Maria Caliban wrote...
In ten years, this conversation will die down because people will think of video games the same way they think of cars, meals, and haircuts.
In ten years DLC as we think of it today will be a thing of the past; we'll all have moved on to the next method of content distribution for games, whatsoever that may be.
But back on topic... the idea of buying a "complete" boxed product and then having to pay extra to unlock a part of it that is clearly already included does not psychologically sit well with people. Haircuts and cars aren't an appropriate analogy; in both cases you are paying more money to get something which was not fundamentally present in the basic package, whether that be an additional service (styling) or heated seats.
Try this analogy instead - I buy a new phone, which has a camera installed, but I can't use the camera until I pay an additional fee. That's a punch in the gut, right? That's what "in-the-box" DLC feels like. All the developer arguments are still valid - eg. "it wouldn't have been done at all if we weren't going to charge for it" - but that doesn't lessen the feeling of "screw you, customer." I also personally believe it's a dangerous path - what else should we expect to be stripped out of our games in the future?
(Mass Effect 3 has already tried selling a game without an ending... sorry, couldn't resist!)Let's take another example, back in the software world. Windows 7 ships in (among others) the following three versions: Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. All of the software for these three versions can be present and installed from the same disc, but each version costs progessively more. Why does this feel acceptable?
I would argue that it's because the features in Pro and Ultimate are targeted at specific users (power, enterprise, whoever), and are completely unnecessary and superfluous to users of the lesser product (Home P). This is not the case with a piece of game DLC, which in theory could and would be enjoyed by the majority of the game's audience, turning the purchase decision into some kind of elitist "well I got more/a better game because I spent more money than you did". Not awesome.
(Of course, the above psychological impact could be solved by simply not packaging DLC on the disc, and forcing the user to download it every time, at huge inconvenience to both the user and the developer. Not really an improvement!)
DLC isn't going anywhere - the distribution method is too convenient and the income stream too tempting - but I think developers and publishers are (excuse the phrase) peeing into the wind at the moment, just waiting to see how long they can carry on with the current model until someone gets wet.
So please. Think about why you're making DLC, who it's actually for, and what those members of your audience who
don't buy it are thinking.
Modifié par AlexJK, 02 novembre 2012 - 08:53 .
Retour en haut
