#microtransaction

It's the 53rd time we've done this, and you're still here?! We love you! New Sony jobs for Australia, Nintendo coming good with their online, Devil May Cry 5 Micro Transactions and the demise of Telltale are just some of the things Dan and Ben chat about this episode, plus our most packed viewer question segment yet!!

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Remember Halo Reach? All those sweet customization options for your spartan? All those colors and armor permutations, and even visor colors? Armor effects? Remember how we unlocked all that sweet stuff?

BY PLAYING THE GAME.

You’d rank up as you played the game, with points awarded after various in-game activities, singleplayer AND multiplayer. The points were based on performance, so exceptionally skilled players would rank up faster than average or bad players, but everyone got to the same place eventually. With each new rank, new armour would become available for purchase with an in-game currency which you obtain in-game, and again, are awarded more based on performance, like kill multipliers and stuff.

There were no loot boxes. No random chance. Not eeven an option to buy cR with real money. You saw an item you wanted, you bought it with your cR if you were at a high enough rank to purchase it. Your insentive to keep working towards new ranks was that you could see armour in the list that was above your current rank, so even if you had the cR, you couldn’t buy it yet. And then you finally reached that rank and bought that sweet helmet you had your eye on. Then- HA HA! Fuck you, there’s an even COOLER helmet two ranks up, better save up your cR and keep playing, kid!

With this system, armour wasn’t just a fancy cosmetic, it was like a status symbol. You saw a dude with some high rank armour you knew he’d been playing this game for a long time, DEFINITELY had a lot more experience than you, and likely a bit more skill too. You saw a dude with some high rank armour, even tho it was purely cosmetic, you were slightly shook. But now? Someone with cool armour in a game like Destiny just got it with luck. It doesn’t mean anything. And its made worse by the fact that the only way you can get that piece of armour is the same way they did. With luck.

Luck isn’t rewarding, its not engaging in anyway. It never will be. I pop open an engram and get an exotic, I have a brief moment of “Oh neat”. Back in Halo reach, I’d play and play and play to get to a high enough rank and/or get enough cR to unlock that awesome piece of armour I had my eye on for days, sometimes weeks. It gave me something to work towards it gave me another reason to play the game, and when I finally did get that piece of armour, I was hyped about it for hours, and it was an acomplishment in more ways than one. 

See, because you got more cR for performing well in game, working towards that fancy armour also gave me a reason to try and do better in matchmaking. It gave me a reason to try and improve my skills. And you know what? It worked. I became a SCARY sniper in Halo reach. I was that prick you hated, picking you off out of your moving warthog from the other side of the map. And I got to that level because I improved my skills because I knew that performing better got me more points which got me towards my goal of that fancy armour faster. 

You could try and make the argument that this is still a thing. That, instead of working towards a specific item, you’re now working towards a lootbox. But here’s the thing about lootboxes... 

You don’t know what you’re going to get out of a lootbox. Its completely random. You’re not working towards anything but a chance to turn the crank on a gachapon machine, and in some cases, you’re puting your own damn coins into it. Only a complete idiot would try and argue that random chance is superior to a sure thing.

Back in the day, if you saw a cool piece of armour or a sweet weapon in a game like Halo, you’d have something to work towards. A specific goal. Now’days, if you see something you like in a game and you want it?

Good luck.

Bethesda Founder Believes Microtransactions are Important for Growth

The blunt of negativity that generated in the gaming industry this year has stemmed from microtransactions. More importantly, the gambling system that is loot boxes. The founder of Bethesda, Christopher Weaver, recently spoke with Glixel regarding this type of model. He shunned the premise behind “freemium” gaming.

Read more!