After playing World of Warcraft for 15 years, I started becoming increasingly bored and disgruntled with the game. The game being grindy and repetitive is no real surprise, I mean it’s an MMO. But the one thing that was really frustrating was paying monthly for a subscription and a huge chunk of cash for an expansion, but still having extra stuff flashed in my face all the time that was simply not possible to earn in-game. Mount skins, cosmetics, miscellaneous stuff that is only available in the Blizzard store. They also began adding loyalty items that require being subscribed every single month, and doing repetitive, extremely boring stuff on top of the other repetitive boring stuff, so basically double dipping on your grind, which really isn’t fun.
Aside from that, I also played other games that required a heavy amount of grinding too, and each one of them had similarly frustrating elements. Destiny 2, overwatch, Battlefield, Fortnite, Halo, and the list goes on. Each of them has the same issue: fear of missing out. FOMO basically makes it so that if you don’t seize the opportunity to spend real life money, you will never be able to obtain something really cool, because it’s only there for a short time, and then it’s gone, and you are made to feel guilty and bad about it. It’s just kind of depressing playing kind of games and realizing that you are now mentally dependent on financial transactions in order to get the full enjoyment of the game. That to me is a very very awful way to live life, and it really messes with your emotions
So I ditched every game that had any element of an in-game purchase. This is honestly helped my mental health a huge, huge amount. Now, I only play games that either have no microtransactions in them at all, or are completely free and 100% possible to play with no purchase required at all. So games like team fortress, deadlocked, Stardew Valley, and many other indie games that you can purchase and then never have to worry about getting suckered into the microtransaction cycle for
Yeah I agree with you here. A lot of Trackmania players are annoyed by Trackmania’s $20 a year subscription and have called to make it F2P with cosmetic microtransactions, but I’m pretty happy that hasn’t happened. There isn’t even any DLC. It is really nice to see not have to see ads to pay more money for stuff.
Just ditch the idea that you need any of those things. You don’t. From a personal gaming perspective, these have been great for me because I get to play all of these games for free because other people are paying for it for me.
I understand the joy comes from playing the game itself, not the loot.
This is a life lesson as well. You don’t need any of the flashy shit. Trying to avoid it is a losing battle, better to just understand it.
I play a lot of deadlock right now and i think it’s fantastic. But even if it’s like in early alpha, i already miss the base designs, because i assume it’s gonna turn into a tf2/call of duty nightmare, once the looboxes are in.
yeah I never understood the point and unlocking loot boxes that are just having some skin in them. I’ve never once done it. i bought a skin once for fortnite cuz it’s a free game and okay I guess. that was my $1 donation to the publishers
I’m able to keep these games around because I’m pretty good at ignoring FOMO and microtransactions. I don’t need everything. One fun skin that I like when I’ve already enjoyed the game more than I’ve paid? I’ll consider it. But I don’t need everything from events - sometimes they’re just a good reason to play it together with friends at that time, like when the carnival is in town.
Still, there’s enough games out there that no one really needs to consider those types of baited experiences, especially if you know you’re susceptible.
Except for like 3 helm pieces which they released like 15 years ago and have since made available through others means, there’s literally nothing beyond a few mounts and pets. So your whole “mounts, cosmetics, miscellaneous” thing is very misleading. Other than that, I agree with you and I’m glad you’ve managed to get away. Kudos.
Edit: seems I missed a few of sets that they released in the last 4 years. 5 of them to be precise. And a pair of wings and a helm piece. Some of which were given for free to subscribers before being put on the store.
Why are you blatantly lying like this? you get paid by Blizzard? There are tons of cosmetics you can not get in the game unless you pay big money for them. They are releasing a new cosmetic set basically every month now that you have to buy from the shop and are available to any character, class, armor type which is pretty game breaking in my opinion. One of the restrictions in game in World of Warcraft is that you cannot transmog or apply a cosmetics to anything that is not your matching race or class. You can get around that by paying real life money, which is stupid. In addition to that, there’s a lot of trading card items that go for hundreds or thousands of dollars on eBay, as well as BlizzCon codes that people continuously sell or you can get them yourself by paying several hundred dollars for a ticket each time it comes up. Of course all of these facts don’t coincide with your agenda that you clearly have. If you are okay with all this, then that is fine by me, I personally don’t like it and don’t want to support it. That’s my freedom and I don’t know why it bothers you
I checked the site before posting just to make sure because I didn’t wanna post BS, but it seems I missed a couple of things. I apologize, they also released 6 cosmetic sets in the last 4 years, an extra helm and a pair of wings. Some of which they simply gave for free to subscribers before putting on the store.
That’s still less than you’re making it sound. Definitely not one every month. Again, not defending them or disagreeing with you, I just don’t like it when people make things sound worse than they are to get people to agree with them.
Also, that transmig restriction bit is also a lie. There’s quite a few cosmetics that are armor class agnostic. I know because I have them and I’ve never spent a dime in the store. Here is a list of most of them.
I’d you don’t have a job, and can play 12 hours a day to farm that gear. Great! Enjoy school life. But adults don’t have time to farm all that shit, purchasing is effectively the only way to get it. It is disingenuous to conflate "being obtainable ’ with “no need to ever purchase”.
There’s a list of 2000 pieces. And only 5 sets that you can buy. Also every month you get free trader’s tender for simply logging in. You use that to buy those pieces. If you do a few world quests you get even more. I literally cap out on the monthly 1k tender by playing a few hours. Why are you people being so negative for no reason.
There’s plenty of things to hate. There’s plenty of things even blizzard are guilty of. Look at overwatch for thousdands of reasons. But wow is one of the games that’s most respectful of your time. Nowadays and as far as MMOs go, that is. I literally have a 4 piece set without ever stepping foot in a normal raid. Only did LFR once, got 1 piece. The other 3 were given for free. You get so much shit in this game by simply logging in and playing a couple of hours it’s insane.
If you want the entire transmog collection the game has to offer, that’s been released over the course od 20 years, yes, you have to grind. But let’s not pretend you need to play a lot to have some nice sets. That hasn’t been true in a long time.
The length of your explanation should make you realize why paying is easier. Hell, I’d pay not to read your explanation.
If everyone was following your path, micro transactions wouldn’t be there anymore.
i don’t know when or how it happened but once i realised FOMO was being used against players regularly and aggressively i just- stopped caring. Oh a limited time special one week offer especially for me now and never again? Too bad i just launched the game and have no intention of buying your “newbie pack”. Oh my event limited time items? Dang, those look expensive, anyway i’m happy with my normal looking armour and normal looking tools/guns cheers
& i only ever buy cheap cosmetics. If your game is bad and grindy when i play it without throwing money at the screen then your game is bad and grindy & i will tell all my friends about that experience
Yeah, that’s the attitude I take with this shit now.
I play a stupid colour matching game on my iPad that’s almost scientifically designed to try and rinse money out of users’ pockets, but I’ve got to a place where I see the offers and last chances and know that even if I did pay for a few boosts or power ups, it’s not going to bring me enlightenment.
That’s not to shit on OP’s point, mind. Microtransactions really are a menace, preying on those who are least able to ignore them, who are often least able to afford them. But it’s a world we’ve kinda made by not wanting to pay for games.
That said, how much is WoW these days? Paying a monthly fee AND getting bombarded with ways to spend more money is straight-up cunty.
My mental health improved after dropping games with time gating and or daily quests
I was just talking about farmville the other day, howbmassive it was. Feel like it was an early example of this
My 80-year-old mother is stil hooked on Hay Day (2012 Farmville clone). She doesn’t alarm-clock overnight events any more, but that could be because she can’t sleep through the night now. Got a team of other old ladies around the world for contests, and it’s right on the edge of where I think it’s great that she’s got something to keep her engaged versus might need an addiction intervention.
I’m not usually one for those types of games but I had a lot of fun with the player economy of Hayday. You don’t even need to do any farming, there were always desperate players selling low and buying high lol
Team Fortress, I’m assuming you mean TF2, was one of the very first games to have microtransactions. They aren’t required for play but they’re definitely there.
I started playing only arcade games for some months now and I’m so happy, this games are just gameplay and nothing more!
If you want to scratch a similar itch, and have not already, try Guild Wars 2.
It does have microtransactions, but only because they have no subscription fee and they are mostly cosmetic with a few rare exceptions.
It also has no FOMO except cosmetics from certain festivals, which you can also buy in the next year.
It is still the best MMO on the market IMHO, because it values your time and money compared to other games in the genre.
You know I’m a true RS fan when I say stuff like “Jagex is a shit company run by morons.”
I dropped them all like 8 years ago. Not even the microtransaction parts for me since I never played any pay to win games and not big on caring about skins or hats. It was that any game time I had, felt like I had to play league of Legends, or I’d fall behind.
So I dropped it and have happily gone back to pretty much exclusively single player games. It’s nice.
Yeah, same for me. I like Apex. It is an Insanely fun game. But I’m the kind of guy who plays something for a bit and then something else before I may or may not come back. Apex being live service makes it that I don’t want to come back because many of the things I know about the game are no longer true. So I’m not installing it again
Yep. You take a month off from league of legends and all of a sudden 50 things have changed/rebalanced and there’s 2 new heroes to figure out.
So nice going back to gaming on my own terms. I’m replaying ffvii right now with 7th heaven mods. Been over 25 years since I played it last, and it’s still awesome, mostly.
When I did this quitting thing from MMOs and FOMO inducing gachas that you describe, I suddenly
- got a non-dead-end job
- got a girlfriend
- got a promotion
- travelled around Europe
- girlfriend died
- travelled around Europe some more
- got another girlfriend
- ended up in Canada
- got married
- got kids
- stuck in dead-end job again without promotion for the past five years
I still think it was worth it to quit though. My mind just gets stimuli from the seemingly simplest things, like looking at a beautiful tree on the roadside, brutalist architecture, interesting conversations that I focus on instead of my mind wandering onto the next mount or raid boss I will have to tackle.
And when it comes to gaming, if I want to satisfy my itch for twitch and a bit of adrenaline, roguelites scratch it the best, without the long term commitment to playing them for days or even hours.
But what works best to keep sanity is exercise, and with riding a road bike at least twice a day I can combine elevated heart rate with zoning out and Zen for stress relief really well. It’s simply meditative.
I think of the twelve years I’ve spent playing MMOs fondly, lots of memories were made. But I would never do it again. And it has nothing to do with self-control, and willpower to not start it again, although quitting cold turkey definitely required both. But it had everything to do with the realization that it’s a trap that’s a poor substitute for real life, even if real life has dealt you shitty cards.
I can spot the hazy, reality-disconnected look of addicts from a mile away. The self-deluding statements when the topic somehow gets brought up. And I can do nothing but feel a bit sad for them, and hope that somewhere, someone manages to gently nudge them on a path that helps them escape from this trap.
Wtf, is this some (copy) pasta?
If it isn’t it should be our Lemmy pasta with sauce IMO!
May I recommend taking it a step further and going for games that have no cycle in them at all? That is, finite games that you can play and actually finish, for good. That’s what I’ve been looking for a lot lately.
Some recommendations:
- The Talos Principle (puzzles with a story)
- Outer Wilds (best to go in blind, read absolutely nothing about it, not even the steam description)
- CrossCode (fast paced fun combat and a cool story and characters. Somewhat grindy but still finite)
- Beacon Pines (short and sweet visual novel)
- Chants of Sennaar (language translation game, surprisingly fun and satisfying)
Chants of Sennaar is absolutely one of my favorite games. It’s one of the few games I’ve played where the mechanics of the game and the themes of the game were in perfect harmony.
What’s the SorteKanin description of Outer Wilds?
Well… Without spoiling anything I would say, you are a member of an alien species on another planet. You are also an aspiring astronaut about to take your first journey into space. Let’s just say your journey is quite remarkable.
I’m not them but…
Outer Wilds is a gem of a 3D first-person indie game. Other games might have you find required items so you can progress (like Pokemon or Zelda games), but in this game it’s all about the knowledge you learn while playing (like Tunic). You explore, learn, and puzzle solve. By looking up anything about the game, or by looking up a solution to a puzzle, you essentially lock yourself out of experiencing that piece of content. It’s all about the journey.
It’s a game you can only really play once, but it is so worth it. It’s my favorite video game and I wish I could forget everything about it so I can play it again for the first time.
No shit. Micro transactions have completely turned me off from gaming completely, starting with TF2.
“Valve is the savior of gaming” as they invented micro transactions and neglect as many IPs as EA and Ubisoft do, but its okay since they have so many fun sales to tie to your account.
Valve is cool some of the time, TF2 is my most played game, but the moment GabeN keels over, is the moment a lot of people are going to notice that “owning” all your games on a digital storefront was a bad idea, like when Playstation and Microsoft remove games people bought with their hard earned money.
Maybe its the 'tism but I never gave a shit about most microtransactiony things unless they have a “pay-to-win” element. That’s why I gave up on GTA online.
But if its just like “exclusive skins”, I could give a shit. My default skinned character can still win against a guy in a bear-suit with a golden AK and that’s really all I need. I have no particular FOMO of not winning the fashion part of the game.
I do wish games I could turn off their constant begging for my money though.
My problem with “its just cosmetic” is that it turns the entire main screen into ad space, along with loading screens and wherever else they can jam it in. I don’t play game to be advertised to.
Of course I can choose not to buy in, but if it didn’t have a psychological effect they wouldn’t be doing it.
An argument I heard, and adopted is that it’s never “just” cosmetic. Your enjoyment of the game is impacted by how you perceive your avatar. This is why fortnite skins sell so well to new players. It’s not just cosmetic to drop $20 on Cuddle Team Leader. It makes a user feel silly and increases enjoyment running around as an obvious pink mascot costume. It prolongs how long you play both by increased enjoyment, and sunk cost fallacy. In any game with cosmetics, purchases drive playtime.
Yeah I had to realize that as well at some point.
Used to play games and I was so focused on gameplay, I always thought “why even have a lot of art in there”. But then you realize if the art sucks, you wouldn’t even be giving it a chance.
And this extends to skins and stuff. If it’s “just cosmetics”, that still means there is some art that is now hidden unless you throw money at your screen. And depending on how much it is, the game might be way too boring without it. So you’re still buying bits of a game after the fact. And voila, we’re back to the reasons why DLCs suck.
You used to unlock cool stuff by playing the game.
They removed that whole loop of discovering cool stuff by doing cool things and replaced it with cash grubbing.
Played Terraria recently and this concept you speak of shined in it. Almost forgot how fun discovering new things as you play the actual game was.
Wow still has a lot of achievement/reputation(grind) related cosmetics.
But yeh, it’s a shame that when you see a cool/unique looking mout etc that you now assume it’s paid by default.
But if its just like “exclusive skins”, I could give a shit.
I think you meant “couldn’t”.
I do wish games I could turn off their constant begging for my money though.
The “constant begging” is why I don’t even look twice at these games.
My default skinned character can still win against a guy in a bear-suit with a golden AK and that’s really all I need. I have no particular FOMO of not winning the fashion part of the game.
Sure, until Activision starts using its new patented pay to win technology
Twitter user strahfe recently shared a patent by Activision that suggests buying cosmetic items could increase your chances of being placed in games against less-experienced players. The patent reads: “The microtransaction engine may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player”
I’m not heavy into conspiracies, but I’m suspicious enough to not give Activision the benefit of the doubt and bet that they’ve done this in secret if they have a patent for it. But really… if we’re even thinking about these kinds of things, the game is a lost cause.
It is always such a satisfying feeling to loot the $999 weapon skin off your enemy dead body.
Thank you for spending on my behalf and letting me play this game as a f2p and for letting me use your rare skin.
I avoid any games that have p2w mtx but I can tolerate it somewhat if it is a PvE only or ‘single player’ like in Genshin-like games.
I dislike the practice of having mtx of any kind in pay to play games so I tend to avoid those too.
Even a bunch of competitive games it hasn’t bothered me that much unless it’s like a real big difference.
I actually enjoy taking the shitter on people that paid to be “good”, then get their asses handed to them to someone who clearly never spent a dime.
