"Okay, so here's the thing..." (DLC)
Downloadable content has been a big part of gaming for a long time now. Downloadable content provides gamers a flow of extra content, and game-play well after the finished game has hit store shelves. But unfortunately, due to the rising price of game development, developers and game retailer have been forced to cut corners, screwing gamers out of a money and content with trivial, gimmicky pre-order incentives, day one DLC as well as on-disc DLC. DLC has become less about prolonging game play and more about leasing unfinished games.
The question of Downloadable Content is a complicated one at that. We as gamers look at gaming as a recreational activity, an art form, and a vessel for the future of story telling, but among all those things it is also a business, a very high risk one at that. During the first few months before a game is released, developers and retailers depend on game pre-order to to drive sales and provide sales data, which is where pre-order incentives come in. If all major retailers aren't provided with exclusive content for the game, they will not order a huge amount of copies. So in order for developers to keep making games, they need all the sales they can get, pre-order sales being the most important. However, a person willing to invest money into a game, that they simply can't wait until release to purchase, should not be forced to choose between what content they want available to them. A simple compromise to the problem of incentivize pre-order DLC is to simply make all content available for purchase a month after the game is released. That way, the devoted pre-order gamer is given the option to experience content, for a small fee, that would have otherwise been withheld based on which exclusive copy he/she had purchased, the developers pocket extra profit, and gamers who might have missed out by waiting till release, now have the option indulge, the same as those who had decided to pre-ordered.
Day one DLC and On-Disk DLC draw a very fine line when it comes to the question of digital property being the property of the buyer all the same. When some one pays for a game they expect to get the whole game, and shouldn't they? are they not entitle to the whole experience as opposed to a $60 chunk of it? The best way to combat the day one DLC and on-disk DLC scam is to simply stop buying games from companies that trim content from the final game only to re-sell it as "extra content." Developers and Retailers need to realize that it's at a greater loss to scam their fans, than it is release a finished copy game that includes all the content that was intended for release.
Downloadable content is a great way for both gamers and game developers to continue to do what they love. DLC allows the gamer a flow of game-play and content, and also allows profit for the developers to keep making content for us gamers. But its when game developers start locking gamers out of game content as opposed to allowing them extra content to prolong the experience, that's when the balance falls apart. Developers need to make money, but this dishonest content-throttle business plan many developers have adopted has left gamers feeling cheated. I believe DLC has so much potential for both the gamer and the game developer. it is my hope that future developers will take gamer's feelings into account and think twice before cheating gamers out content they rightfully deserve. Its hard to say where things will go. Will the market will find a way out of this rut of dishonesty? Will DLC loose all relevance as gaming moves away from physical media? One thing is certain. We'll just have to wait for the next expansion to find out.
-Brice