![]() That is why high-skill games like “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” (CS: GO) only offer cosmetic items that only change the appearance of the weapon. It is also a company’s job to balance their game at launch to allow for both non -paying players to have at least a good chance to win against the paying players. In more casual settings like “Call of Duty,” players will seek that basic skill and enjoy it while still striving to get that epic gun. To gamers, however, multiplayer games should rely on skill and skill alone. So when you suck at say Call of Duty: WWII and you don’t have time to become better skill-wise and level up, Activision will allow you to buy a supply drop with real-world money that could contain an experience point booster or extra in-game currency. Not everyone is willing to improve their own skills and would rather just pay 99 cents for that revive in “Candy Crush.” Consumption as such has driven large publishers to take many keynotes from mobile video game developers. Not everyone who plays video games is a “gamer,” and companies have realized this. So companies give them that option to do so. People these days do not have as much time to enjoy that new AAA $60 single player game. This is where in fact the psychology of it comes into play. Especially in a single player game, it can be a conscious choice to purchase the micro transactions, and in order to progress, they are not required. The aforementioned Middle Earth: Shadow of War is an excellent single player experience in which these loot boxes and micro transactions are not even needed to enjoy the game. Luckily, however, these purchases were to support companies and developers whom I trusted would put my money into improving their games. Have I, as a self proclaimed “smart consumer,” bought into microtransactions and loot boxes with real world money? Yes, I have. However, it is how these publishers use them that they truly are the scummiest practices on Earth. Loot boxes and microtransactions are not all bad if anything, they are just a modern trend massive publishers have preferred their games to have. “Assassin’s Creed Origins,” “Middle Earth: Shadow of War,” “Call of Duty: WWII” (in which two out of its three main game modes has loot boxes), “Counter Strike: Global Offensive,” “Overwatch,” and now “Star Wars Battlefront II” have all picked up the habit of dinging you a dollar for that new Tracer skin. Every- and I mean every- recent AAA game, both singleplayer and multiplayer, has indulged in this greedy scheme. The name of this marketing strategy? Loot Boxes. A scheme so awful that the nation of Belgium decreed EA to be promoting illegal practices. A scheme so awful that Disney themselves told EA to stop. A scheme so awful that even the mainstream media picked it up. A scheme so absolutely rotten that a comment from Electronic Arts (EA), the publisher of the game, got the most downvotes in the history of Reddit. Meanwhile, a meticulously crafted game- both visually and audibly- is presented with a rotten scheme. Your lightsaber ignites with a primal hiss as Kylo Ren savagely dismembers (not really the game is still rated T for teen) Chewbacca on Kashyyyk. An epic crossfire ensues as the Venators move up to broadside the enemy ship. ARC-170 fighters fill the void and Hyena Droids come to meet them. The Confederacy of Independent Systems has launched a surprise attack, and a fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers hyperspace out of Ryloth to engage the gigantic Lucrehulk-class Carrier. ![]() Now you are in the starfield above the planet Ryloth. A T-65 X-Wing engages and the air battle begins. Suddenly green blaster bolts pelt the ground and the screech of a Tie/LN Fighter soars ahead. It is a quick demise, but around 10 seconds later, you are refreshed with a new Stormtrooper. You can hear your trooper breathes heavily. Rebel shouts can be heard from the opposite side. Plastoid boots run into the close quarter confinements of the city. Lambda-Class Shuttles land, Stormtrooper reinforcements exit from the ramp. Tatooine, the Mos Eisley Cantina, and the Galactic Empire has learned of an elite Rebel Alliance Cell hiding out and conducting operations against the Empire.
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