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[CognitiveDissonance]

I actually know what the DLC for Dead Space is... and while they are improvements they aren't what I am referring to.

This was in no way an insult to him, but rather something I have learned of other gamers. Made me understand and appreciate a LOT more of the gaming market

And has made me hate the market even more. Thank you CD's friend, your wanton disregard for your wallet has made Nag DLC more viable every single day.

Nope, I don't understand the connection. When have you ever been nagged for optional weapons?
Also, majority of players I see online simply buy DLC for their favorite games as they come out.

I myself do that - I buy the majority of expansions/DLC for my absolute favorite games such as Fallen Enchantress (The expansion is fantastic!!) Civ IV, Civ IV and (previously) Mass Effect. The "nag" then becomes a convenient reminder; if I don't like the game a whole lot, the nag doesn't bother me either way.

And no, I don't throw money at my screen. But I like investing in my favorite hobby. (As an aside, last year I noticed I was spending a LOT more on energy drinks/junk food than on video games. Since then, I have completely quit energy drinks and drastically cut down on junk food. Instead, I can buy more games - well, more than one every few months - and actually have more money!)

EDIT: My ONLY complaint about good DLC's is that sometimes they are too expensive. I'm thinking mostly of Mass Effect, where only a small handful of DLC's were truly worth their cost.

[Neonivek]

Well I recently played a game where while playing it there is a big button that lets you pay real money for in game currency.

Which is specifically marketed towards your friend who "doesn't want to be playing this game too long"

As well whenever you run out of gold in that game, the game will nag you to buy gold with cash.

This is a single player only game. It also has a special edition that costs five dollars extra and gives you nothing worthwhile in return.

This is a trend that isn't going away and has only gotten worse.

So every time your friend buys the chest keys for his single player game, I am going to dislike him just a little bit more.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

The problem with microtransaction in single-player games is the ol' slippery slope.

There is a very high risk of developers/publishers manufacturing games with predatory mechanics. This is already rampant in the IOS/facebook gaming marketplace where customers embraced microtransactions.
So many games there are basically pay2win or pay2advance. The argument that microtransactions make a game easier doesn't seem to hold water as games with microtransactions tend to gravitate to harder, limiting or more annoying gameplay to force players into paying money.

There is also the argument that is breaks immersion which I tend to agree with. Dragon Age and the new Dead Space were just awful with that. Dragon Age had to hilarious dialogue breaking "buy the expansion to continue" with the NPC standing around camp and not being able to be removed. Dead Space was a "survival" game that allowed you to buy more weapons and ammo ...

I don't think customer really wants to bring back the exploitative arcade generation of games.

[Neonivek]

I don't think customer really wants to bring back the exploitative arcade generation of games

At least that made sense. It was expencive money gouging but that came from a genuine need to do so.

This single player Pay to Win isn't. It is just outright money gouging that they know they won't get punished for.

[Levi]

I don't think customer really wants to bring back the exploitative arcade generation of games

At least that made sense. It was expencive money gouging but that came from a genuine need to do so.

This single player Pay to Win isn't. It is just outright money gouging that they know they won't get punished for.

Bugs me that gaming news sites like RPS are always making it out like its perfectly okay as well.  These games should be shunned by the news sites, not embraced.   

[CognitiveDissonance]

Well I recently played a game where while playing it there is a big button that lets you pay real money for in game currency.

Which is specifically marketed towards your friend who "doesn't want to be playing this game too long"

As well whenever you run out of gold in that game, the game will nag you to buy gold with cash.

This is a single player only game. It also has a special edition that costs five dollars extra and gives you nothing worthwhile in return.

This is a trend that isn't going away and has only gotten worse.

So every time your friend buys the chest keys for his single player game, I am going to dislike him just a little bit more.

Could you stop with that crap? I never mentioned buying chest keys. Chest keys are a roulette system used (in my experience) exclusively in multiplayer games (DOTA 2, ME3, GW2) and I have no problem with it as very few people actually buy them. In most cases, it legitimately helps fund a good company and contains (usually) no direct powerups.

And my friend is not an idiot, as you would imply. Cut that crap. This person plays differently from you; the goals are cinematic experience, storyline and playing with friends. That his gameplay is different from yours gives you no reason to insult him.
""doesn't want to be playing this game too long"" is in no way implied or stated by me. See above.

As to your experience, I have had nothing similar. I buy games selectively but frequently. Games which I know will heavily feature DLC's are usually delayed until they release a "collector's edition" with all the extra content included. The only time I have seen this is on subpar Android games; I have learned to shop better.

This is like complaining about time-share vacations. Get better vacations, avoid bad companies.

The problem with microtransaction in single-player games is the ol' slippery slope.

There is a very high risk of developers/publishers manufacturing games with predatory mechanics. This is already rampant in the IOS/facebook gaming marketplace where customers embraced microtransactions.
So many games there are basically pay2win or pay2advance. The argument that microtransactions make a game easier doesn't seem to hold water as games with microtransactions tend to gravitate to harder, limiting or more annoying gameplay to force players into paying money.

There is also the argument that is breaks immersion which I tend to agree with. Dragon Age and the new Dead Space were just awful with that. Dragon Age had to hilarious dialogue breaking "buy the expansion to continue" with the NPC standing around camp and not being able to be removed. Dead Space was a "survival" game that allowed you to buy more weapons and ammo ...

I don't think customer really wants to bring back the exploitative arcade generation of games.

THAT is very true, and I hope that it won't happen. Those games have been receiving severe backlash. Also, both are by EA (also, SimCity) which are quickly entering many do-not-buy lists of players.
So here's hoping.

I don't think customer really wants to bring back the exploitative arcade generation of games

At least that made sense. It was expencive money gouging but that came from a genuine need to do so.

This single player Pay to Win isn't. It is just outright money gouging that they know they won't get punished for.

Bugs me that gaming news sites like RPS are always making it out like its perfectly okay as well.  These games should be shunned by the news sites, not embraced.   

Are they? That's... depressing

[Neonivek]

Could you stop with that crap? I never mentioned buying chest keys

It is the exact same thing I am talking about. It doesn't matter what I said so long as it is a PTW single player transaction.

As to your experience, I have had nothing similar

I've started to get this experience a lot and it has started to become a nagging persistence. Even to the extent that games I own have got patches that ADDED extra nagging.

Cut that crap. This person plays differently from you; the goals are cinematic experience, storyline and playing with friends

"I bought this hard game and it turns out it is hard! Time to spend five dollars on a new suit of armor that is the best armor in the game and costs nothing to steam roll this game! That way I can spend less time being challenged and more time actually enjoying myself. Dang it is still a challenge, I guess five more dollars won't hurt to get the ammo pack"

Except I bet that isn't how your friend actually feels when he buys the DLC. Hence why I can call him out on it all day.

You want to know how I think your friend acts when he buys the DLC?

"Ohh a cool armor that actually does cool things!"

Or possibly

"Ohh I am stuck... I guess I can buy that DLC"

But that isn't the friend you are talking about.

This is like complaining about time-share vacations. Get better vacations, avoid bad companies

I bought the Sims 3 and at first there was a button to link to the store but it was out of the way and largely ignorable. I really like the game so I bought it and all the expansions even though the glitches and bugs pretty much made it unplayable for often months on end.

Later I downloaded a patch that added a second store button that was big and bright and in the center of my view. It also shows you store items now unless you turn it off... Yet the store button cannot be turned off.

I got Boarderlands 2 and while it worked for a while it had a DLC button in the menu but nothing popped in, in game. Then later on a patch and you can see DLC costumes in the costume section.

This isn't like complaining about Timeshares...

Those games have been receiving severe backlash. Also, both are by EA (also, SimCity) which are quickly entering many do-not-buy lists of players

Except those games have been blacklisted because they SUCKED! and had issues beyond rip off micro transactions meant to break the game.

[CognitiveDissonance]

Spoiler: Headed into OT, spoilering (click to show/hide)

Cut that crap. This person plays differently from you; the goals are cinematic experience, storyline and playing with friends

"I bought this hard game and it turns out it is hard! Time to spend five dollars on a new suit of armor that is the best armor in the game and costs nothing to steam roll this game! That way I can spend less time being challenged and more time actually enjoying myself. Dang it is still a challenge, I guess five more dollars won't hurt to get the ammo pack"

Except I bet that isn't how your friend actually feels when he buys the DLC. Hence why I can call him out on it all day.

You want to know how I think your friend acts when he buys the DLC?

"Ohh a cool armor that actually does cool things!"

Or possibly

"Ohh I am stuck... I guess I can buy that DLC"

But that isn't the friend you are talking about.

This is like complaining about time-share vacations. Get better vacations, avoid bad companies

I bought the Sims 3 and at first there was a button to link to the store but it was out of the way and largely ignorable. I really like the game so I bought it and all the expansions even though the glitches and bugs pretty much made it unplayable for often months on end.

Later I downloaded a patch that added a second store button that was big and bright and in the center of my view. It also shows you store items now unless you turn it off... Yet the store button cannot be turned off.

I got Boarderlands 2 and while it worked for a while it had a DLC button in the menu but nothing popped in, in game. Then later on a patch and you can see DLC costumes in the costume section.

This isn't like complaining about Timeshares...

Those games have been receiving severe backlash. Also, both are by EA (also, SimCity) which are quickly entering many do-not-buy lists of players

Except those games have been blacklisted because they SUCKED! and had issues beyond rip off micro transactions meant to break the game.

As to the "other player perspective", here it is specifically for Dead Space 3
"I'm playing this game, it has cool guns" - "Oh hey, more cool guns! It's $5 but I can afford that" - "Those guns are AWESOME!"

The difficulty never enters the equation. The purchase was never made to make the game easier, but rather to get something that seemed to match the value.
I get why you are drawing the connection to "This game is hard, better buy this DLC" but I have never met anyone like that. People I know online and offline who buy game DLC do not play difficult games/use high difficulty levels.

Conversely, people who DO play harder games/difficulties do not buy "enhanced items" DLCs

A small aside on this, Mass Effect 2. I played as the Engineer character, and one of your main weapons as that class was an SMG. On release, the game had no good SMG's (or maybe not until really, really late. I could be remembering wrong.) I ended up getting some random DLC for the story bit, and that came with a great SMG - powerful, but a bit too powerful. So I couldn't even enjoy that
Conversely, Mass Effect 3 on-release had bonus single player weapons that were all flavour. They were NOT very powerful, but rather unique and different from everything else. And then they got right back to making paid-for unbalanced weapons. They obviously CAN do better.

As for Dragon Age, I have only played the first one and I bought that as a complete package. That came with a HUGE collection of bonus armor/weapons/other items that I hate; they are easy to get and very powerful. It literally ruined a lot of my enjoyment of the game.

Back to responding...
I get your complaint about Sims and Borderlands... but... those are two series that are (in)famous for having EXCESSIVE amounts of DLC, with about 40% of it beign story/concent and 60% being "EXTRA ITEMS!"
...what did you expect?

It's kind of like getting Amnesia and complaining it's too dark. Birds fly, cars get stuck in traffic, and Sims 3 publishes a $30 couch DLC to nag you about.

[penguinofhonor]

I don't think so; I discussed this with him, and he himself said he doesn't want the games to be stressful and that he gives up quickly if the game is too frustrating. This was in no way an insult to him, but rather something I have learned of other gamers. Made me understand and appreciate a LOT more of the gaming market.

Honestly, this makes me see the pay to win single player DLC as charging people extra for easy mode.

Trust me, I love easy modes. I don't want to get my ass kicked in every game I play, so sometimes I just want to do the story or whatever and I breeze through and enjoy the ride. I don't want to pay five bucks for the privilege of doing this.

[CognitiveDissonance]

I don't think so; I discussed this with him, and he himself said he doesn't want the games to be stressful and that he gives up quickly if the game is too frustrating. This was in no way an insult to him, but rather something I have learned of other gamers. Made me understand and appreciate a LOT more of the gaming market.

Honestly, this makes me see the pay to win single player DLC as charging people extra for easy mode.

Trust me, I love easy modes. I don't want to get my ass kicked in every game I play, so sometimes I just want to do the story or whatever and I breeze through and enjoy the ride. I don't want to pay five bucks for the privilege of doing this.

*shrug*  I think I may be expressing myself poorly, or hitting a hot-button topic. As said above, I don't know of anyone ever who bought items to make a game easier. Cooler, yes, but not easier. And there is a difference.

Conversely, what I find interesting is that recent Metro has done the opposite - charged people for hard mode. And then the internet cried foul.

[Neonivek]

Off Topic? This is about Gaming Pet Peeves

I am sure my constant harassment over other people buying DLCs is SOMEONE's Pet Peeve

The difficulty never enters the equation. The purchase was never made to make the game easier, but rather to get something that seemed to match the value

Yes exactly. see now THAT friend sounds a lot smarter then the one you described earlier.

Conversely, people who DO play harder games/difficulties do not buy "enhanced items" DLCs

Some people have an ingrained desire to have a complete game and will buy DLC regardless of what it actually does. I have it but my friend has it MUCH worse to the point where I even once chastised him for getting a DLC he didn't even want.

Trust me, I love easy modes. I don't want to get my ass kicked in every game I play, so sometimes I just want to do the story or whatever and I breeze through and enjoy the ride. I don't want to pay five bucks for the privilege of doing this

I am not a hard core gamer but I am in the same boat. I am not always looking for a challenge (Heck the first time I played Freedom force it was on easy and the second time was on hard.) but paying for easy mode is something I won't do.

In fact I hate DLC that makes the game easier anyhow because DLC should be improving the game and DLC that is essentially a cheat you pay money for, isn't an improvement.

This is why I really am tired of Cheat Expansions... I want an expansion to feel like it is extending the game. By removing large aspects of the game by making it easy, it is essentially making the game smaller.

I don't know of anyone ever who bought items to make a game easier

I don't know either... but SimCity certainly had a LOT of that. It even had a Gas Station that didn't run on electricity, produced no waste, and shot hypnobeams to force everyone around you to be happier.

[CognitiveDissonance]

...

The difficulty never enters the equation. The purchase was never made to make the game easier, but rather to get something that seemed to match the value

Yes exactly. see now THAT friend sounds a lot smarter then the one you described earlier.

Same person I'm pretty sleepy, so maybe I'm describing things poorly. But yeah.

Conversely, people who DO play harder games/difficulties do not buy "enhanced items" DLCs

Some people have an ingrained desire to have a complete game and will buy DLC regardless of what it actually does. I have it but my friend has it MUCH worse to the point where I even once chastised him for getting a DLC he didn't even want.

Trust me, I love easy modes. I don't want to get my ass kicked in every game I play, so sometimes I just want to do the story or whatever and I breeze through and enjoy the ride. I don't want to pay five bucks for the privilege of doing this

I am not a hard core gamer but I am in the same boat. I am not always looking for a challenge (Heck the first time I played Freedom force it was on easy and the second time was on hard.) but paying for easy mode is something I won't do.

In fact I hate DLC that makes the game easier anyhow because DLC should be improving the game and DLC that is essentially a cheat you pay money for, isn't an improvement.

I don't know of anyone ever who bought items to make a game easier

I don't know either... but SimCity certainly had a LOT of that. It even had a Gas Station that didn't run on electricity, produced no waste, and shot hypnobeams to force everyone around you to be happier.

I have that, and had to teach myself out of it recently. I hate not having all the stuff for games that's why I usually wait for the super duper collector's edition.
Best example is a DLC for the recent X-Com. It featured a novel, apparently quite cool mission... but the rewards apparently trivialize everything in the game. Why the hell would I want that?! Skipped, and still sad about it.

EDIT: Looked it up, and apparently it rewards you with end-game tech access (not items, just tech) yeah, bleh. Technology is the limiting factor in that game.

Spoiler: Decent overview (click to show/hide)

...and all you get is access to some of the late-game technology a little earlier, which you probably won’t be able to afford anyway because it’s still got the end-game price tag.
 
Why did Firaxis release this? Slingshot couldn’t scream “unfinished” any louder with a megaphone and a kick in the smalls. It’s brim-full of plot points that don’t go anywhere, content that doesn’t actually appear, and rushed fixes that don’t fix anything. Worse, it’s like half the irritation is deliberate. If your game doesn’t feature gang members hunting the player, for example, all you have to do is not include dialogue saying gang members are hunting the player. And if you were planning on having that and it got cut, surely it’s an easy matter to just snip the offending lines out along with it. Otherwise, you’re just making it look like you’re trying to piss people off.
 
Of course, I was already of the opinion that Firaxis was trying to piss people off because I played XCOM. But that’s probably just the fanboy in me talking.

From: http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/02/slingshot-is-worth-precisely-as-much-as-you-pay-for-it/#7X4bJcGco4AfY7a1.99

[BunnyBob77]

Inaccurate Dialogue Options
I've been playing Mass Effect 1 and this annoys me to no end.  When the game gives you a choice of what to say, it doesn't tell you what you will say.  Rather, it gives you a few words that give a vague indication as to the tone of what you will say.  Often I will choose the option that just "No"  or something similar, and Shepherd will say something complete different that sort of means no!  It's difficult to actually talk when you only have a vague idea of what you will say.  This is so incredibly annoying, because it wouldn't be any harder to just have a menu with actual sentences instead of than a silly wheel with 3 words!

[Neonivek]

The exception to this rule is Monkey Island... but in that series its the joke.

[Xantalos]

Inaccurate Dialogue Options
I've been playing Mass Effect 1 and this annoys me to no end.  When the game gives you a choice of what to say, it doesn't tell you what you will say.  Rather, it gives you a few words that give a vague indication as to the tone of what you will say.  Often I will choose the option that just "No"  or something similar, and Shepherd will say something complete different that sort of means no!  It's difficult to actually talk when you only have a vague idea of what you will say.  This is so incredibly annoying, because it wouldn't be any harder to just have a menu with actual sentences instead of than a silly wheel with 3 words!

See Dragon Age. They meant what they said and said what they meant.
There were no elephants.