warm

Well yeah, naturally, how it always was. SBMM and the addition of bots completely killed many online shooters.

Console mindset, they don’t realise the only ones screwing them are the companies that create the consoles they buy.

Now remove skill-based matchmaking too.

There’s a few, like Openguessr too. But they are not really Geoguessr alternatives in the same way Geotastic is, with all the community features, I also like the transparency Geotastic has with running costs, I can donate to cover my own usage without overspending for profiteering like is the case with Geoguessr now.

They are adding a “Steam pass”, which doesn’t let you play on the web and your web subscription doesnt let you play the Steam version. Just play Geotastic instead.

Was good until they hiked the prices, removed free play and ruined the interface. Would highly recommend Geotastic instead.

The main writers have since left Rockstar. Dan Houser left in 2020. I feel GTA will lose it’s charm with this next entry, I hope I am wrong, but something just feels off. Either way, won’t be buying it until it’s on a good sale, reviews dependent too.

Yup or just don’t use the algorithm, I only ever visit my subscriptions tab and get recommendations for new content from other actual people.

Yeah, same with OSRS, you buy a bond which you can turn into 1 week membership, or trade it other players. Which is honestly fine, it lets people get membership without spending real money, but I’d rather none of the better/fairer systems exist if it means removing the egregious ones. Really we just want to target systems that make you buy a virtual currency to just sell you microtransactions, but how do you write legislation for that? It’s very tricky, which is why it’s probably never going to happen.

We are talking about anything that has real monetary value, if you cannot obtain it through real money, then it’s not in the discussion. Of course it opens a whole new problem, where they could sell “boosts” to earning virtual currency etc. So that would have to be taken into account with the legislation.

Store credit lets them manipulate you. They can say the minimum top up is $5. Then put the cheapest items at $3. Want two $3 items? You have to deposit at least $10! It goes on and on.

No. Just make it so you add items to a cart and purchase their exact value with real money, no in between, no scummy tactics.

(But if it was up to me, I would ban MTX altogether)

They can give items for free instead. Without currency they cant give you 90% of what you need and force you to overpay for extra.

A variable for a value is trivial. It already works perfectly fine in the store!

Sure sales on mobile… (sounds like Apple and Google would get some needed pressure to improve this area) but thats another problem, none of these purchases should be expensive enough to even warrant needing a sale in the first place.

The real reason they want in game currency is not any of these, it’s for the deception factor, avoiding refunds, upselling etc

In-game purchases should display the exact cost in the local currency. In-game currency should be completely banned.

There’s so much good content on there too, don’t forget that.

They have exploring an IPO for like 4 years now.

If it’s free to play, then some cosmetic mtx are fine, thats what I used to think, the problem is how egregious they have become. They are not designed as a way to support a game, they are designed to suck as much money as they can from you. Which is why I disagree with supporting them at all anymore.

Games should be a one-off purchase, with no extra added bullshit.

In a case like SteamOS where it’s custom built for the hardware, then yes. As a general set it up yourself situation on a desktop, then no.

(You guys severely underestimate the ‘mainstream’ gamer)

No, that’s just a raffle. They had mini games during the sales.

They kinda died along side the flash deals. I miss the crazy sales, but I understand why they removed them.

PC is the fastest growing market. Consoles are slumping and I think the return of Steam Machines done right would accelerate the market shift.