 When Rust first started it was another Zombie shooter, Zombie People, Bears, etc, etc. But now not only is it a PvP but no more Zombies, but scientists. And the BUGS… wow… Brandi and I made a base in a hidden hill, well the hill wasn’t so much hidden as missing, the ground was flat but the ground cover went up like a hill, we just walked through it and we were under cover. 

 

They didn’t even allow you to build your character,  you you had to play whatever the RNG put you in, they caught a lot of flack about that, but they just didn’t care and changed nothing and was in early access for years, The devs were just too lazy, for the simple fact, they could milk the money train even harder while doing nothing.

 

 Ark Survival Evolved was early access… again… for years, and in a constant flux of change, then started only listening to one faction of players, the PvP crowd, and started throwing changes based on those whims at everyone. Instead of just letting us make changes on our servers, they instituted game-wide changes whether you liked it or not. Like… you could no longer pick up players with your large fliers, you couldn’t make large boat builds, and you could no longer add to your flier's speed all because it made it harder for the PvP’ers, then we find out more about why, through the scandals of the dev’s tribe being spanked so they game banned the ones raiding them, not just server banned but GAME BANNED acting like little children not getting their way. All this time they were in early access, too lazy to really do anything. Even allowing the game players to design and make better maps than they did. 

 

Then the time finally came and they fully released the game! We were all thrilled! For about a year. Then we heard they were releasing a remake of our beloved game, which thrilled us even more! Then we were told we would have to pay in full for the new re-release. So a lot of us decided we would just keep playing the original game for a while, until we were told they were taking all of the servers offline and if we wanted to continue to play we would HAVE to pay for the new game and new servers. And don’t even get me started on ARK 2 which hasn’t started yet. Turns out they took all the money and invested it in a failed e-car. They let everyone else do the work and then collect the money for it.

Let’s not forget the disaster and steaming pile of crap that was “Fallout 76” and a great example of why “Pre-ordering”  ANY type of game.  Fallout 76 was hit by scandal after scandal as well as a buggy game! They were almost sued into oblivion, because of all the false promises and outright lies! And there wasn’t enough RAID in the world to tame the bugs in THAT game on day one. But so many pre-ordered it, and their money was gone, and unfortunately, that is the norm, not the exception. 

 

So if you see a game you want coming out and have the chance to pre-order it… DON’T!   just wait, let the fallout hit, and wait for it to calm down and to see what it looks like after it is fixed, WHEN it is fixed. Because once they have your money they aren’t going to give back willingly.

Don’t just take my word for it, two of our other writers, Bixyl Shuftan and Xymbers Slade/Aegis Hyena have touched on this subject before as well…
https://othergrids.blogspot.com/2016/09/no-mans-sky-game-under-investigation-by.html
https://othergrids.blogspot.com/2019/02/reader-submitted-game-review-no-mans-sky.html

 

I was going to end it here but then so much more hit the fan since I started this article.

“Concord” where do I start with THAT one, who do you blame? It was a hot pile of DEI (Didn’t earn it) garbage. Again the Dev’s (Under SBI influence) didn’t care about gamers or even games, they just wanted to push an agenda. It went out for preorder it got a few, then it was released, and it sold more, but it was out for only a week before it was shut down hard. They spent over $400 million creating a game with UGLY characters it was pretty much a rip-off of the many rip-offs of “Team Fortress” but they only made maybe $40 million. Yeah, PlayStation took a bath on that one. Just because they couldn’t stick to what they knew, making fun to play games and NOT indoctrination games
The best way you can influence the games made is with your wallet, I would urge all of you to stop pre-ordering, and just buy once it is out. Let the decent YouTubers get advanced copies and do play-throughs and form your opinion THEN decide if you want it. 

SBI tried so hard to get this shut down. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44858017-Sweet-Baby-Inc-detected/ Now you have to ask yourself “Why?” Why try and shut something down that shows your work unless you know it is wrong and you are ashamed of it?

Another site to help you is https://deidetected.com/games 

Let's get back to what's important with games… HAVING FUN!

Then we have pure scams, they create something pretty, take your money, and disappear without even making a finished game. And it is not as rare as one would think.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jopYqx4WKw&ab_channel=AsmongoldTV
 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsNsC9EMla0&ab_channel=LegacyKillaHD 

There are some good examples, AGAIN that could all be avoided but just being patient a few months, giving it a chance to be released, and working any bugs out before actually buying it.
Yeah, I get it, you want to be the first kid on the block to get one, but those days of getting something good straight away are over. 

Now, once you find a company doing it right like this one here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2827230/Wild_Assault/ 

They are in alpha right now, so you apply to play, and if you are lucky, you get in and play it, as they make notes as well as you. The reason you are there is to help them before it is fully released. I plan on getting that one, but I am not pre-ordering. 

Takes a deep breath and steps down from her soap box.

Sorry to preach, but let me end with this: Games should be an element of relaxation in your life, not a source of stress. So, let's all get back to what games should be: enjoyable.  

So, until next time GOOD GAMING TO YOU! 

Nydia Tungsten

 

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