I feel so out of touch these days, since I just can't stand most free games as a user because they either break the immersion with stupid "sharing" popups (Facebook games) or discriminate users based on their spending (most free-to-play (F2P) and Facebook games). Nowadays with downloadable game demos available for most titles, it's pretty easy to avoid mistakenly purchasing the wrong game, at least on current consoles such as the Xbox360. Am I the only person here who'd rather spend 50 bucks upfront with the guaranty of a good experience?
I am not against the idea of F2P and I know there are a few good examples like League of Legends, where payments add convenience without over-empowering heavy spenders and giving a lot of importance to pure skill, but when you look at most Facebook games, it's just money=power, with almost no importance given to skill.
Besides, these games usually misuse Facebook to spam unwilling users with game-related notifications.
I used to play some Zynga games for the sake of "gaming culture", but now every time I pick one of these, even their latest attempts at non-farming titles (namely Adventure World) I have some sort of allergic reaction and can't play them for more than 5 minutes. There's not always a necessity to spend cash to have things done, but if you want to have things done for free, you have to "ask you friends". Sorry but I have 300 or so people in my "friends" list, and you want me to scroll through that list and pick 10 people who might help me by sending me some required material so that I can finally build a hospital in a freaking social sim.
I am 27 and I feel like a grandpa already, ranting about changes and cherishing the good ol' days. But let me tell you something, Freemium developers: I bought the first xbox because of Halo. I went on to buy Halo2, 3, ODST, Reach + a few DLC map packs. I bought Forza 2, 3 and now enjoying Forza 4. Same for the Gears series. On the other hand, I played Farmville (past level 10 maybe), CityVille (past level 25), a handful other social network games, and I am level 62 at Zuma Blitz (the only FB game I play regularly, because it is actually a game and it plays well in a browser).
I bought all the console games brand new, and didn't spend a cent on the social games. Why? because I don't feel they are worth it. I am sorry, I know there are brilliant and great people behind many of these games, but every time I play one of those, I pause and think of how my time on this Earth is limited (thanks Steve Jobs for this one :) and how I should spend it on meaningful games rather than soulless time (and money) sinks.
I have never been so happy to spend hard-earned cash on premium titles as I am these days. Save the premium games! :)
I am not against the idea of F2P and I know there are a few good examples like League of Legends, where payments add convenience without over-empowering heavy spenders and giving a lot of importance to pure skill, but when you look at most Facebook games, it's just money=power, with almost no importance given to skill.
Besides, these games usually misuse Facebook to spam unwilling users with game-related notifications.
I used to play some Zynga games for the sake of "gaming culture", but now every time I pick one of these, even their latest attempts at non-farming titles (namely Adventure World) I have some sort of allergic reaction and can't play them for more than 5 minutes. There's not always a necessity to spend cash to have things done, but if you want to have things done for free, you have to "ask you friends". Sorry but I have 300 or so people in my "friends" list, and you want me to scroll through that list and pick 10 people who might help me by sending me some required material so that I can finally build a hospital in a freaking social sim.
I am 27 and I feel like a grandpa already, ranting about changes and cherishing the good ol' days. But let me tell you something, Freemium developers: I bought the first xbox because of Halo. I went on to buy Halo2, 3, ODST, Reach + a few DLC map packs. I bought Forza 2, 3 and now enjoying Forza 4. Same for the Gears series. On the other hand, I played Farmville (past level 10 maybe), CityVille (past level 25), a handful other social network games, and I am level 62 at Zuma Blitz (the only FB game I play regularly, because it is actually a game and it plays well in a browser).
I bought all the console games brand new, and didn't spend a cent on the social games. Why? because I don't feel they are worth it. I am sorry, I know there are brilliant and great people behind many of these games, but every time I play one of those, I pause and think of how my time on this Earth is limited (thanks Steve Jobs for this one :) and how I should spend it on meaningful games rather than soulless time (and money) sinks.
I have never been so happy to spend hard-earned cash on premium titles as I am these days. Save the premium games! :)
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