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Why are not more gamers speaking out about F2P scamming companies.
Kiyoris
Member RarePosts: 2,130
Hiya!
So I feel people get scammed in F2P. F2P MMO use lots of ways to entice people to spend money in very dishonest ways.
At the start of the game, the items are usually not that powerful.
After a few weeks they add more and more powerful items, to the point that if you don't pay money, you fall behind your friends, or have difficulty doing the content, and to have fun in the game, you are required to give the company money.
That is a scam. It is a form of nickel and diming that Apple got into legal trouble with and they had to pay back the money for nickel and diming people with cash shop games.
Why are not more GAMERS speaking up AGAINST this. This is not honest towards players, it's a form of casino play, companies are taking advantage of players and using addictive games to nickel and dime money from them.
There is a reason online casino play is illegal in many nations. It is a dishonest way to rip people from their money through addiction. MMO are not different.
Join me in denouncing this sort of practice so the developers are forced to treat players correctly!
Final Fantasy XIV has shown that you do not need to scam players to make an MMO.
It is time players demand this nickel and diming scheme to stop, just like people demanded from Apple's app store.
Comments
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Good question, I think it started with Vindictus where I saw the technique at play, the content got increasingly harder and the requirements to join raids basically forced you to spend real life money, an endless money sink where you enchant items, only to lose them by chance when they break, a never ending casino type gameplay where chance is never on your side and players are spending thousands of dollars through addiction to the process.
It is sad that I am seeing this again in Archeage.
Now that I play FFXIV, I see that scamming people does not need to be part of the game.
Have you seen how viciously games are defended sometimes on this forum? Check out all of the "ArcheAge is just paying 4 progression" threads.
Sane players don't play pay2win mmos and the rest either doesn't care or actually wants to pay2win.
I really don't think it can be called scamming, sure It's shitty business practice, but i can't see it being illegal, the only way to prevent these systems is to not support them, and with these games surviving people apparently are.
I'd love to know why as well, absolutely boggles my mind
I am not going to say I like F2P better, but there are advantages to this model. For instance, the try before you buy aspect. As well as the accessibility, you don't need to re-sub just to login.
F2P can be done horribly wrong, ex: Vindictus or Lotro with best in slot gear in cash shop or significant paywalls.
Mediocre: Archeage - its P2W if you spend lots of real money and time in the game.
Fair and fun: Rift & Tera - good gear is in cash shop, but it's not best in slot and it is expensive.
Generous: Aion - only cosmetics and small boosts are available in cash shop.
B2P with cosmetic is another great option assuming the character models and outfits are well designed.
However, I have regretted the $50 I spent for Guild Wars 2, ESO, Wildstar, and Warlords. So there is buy to play models that made me feel scammed. Because I couldn't try before buying. ESO not as much, as it does seem they are working hard to improve the aspects I didn't appreciate about it.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
I feel you with Guild Wars 2. The only way to "test" the game was to preorder it (very costly) before launch. Very little actual gameplay was available and I was very stumped by the actual game and regretted my purchase immediately.
Both Wildstar and ESO had easily accessible beta tests (which function as demos nowadays).
With Warlords you're pretty know what you're getting into after 10 years of WoW. Even then, Blizzard does offer refunds in the first 30 days or so.
Because you live with a generation thats been taught that everyone is a special snowflake and they are entitled to everything for free.
OMGZOR that came cost 100 million dollars to make but i'm not paying a sub!
I don't include betas because they are "supposedly" not the finished product, not a legitimate demo either especially if you are just hearing about the game or taking a chance getting into it late in the game. You can read reviews but reviews are subjective and may not reflect the latest content, patch, or expansion.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
I don't see a point to speaking up against it here really but I will acknowledge it and do so in this thread. A sub based system is fairer, no doubt. Unfortunately greed is what drives the world not the desire to provide fairness. F2P appears more profitable in the current climate than P2P. Not all free to play games try to nickle and dime you but there are too many that do.
Unfortunately some people are under the spell that companies can do whatever they like to make a buck and anyone who thinks they have rights as a consumer is a "special little snow flake" or "self entitled". I remember seeing this debate on these forums when the EU started looking into regulating F2P games and apps. The conversation was just sad hence the reason I don't really see a point arguing about it here.
People like to take all sorts of harmful drugs too but that doesn't make it okay to exploit it for a buck.
I like to MinMax my builds. I like to be optimal. But, what does that have to do with P2W?
Most all games have some type of way to nickel and dimming people, as now FF14 is good, not nickel and dimming people so far what I seen as long they keep it that way never can tell later on thing do change, and wow find a way to nickel and dime people when it's sub and other mmo as well.
Very hard to stop a practice when bring them tons of money, that you beats on it's legs, and can't stay up anymore after they crush it's legs of that game.
F2P games are mostly crap, but nobody is forcing you to spend money.
The guys saying they got scammed by having to buy Guild Wars 2 and others are just crazy. If spending $50 on a game that could be thousands of hours of entertainment is too much money, I would suggest a better job. I played GW2 for free during beta.
Players do speak out about F2P cash shop nonsense, but it doesn't get anywhere when other people are more than willing to pay lots of money to be good in a game.
I actually thought this thread was going to be a joke, but you are serious...dude, no one made you play any game...no gun was held to your head making you play a f2p game. It's just a different method of sub, don't like it...don't play f2p...there goes the scam...
Incognito
www.incognito-gaming.us
"You're either with us or against us"
It reminds me a little of the stories I heard about how the tobacco companies used to give people free cigarettes. It didn't cost the consumers anything at first but soon enough they would be addicted and paying for plenty of them. It's misleading for the most part to call it free to play when it so often clearly isn't.
Some are worse than others but some of these games and apps lock you out of content after a tiny taste and make things intentionally frustrating all the time while letting you know if you drop some money it won't be like that. I think they could negate this somewhat if they stopped marketing their games as free to play and started calling them free to trial or something along those lines.