So let's take a walk, shall we? (Gaming)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, January 24, 2020, 08:54 (1768 days ago) @ cheapLEY

What part of your gameplay experience aside from aesthetics and social interactions is affected by Eververse? How well you play and how effective the game allows you to be aren't influenced by the extra money beyond retail that you spend on Destiny.

The entire seasonal XP reward track. It completely changes the way I have to engage with the game to level through it (or, of course, just buy my way through it in the final two weeks). The game is worse for its existence.

I also really hate the argument that cosmetics don’t affect gameplay. Cosmetics are a massive party of enjoyment in games for many people. Just because they don’t matter on a mechanical level doesn’t mean they’re unimportant to gameplay.

Well, show me how they do. Yes, I get enjoyment out of ornaments I've bought, and I use the odd specialty emote. But they don't change the heart of the game. They don't change what's possible. And new cosmetics and emotes that don't require microtransactions come out all the time. You feel the way you feel, and if the way MtX functions in Destiny is enough to get you to quit, that's your decision. All I've got to say about that particular fact is that it makes me a little sad.

It’s like saying that graphics don’t matter. My emotional attachment to my character is just as important to how good it feels to play the game as any of the abilities or weapons are, and the way that character looks is very much connected to that attachment. That may not be true for you, but you can’t just disregard how that affects how it feels to play the game for me (and large numbers of other players). Again, if it actually didn’t matter, selling cosmetics wouldn’t be a thing that’s happening in the first place.

True enough, but let's admit, we're moving a goal post. Gameplay has been traditionally defined as the mechanics of the game, and the path to "winning" the game. The definition is what allows the distinction between "pay-to-win" microtransactions and cosmetic microtransactions. You're broadening the definition of gameplay in order to condemn all microtransactions.