WHY ARE FREE GAMES CRITICISED

[Agena_]

Hi i have a question, many practices in free-to-play games for earning revenue are heavily criticised

why is that?

what are some points

 

thanks in advance

[jaslion]

Making a game predatory so you spend money on it. Not exclusive to f2p games.

 

Basically comes down to testing the players willpower constantly by telling them you can just get this one items for cheap and it will make the game a lot better and more fun or locking things behind lootboxes and thus starting a gambling addiction for the player. It really just comes down to whittling the willpower down whilst staying fun enough and keeping the odds of getting the stuff you want low enough but reachable so that the player will spend their money. Then the stuff they spent their money on gives them a big positive impact so they will be more likely to do it again and again essentially spending a bunch of money on the game.

 

F2p games are notorious for this and very very few aren't made to get every last penny from a player.

[YoMz]

because of the argument of Pay To Win(P2W) versus Free To Play (F2P) users... that's all there is to it... people will find ways to complain about anything and everything (not just in games, but in life in general)

[Albert F]

Some people think its a scam or there has something to be at the middle. In all honesty I really like it when there are a few free games given as not only it helps the devs get out there but it can also lead to people buying the next game in the franchise and potentially getting a studio fan. This happened to me as when I got a game called "Deponia The Complete Journey" from humble bundle I ended up liking the franchise so much that I got the next game in the series. My top 2 favorite games I got for free because either some give away on Humble Bundle or Ubisoft.

[Twolf]

A lot of F2P games have some very predatory practices (locking a lot of honestly needed qol upgrades behind the paywall like inventory space, storage space etc), or the pay2win format where most the best items in the game are locked behind the paywall... some manage to slim it down to make it not quite as bad. Then there's the gacha systems which are a world of their own, and in most cases highly predatory and prone to triggering those gambling addictions mentioned above. Occasionally you find a few that while they might have a few quality of life upgrades locked to the paywall, they'll usually be a one time purchase (like once unlocked it's there forever)... others put a timer on it. Some just have mostly cosmetic items available otherwise to blow money on. But ya, the vast majority of them become overly predatory and are almost impossible to truly play 100% for free, at least with minimal frustrations.

[TetraSky]

It might be "free", but unless that free game truly is free without predatory freemium BS, it can and SHOULD be criticized.

 

Any games with a "gacha" or "lootbox" system, where you buy one or more different type of in game currency with real money in order to essentially gamble for the chance of getting an item, character or whatever else, should be criticized. As it encourage people with a gambling problem/addiction to spend more and more money.

Any games that purposefully limit the gameplay, either through arbitrary "cooldown" or "timers" that you need to wait for in order to progress... But lets you buy something with real money to skip it... Should be criticized. As it doesn't make the game enjoyable, it just encourage you to spend money to keep playing or wait hours (days even, in some cases). It's shitty behavior at best and predatory at worst.

 

I get it, they need to make money, but there are others ways other than nickels and dime people for every little things. Just charge a single base price or give the option to "unlock" the full game without constraint after a certain amount is spent. Instead, you can easily spend hundreds of dollars, way more than you would on any actual premium games that are truly worth the price, just for microtransaction stuff that really should've been part of the base package.

 

And don't even get me started on free games that push out ads after ads after ads after every single action you do. Oh you've done this task? Have a 30 second ad. Oh you've watched our ad? Have another ad. You can't even play the God damn game due to how many ads there are! Awful design choice.

 

All in all, the big issue I have with them, is that all these things don't contribute to the "fun factor" of a game. It detracts from it in a predatory manner, especially aimed at children with easy access to their parents credit card.

Things like cosmetics or whatever else, that doesn't affect the actual gameplay, doesn't give you an advantage over someone else who plays the game, those are the only acceptable microtransactions. But too few free games go that route. It's so much more tempting to just get impatient whales to "pay to skip the grind we've put in exactly to get people to skip it by paying for it"

 

Then there's "triple A" games that decided it would be a good idea to implement these kind of shit in their $70 games... All my hate. I sure as fuck ain't buying a single one of those games that have that crap in it.

[mahyar]

there is an old saying that goes a little something like this:

if you are not paying for something YOU ARE the product

[YoMz]

1 minute ago, mahyar said:

there is an old saying that goes a little something like this:

if you are not paying for something YOU ARE the product

F2P players will never realize this because they think playing games for free is a right and not a privilege

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, YoMz said:

F2P players will never realize this because they think playing games for free is a right and not a privilege

Well, an additional problem is that a massive amount of players of f2p games (especially mobile games) are children, and they just don't know the difference.

 

I was babysitting a child and we were just playing a little game I had made up, and I encouraged the kids to add their own rules. His sister thought of some interesting ideas, but his idea was "pay me 1 million robux and get the super ultra ninja that can't die" and it's clear that young gamers are seemingly quite well adjusted to the pay to win lifestyle, and they don't really know any better. A new generation of gamers growing up like that is just awful.

[LogicalDrm]

Same reason why Youtubers get constantly critized by fans for their ad spots, for them releasing exclusive content on paid platforms, for asking to like/subscribe/bell and so on. If you aren't paying for the big product, you are paying little things.

 

In games these started as ads and loot boxes. Then came boosters and life limits. Now its so much variation between from single skins to pretty much anything. The "hate" comes from the point where payment is required to get anything done. There's usually a line between well-made game where you don't need to spend any money, but start might be rough if you aren't into genre or good gamer in general. Or game is hard from start, shoving ads to your face and limiting your every action to the point where you either uninstall the game, or start paying to get your experience started.

 

I've played and dropped several such mobile games. The funniest of this in one game I got on Steam. It was originally mobile release, so the pay-to-play mechanics were still in there. But since I had paid price for it (something like €7 I think), I could skip them.

[mahyar]

Just now, YoMz said:

F2P players will never realize this because they think playing games for free is a right and not a privilege

well yeah the think of free as in free bear

not in the sense of free in freedom

those game publisher use this ignorante to their advantage

about a year and a half ago overwatch a formerly f2p game disabled all free accounts and the game now has a price of 20$

this might be a dick move from blizzard but at least they are not offending anyone's intelligence

 

[Middcore]

Are you looking for people to write a school essay for you?

[YoMz]

4 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Well, an additional problem is that a massive amount of players of f2p games (especially mobile games) are children, and they just don't know the difference.

 

I was babysitting a child and we were just playing a little game I had made up, and I encouraged the kids to add their own rules. His sister thought of some interesting ideas, but his idea was "pay me 1 million robux and get the super ultra ninja that can't die" and it's clear that young gamers are seemingly quite well adjusted to the pay to win lifestyle, and they don't really know any better. A new generation of gamers growing up like that is just awful.

if a child has access to credit card credentials of their parents then that is just bad parenting and not the fault of game publishers... there is a reason most payment options is locked with inputting personal details, because (1) they want your data, and (2) they want to make sure you are an adult that understands their "terms of service" for legal reasons... you should not excuse bad parenting at this point...

[Fasauceome]

Just now, YoMz said:

if a child has access to credit card credentials of their parents then that is just bad parenting and not the fault of game publishers... there is a reason most payment options is locked with inputting personal details, because (1) they want your data, and (2) they want to make sure you are an adult that understands their "terms of service" for legal reasons... you should not excuse bad parenting at this point...

I agree that parents should under no circumstances give their child credit card details.

 

I'm just saying it's tragically normalized for parents to give their kids whatever money they ask for in regards to pay to win games, or not notice if the child keeps spending money on the saved credit card credentials.

[YoMz]

4 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

I agree that parents should under no circumstances give their child credit card details.

 

I'm just saying it's tragically normalized for parents to give their kids whatever money they ask for in regards to pay to win games, or not notice if the child keeps spending money on the saved credit card credentials.

then isn't that just bad parenting and should not be blamed on publishers? there is a reason the "terms of service" for anything online is a long list of pages and pages of legal stuff, because they want to cover their bases... parents not covering their bases and not doing their due diligence when caring for a child is a crime in my country... having kids as having access to more money than they should before the legal age should be blamed on the parents and guardians and nobody else... 

 

edit: also, since the age of the internet back in the late 80s, parental control has been a thing because that is mandated by law and is a legal thing... it's been almost 30 years since the beginning of the internet age, and at this point if people don't know how to use it, then it is their sole responsibility... ignorance is never an excuse, and negligence should never be given a pass...

[Bitter]

Games that are really actually free are great!

Two of my favorites
http://endless-sky.github.io/

https://wz2100.net/

There's a lot more out there, some are actually pretty polished and good, some are a work in progress, and some are just like someone's school project run amok.

 

Free to play games...eh no just call it what it is which in my opinion is not free. I prefer to just buy a game and play it, not play a game and buy everything in it.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, YoMz said:

then isn't that just bad parenting and should not be blamed on publishers? there is a reason the "terms of service" for anything online is a long list of pages and pages of legal stuff, because they want to cover their bases... parents not covering their bases and not doing their due diligence when caring for a child is a crime in my country... having kids as having access to more money than they should before the legal age should be blamed on the parents and guardians and nobody else... 

Do you not believe that the game publishers want this to happen? The parents are the one at fault if the money goes to the developers, but the developers are the ones that intentionally designed the games to make the players (especially young, impressionable players) feel like they must pay money to advance in the game.

 

Look at clash of clans, for example. I haven't played in so many years, and the reason I stopped was because the speed of progression expanded to months unless I paid money. I essentially was not playing the game anymore, just waiting. Every single day the game would ping me for notifications asking for payment to speed up, and special bonuses.

 

It's great that you have the self control to resist these annoying messages, but plenty of gamers don't, and it's disingenuous to say these practices are not predatory, especially because of the real world effect that they have on children.

 

Again, NOT saying the parents are doing nothing wrong.

[Kilrah]

Just that they're built around predatory practices. Instead of asking $50 from people for a number of them to buy the game and play it as they want they'd rather attract much bigger amounts of players by making the game free most of which will spend nothing or little, but in the process also "catching" a few that their tactics will trick into paying way more than what a game would normally cost, potentially many hundreds of $. 

[YoMz]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

Do you not believe that the game publishers want this to happen? The parents are the one at fault if the money goes to the developers, but the developers are the ones that intentionally designed the games to make the players (especially young, impressionable players) feel like they must pay money to advance in the game.

 

Look at clash of clans, for example. I haven't played in so many years, and the reason I stopped was because the speed of progression expanded to months unless I paid money. I essentially was not playing the game anymore, just waiting. Every single day the game would ping me for notifications asking for payment to speed up, and special bonuses.

 

It's great that you have the self control to resist these annoying messages, but plenty of gamers don't, and it's disingenuous to say these practices are not predatory, especially because of the real world effect that they have on children.

 

Again, NOT saying the parents are doing nothing wrong.

if you know what "parental controls" are, then there should be no problem with kids trying to access things in your internet that they shouldn't access... like I said, don't blame bad parenting to the publishers...

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, YoMz said:

if you know what "parental controls" are, then there should be no problem with kids trying to access things in your internet that they shouldn't access... like I said, don't blame bad parenting to the publishers...

What did I just say?

 

IT IS BAD PARENTING

 

But also the developers are taking advantage in purpose. There are multiple parties at fault, do you not understand? Do you only believe that one person can be doing something wrong at a time?

 

It is predatory game design AND it is negligence from the parents. Both, not just one.

[Kilrah]

1 minute ago, YoMz said:

if you know what "parental controls" are, then there should be no problem with kids trying to access things in your internet that they shouldn't access... like I said, don't blame bad parenting to the publishers...

Kids are by far not the only ones to get tricked into paying unordinate amounts of money on F2P games. 

[Bitter]

Marketing to minors should be more closely controlled, games with shops, alcohol, tobacco, etc, children lack the same impulse control that adults have developed and the development of that impulse control can be stunted during growth by negative stimulus like buying crap in game shops, smoking, and drinking alcohol. These games ARE built to prey on those with poor impulse control, just like 'video games' at casinos are designed to do. At least at a casino there's a bouncer checking ID's.

[YoMz]

3 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

What did I just say?

 

IT IS BAD PARENTING

 

But also the developers are taking advantage in purpose. There are multiple parties at fault, do you not understand? Do you only believe that one person can be doing something wrong at a time?

 

It is predatory game design AND it is negligence from the parents. Both, not just one.

strictly because of the way you pay online, I can not blame developers... because before anyone can have access to the paywall, there are a good number of things that need to happen... let me enumerate them for your convenience...

 

- install the game (which is easy for kids to access unless the parents have used the "parental controls" I've been mentioning)
- register an account to the game (which requires age verification and signing up personal details)
- reach the paywall part of the game (which requires playing the game a significant amount of time)
- enter credentials for payment thru the paywall (which underage kids should never have access to in the first place)

so you see here, before kids can access the paywall (and I am oversimplifying a lot of things here) there are atleast 4 things that need to happen... so unless there was negligence on the parents part, the paywall should be only accessible to adults that understand the "terms of service" that every single installable application has because of "legal purposes"

you can blame the developers all you want, but the fact remains that there needs to be a number of steps taken before kids have access to the paywall...

gambling addiction is a thing, but barely any casino get sued, why do you think that is? because they cover their bases on legal stuff... the blame will always be on those that neglect to take steps to prevent addiction in the first place...

[Kilrah]

Regardless of this the developers fully know some people will not be careful as they should and on purpose decide to make use of that fact to benefit from it, and that's what's considered shady/unethical.

 

They know some people are "weak" when it comes to controlling their or their kids' spending, decide "that's great, let's trick them to make loads of cash", and then write legalese to exclude their repsonsibility in it...

[WereCatf]

13 minutes ago, YoMz said:

register an account to the game (which requires age verification and signing up personal details)

In many, many cases, all it takes is entering your email-address, with no further verification whatsoever.

14 minutes ago, YoMz said:

reach the paywall part of the game (which requires playing the game a significant amount of time)

Significant amount of time? No, that's a projection on  your part. There are plenty of games that start pushing for microtransactions within 10 minutes.

15 minutes ago, YoMz said:

enter credentials for payment thru the paywall (which underage kids should never have access to in the first place)

They obviously shouldn't be able to do that, but there are hundreds of stories that can be found with a simple Google-search where the kid stole their parents' credit-card and entered it in the game. There are actually games out there that show with clear, conscise, kid-friendly pictures how to enter the credentials there.