Doc Professor

krazykitsune:

d0cpr0fess0r:

“We just want to release awesome stuff. Players please, give us a chance. Judge our games based on what they are. Judge the DLC based on what it is. Stop thinking you’re a producer and telling us when and where we should be building our content.”

—

Christina Norman, former designer and programmer of the Mass Effect franchise

Translated for the public: “Stop complaining about DLC you whiny entitled fucks and give us your money already. Ungrateful little shits. Who do you think you are?”

I’m going to judge Day One DLC for what it is: A ripoff. That’s stuff you COULD have included in the main game, but chose not to, to make a quick buck.

Then don’t buy it. No one is making you. 

People, please, remember that they announced that there would be DLC in the N7 Collector’s Edition. Now, a lot of companies will do this, offer an extra mission/content/whatever in CE copies, because hey, they fucking sell that way. Trust me, I know, I’ve had people busting down my Gamestop doors trying to get their hands on an N7 edition. 

And guess what: Instead of only letting a handful of people who had the sense to preorder months in advance get to play it, they decided to do the fiscally smart thing and let everyone else have it too on launch day. Keep in mind, a lot of times companies will allow consumers to buy CE DLC, but usually with a predetermined waiting period (usually about 2-3 weeks). And now everybody gets it day 1. 

So either buy the game, and enjoy what you’ve paid for, which in and of itself is a full game, or shell out for the extra content. 

Either way, please shut up.

Except it’s not a full game. There are story-driven elements of the game added in as DLC, stuff that affects the overall outcome.

ME2 had Arrival and LotSB. Both of those affected the MAIN STORY of ME3, whether or not you bought those changed certain elements and came with consequences. This isn’t a costume pack or a few extra weapons. If a company wants to charge me a few bucks to put Liara in a fucking…. Playboy bunny outfit, then that’s fine. That’s just some extra fluff that doesn’t affect the overall story.

But telling me to pay MORE money for the rest of the story is WRONG. That is depriving me of the full experience of the game until I pay money for it. So hell yeah I’m going to complain about that. That may be a smart BUSINESS decision, but it’s putting me as the consumer at the disadvantage.

Story-driven DLC shouldn’t be DLC. It should be already on the disc. Or if it MUST be DLC, due to time constraints, etc. Then it should be FREE. By all means, charge me for costume packs and new weapons, but anything that will affect the story shouldn’t cost me anything.

People are already clamoring at BioWare and telling them they’ll pay for more endings. You don’t see the problem with this? “We were dissatisfied with your game! Please take more of our money, though!”

Now there’s no inherent problem with DLC. It started off with the best intentions. The ability for companies to add more to their games to give gamers more to do. Look at a game like Team Fortress 2, that now thrives off of the money it makes on additional weapons and hats. But what separates TF2 from ME3 is the WAY DLC is presented. Preorder this game and get a free special hat/gun/accessory. BUT THEN if you don’t want to shell out for it, then it’s alright. Wait a few weeks and you can craft a non-special version yourself. There’s nothing different besides the name, though. And hey, you can straight-up buy a weapon OOOOOOR you can wait for drops and craft it yourself. One takes longer, but it doesn’t cost you a dime.

Now obviously not all games can follow this strategy, but they can follow the SPIRIT. They need to stop using DLC as a weapon, using it to hold back content for the sake of charging extra for it, and start using it as dessert for a great meal.