2,214 karma · joined April 19, 2019
There’s also mountains of evidence that contradict the statement that a game without a battle pass won’t succeed. One of the most profitable and respected MMOs currently is Final Fantasy XIV, a game that has nothing like it, in the genre that had micro-transactions and lootboxes before most people even heard the terms. Middle Earth Shadows of War is also a great game that was ruined by loot boxes and progression systems, where the outcry was so big that the developers completely removed them after the fact.
It’s in these moments that the fact that I’ve paid an absurd amount in taxes over the years just… disappears.
That's not true. There are multiple tools for managing multiple versions of Wine and Wine-related tools for gaming, the oldest one being PlayOnLinux. Lutris is the most widely used one, and works great in my experience.
I’ve used it for several years, and even to play Sims 2 from time to time, and while I’ve had issues the experience only gets better over time. It’s gotten to the point where I can confidently install any game on my Steam library and expect it to run. And be right most of the time.
The ROI for a vacation isn't negative, because you're usually paid during those. In the situation that you're not, it just strengthens the point I'm trying to make. I personally took a 1 month sabbatical between jobs and it was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. I knew I needed a vacation, but the thought of skipping an entire month's paycheck for that ate me up inside for the first week or so. And from what I've gathered, including talking about it on therapy, it's a common sentiment.
The point being that once money gets involved in a hobby activity, it infects every other aspect. It's no longer about having fun, it's about maximizing what you get out of it.
Note that I'm not saying this is a universal experience, but I've observed it in the situations I described in my original comment.
But why do you ask? Did it go this route too? With Amazon money behind it I figured they'd be ruthless in stopping RMT.
But here's the catch: it doesn't stop there. Any of these games where progression is only gated by in-game money and player trading is enabled, will eventually grow an underground market of RMT (real-money trading). The second you're aware of this, it becomes impossible to think of the in-game money in a vacuum. Suddenly you go from playing for 8 hours to make 10 Million Mesos / Zenny / Alz / Whatever to working for 8 hours to make less than half you would working at McDonalds and trading that money for in-game money. This absolutely destroys any enjoyment you could possibly get out of the game, as it is no longer a game.
This isn't even to mention the people who literally automate the game to play itself to make passive income through hacks / bots, though admittedly that can be fun if you're the type of person who's drawn to breaking computers.
Tangent: my latest discovery solves this by just completely axing trading between players. You can collaborate in bosses for loot that gets split between everyone, but you can't just give anyone money directly. It's great!