Ahhh freemium games, one giant step on the road to Idiocracy.

20 years ago was the tail end of the shareware boom, which is a different approach to "freemium". In that model, developers created a great game (Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke Nukem, Jazz Jackrabbit, Quake, OMF 2097, etc) and gave you a sizable, fully playable chunk of it for free as promotion.

The difference is, back then there was not much attention paid to "casual gaming". Games were designed to be fun and challenging. Times have changed and now games are designed to be easy and addictive instead.

Today's freemium model is more like video poker. It's not much fun but you keep putting money in because of the potential for an easy reward. That's the mechanic that keeps gambling addicts going back to the casinos and it's also the business model that makes "casual gaming" so profitable without having to make good games.

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>> ^spoco2:

Haven't played it, have no intention of doing so.
I am stunned, STUNNED by the money people will spend on in game items. It baffles me no end.
And I utterly HATE the concept of Freemium games. Any game that you get for free but then need to keep spending money to get anywhere in is by definition utter shit.
I like to pay money up front for a game, then enjoy it as I see fit. I don't want a subscription, I don't want to work out if my next action will require another purchase, I just want to enjoy the game I paid for.
Shudder... hatey hate hate

This is a F2P game that costs $60.

Haven't played it, have no intention of doing so.

I am stunned, STUNNED by the money people will spend on in game items. It baffles me no end.

And I utterly HATE the concept of Freemium games. Any game that you get for free but then need to keep spending money to get anywhere in is by definition utter shit.

I like to pay money up front for a game, then enjoy it as I see fit. I don't want a subscription, I don't want to work out if my next action will require another purchase, I just want to enjoy the game I paid for.

Shudder... hatey hate hate