I’m having mixed feelings about gaming right now.
I’m a 90s kid and I’ve had almost every Console you can think of since the 90s.  and I can appreciate visually how amazing gaming has become. But I just can’t shake this this eerie feeling of not wanting to play as much as I did when I was a kid. I understand that I’m older now I have a job I have a girl I have responsibilities outside of gaming but when I do sit in game 4 to 3 hours in a day I’m not getting that fun that I used to when I was a kid.
And I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I believe I’ve come to a conclusion for why I feel this way. I believe the main source of this boring energy I’m getting from gaming is because of microtransactions. and I don’t mind paying for deluxe content or like expansion packs but I have a issue with paying $60 for 20% of a video game.
For an example look at Call of duty. Yeah over the years there have been things in the game that were broken and needed to be fixed and/or balanced but I feel that they was an actual reward for playing the game. I remember where if you had a certain skin, emblem, or calling card it was a symbol to the community that you really put in work to achieve this. but now it feels like to get the unique calling cards skins etc. you have to drop $5, $10, $20 etc. I know some people will probably say, “Well you don’t have to buy the extra cosmetics that’s in the game.” But the story, cosmetics, and theme of the game is the reason why we purchased our games. There was a time where completing hard challenges, unlocking hidden skins, and discovering new parts of a maps was the main factor in your gaming experience.
Another thing that I’ve noticed when it comes to microtransactions the practice of paying to win. take mobile games for example you would have to out scale your friends to show them you were better than him at these mobile games. But that quickly took a turn for the worse when things you will have to probably wait a period of time before you got this item or you have to complete certain challenges to receive an item you didn’t have to do that anymore all you had to do was pay $.25 or pay $2 and BOOM there you go. You have the item that you would’ve had to put in that work or the hours to receive. and he didn’t stop in mobile games he transferred to Consol games I think of Destiny when you play crucible in Destiny you will get destroyed by certain weapons and you would think, “Oh I have to go search for these items!” Then you realize no I have to buy the expansion pack and then complete missions and then hope RNG is on my side.
Now let’s discuss loot boxes, loot chest, loot crate etc. to me they are the biggest scams that I have ever seen in gaming. The idea that I will play a game for 40 45 minutes to earn one chest and hope that I don’t get duplicates of an item. Just understanding that there is a possibility of me getting an item I already own is ridiculous. It’s literally just gambling in disguise. Then gaming companies have the audacity to allow you to purchase loot chest, loot box, or loot crates if you don’t want to waste time and earn them. I honestly hope that in the future companies completely ditched the idea as a whole.
The last thing I want to mention is the effect it has on the balancing of these games. Since these games have multiple streams within itself to earn money they now have to lure new players in so they can spend more money. That then leads to unbalanced guns, overpowered abilities, and scenarios where you should normally win let’s use a gun fight (in a FPS for example) you’ll lose because someone just pressed a button and the ability did the work for them. Overwatch in my few years of playing the game mimics this perfectly. The characters that take planning in skill to actually be affective and good with them don’t have the same value as the characters they take little to no skill to use them. Moria , a character from Overwatch, has the ability to drain your health without actually aiming at you. She also has an ability where she can throw a damage orb or a healing orb. The issue with the damage orb is it can bounce off of surfaces and literally tickle you to death. She also has an ability that allows her to race away from any damage or any cc (crowd control) that would keep her in one place. now compared to a character like Genji you actually have to have skill to play Genji. You would have to set up before diving onto your opponent to try to get a kill in time your cool downs so you will be able to escape with your life. Genji has an ability where he can deflect damage but he can’t deflect everything such as beams, melee attacks, a giant rock lol. He also has a dash tag that he can use to engage or disengage with his opponents. He has a passive ability that allows him to climb walls for a short period of time. He is also a projectile hero and not a hit scan so for him to hit an opponent he actually has to predict and aim where the opponent will be. Yes Genji has abilities that can get him out of the danger but the difference between him and Moria is he has to actually know how to use them in the correct way or they are irrelevant. How does this relate to the statement at the beginning of this paragraph? Simple companies are making games way easier for worse players so they can compete and have a chance of winning against a player that’s just better than them. That also has introduce skill based matchmaking which is annoying for average or better players because now your games are filled with players that are trying their hardest every single game. now the bad players are protected and they’re playing against people the same skill level as them and they’re not improving whatsoever. And then tricks the newer player into thinking that they may be good at the game now they go buy a battle pass a loot box a weapon skin and now they have invested even more money into a game which then makes it harder for them to stop playing.
I could continue but these are just a few things that crossed my mind while I’m playing and I believe explains why my experience while gaming hasn’t been as great as it used to be. Yes I do believe that games are visually becoming better in game mechanics are becoming better but the standard of the game the ethics of the game has started slowly declining. I would love to hear your response your views whether they’re the same as mine or different please any feedback is welcome.
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