Spending Money vs. Time (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, October 23, 2017, 08:50 (2595 days ago) @ MacAddictXIV

It is condescending to imply that just because someone pays for microtransactions they are somehow not savvy or understanding of what that purchase is. For most players it is as much a conscious choice to buy microtransactions based on their budget and perceived value to the exact same degree that people don't due to their budget or perceived value.

I understand that you are in squared opposition to many aspects of modern gaming financial staples and I respect that even if I disagree with some of the logic. However, I cannot respect the implication that people with different priorities are a) not savvy consumers b) are being taken advantage of c) derive no benefit from these transactions.

I will also add that time and money are both forms of currency in games. And in most cases, they both can get you what you want. Some people have more of one than the other. Just because they have allowed you to get some items based on one other than the other doesn't mean it's any less right.

I personally have a mix of both. So although I haven't spent money on Destiny for micro-transactions, it doesn't mean I think it's wrong. I personally would just rather use the currency of time to try and get what I want.

Well said. Just to add though, I think the part where this gets sticky for some people is that they've already made a "time vs money" transaction. They paid money to buy a game, with the hope that the time they spend with the game will be fun. So when they start playing the game, and the game says "You know that time with our game that you just paid for? Well you can skip some of it if you give us more money!", that's a red flag for some of us. This is the part that Cody keeps harping on, and I think he is largely correct. If a game developer is making money from selling the ability to skip playing parts of their game, then they are incentivizing themselves to make the skip-able parts of their game less fun to play, or even worse, make them intentionally not fun to play. Because then they'll make more money.

So any time that sort of microtransaction exists in a game, we're now in a situation where we (the players) must hope that the developers are doing their best to resist those money-making incentives. Some developers will do better in that regard than others. From a player's point of view, it would clearly be better if that tension didn't exist in the first place.