You’re absolutely right about the default skin bullying! It blows my mind that kids act like this. My son plays Roblox and he told me that kids get bullied online for that, I just couldn’t believe it
this is the first i have heard of default being a being a bully term. that being said for the most part i avoid cosmetic items as for me for the most part i feel like they feel kind of out of place and make my character look silly in most games i play. i like default cosmetics mostly myself.
Not exactly for microtransactions. But a while back, kids were actually being bullied in schools for not playing Fortnite. Could you imagine sitting in a classroom and having people laugh at you because you haven't played a certain game! It's the one thing I can say I never saw happen or experience when I was at school.
Is it really wrong? Really? I mean how often do you buy new clothes? Is it a con when you buy a t shirt and its not in style forever? Such con many bad..... or you're just listening to this moronic channel on anything.
@@ChrisTomson Jim stearling is a horrible person and you shouldn't listen to what he has to say. I used to think he was playing a character especially when he said "thank God for me" but hes not. He really thinks you should thank God for him
@@HikarusukeShindou i support cosmetic microtransactions. Why would i care if someone wants to pay for virtual clothes? Why would i care if a company finds a way to make more money? If you are dumb enough to pay for a virtual skin in a video game thats on you and nobody else. Ive never bought one. Never felt the need to. Never been pressured to. Instead of complaining about them tell the idiots to have some self control and if not atleast take personal responsibility for being dumb to pay for them.
As somebody who used to get bullied for the clothes that I wore as a kid because it wasn't name brand, it really makes me sad to think that kids are getting bullied for virtual clothes. Bullying is disgusting in every way, shape and form.
I truly LOVE you videos, I look forward to watching them. As an old guy I understand what you're saying. I just sat my 10 year old son down to watch this... he has listened to his old man say these same things. Thank you brother
You don't even have to do that. Make it ao that microstransaction can only be bought with credit card. Now we simply need responsible parents that don't give their kid their or - even worse - its own credit card.
Lets be truthful, parents dont care about ESRB ratings, and ESRB isnt up to date anyway. We all are far from your kids playing a game in front of the only tv or computer in your house. I mean my father can still remember ninja in MGS saying "I love the pain". Parents just need to say no and teach their kids that bullys online aren't worth it just log off.
ESRB and PEGI both are run by the industry it self. The wording of their regulation will be full of loopholes. Self-regulation is failing unfortunatly.
i find it funny saquderns is being prassied as not having one of those 2 things. its just its funny how when a game avoids those 2 things now its something to be praised for.
@@joeldeakin2003 hey I know people who who probably would defend the bullying in these games by saying it's a "feature" yes bullying by real people in the game is a "feature" it adds a "challenge" to the game or motivates you to be better or something like that.
Jim to me is the perfect example of a guy who I agree completely with in regards to what a problem is but will vehemently disagree with on what the solution to that problem should be.
@@invidatauro8922 isn't Jim Sterling the guy who also supports censorship in video games and etc? I wouldn't trust that man, even if he tried to be pro-community.
I can't even imagine what these kids go through I'm 30 now and I can still remember the feeling of being made fun of back in school and it still bothers me to this day
I too was bullied, but I learned that my bullies were either weak and used bullying to feel strong, or they were abused by their family and that’s what made them bullies. Ironically most of my childhood bullies that I ran into later in life apologized for their behavior and shared they had their own problems and acted out instead of trying to deal with them. Don’t give them any power to make you feel bad. In fact, you should be proud of yourself that you are resilient and persevered all that abuse.
@The_Rifster It does not matter nothing and nobody makes ppl bullies, ppl always choose to be one it's always a matter of free will and nobody has a right to abuse others no matter what's happening at home they need to be better. Regardless since they've sinned eventually they deserve to pay for that. Those who chose to hurt others simply are just pathetic cowards that is all. If they faced a real fighter they'd run away crying. The only reason they apologize is because it's a fake apology they just want to pretend they did nothing wrong and get a free pass for being evil and dodge consequences and punishment and you fell for it hard there.
@@kratos.8151 I can watch Jules talk about these topics all day long whereas Jim's style gives me a near panic attack. I can't describe it. Just as he talks about how awful everything is, it stresses me out. Sure that's the point of it, but it makes me want to avoid his videos all the more. Jules has a much calmer tone, much more 'radio host' relatable type that makes a person want to listen and be soothed by.
@@MsYunaFires I agree that Jules has much more accessible approach, Jim is more intense. I find Jim's style cathartic, I have to be in the right mood for his vids, like in a ranting mood.
At first, I was like, if it isn't pay to win, I'm fine with it. After Jules pointed out the addiction and bullying aspects, I became mad and started reminiscing about the times when we could just unlock everything through grinding or completing special objectives and finding secrets
To quote Yahtzee "If you charge money for something you can make infinite amounts of with little effort, it's not a" service", it's the very death of economics as a concept "
The use of "default" as an insult is eerily similar to something in the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson way back in 1992. In the book there is a virtual reality internet. Some people buy expensive avatars, hackers make their own custom avatars. But then there are the "black and whites," people who can't afford nice avatars, and instead are represented by low resolution grayscale avatars. The internet was barely even a thing when the book was written, and Stephenson fairly accurately predicted people bullying others over Fortnite skins
I freaking love this video. Calling attention to the real failing of the video game industry. I am 28 and was hanging out with a group of 27-38 year old original gamers who expressed the same displeasure of the gaming industry as this video pointed out. Thank you for bringing more light to this subject. (We had this conversation while playing donkey kong country and comparing it to modern games).
The fun in games has come to an end for me and this is one of the reasons, as a kid I had so much fun just forgetting about the world on the PS2 and collecting things in the actual games
but its true if its optional then you dont have to spend a dime. if ppl truly just didnt spend their money on pointless cosmetics then the practice wouldve died a long time ago
I played Path of Exile for 500 hours without purchasing anything. I decided to buy some cosmetics simply to give them some money for making a game I got a lot of enjoyment out of. The same thing happened when I started playing League of Legends. If I can get what are now thousands of hours of enjoyment out of a game without using their microtransactions it seems like a perfectly valid excuse.
Thank you for this video. This is a discussion that needs to happen on a wider level. I detest games with cosmetic micro transactions. If I learn that they're in the game, I've started to not buy them.
I'm 17 now and have been playing games for about 8 years, but only properly getting into it in 2014/5 when I got my PS4. I had friends that would spend so much of their parents money on skins for guns on CoD, often times without them even knowing, doing the same for every game they played that offered them something to buy. A few years later Fortnite would come out and them same friends are spending more money on all the skins and battle passes that came onto the game. Ive never seen the hype behind paying for something that really isn't going to benefit my performance or even enhance the experience of the game as a whole but I remember a lot of them same friends judging me quite heavily for not having them same skins. This never really bothered me because I stuck to my standards, but them same people are still buying them skins. I can't say much for other games, but I know for a fact that Fortnite is very clever when it comes to their skins, designing different skins for every different mood, personality of play style, reflecting your own opinions as the player, in the game, and sure I suppose not having the skins to fit the persona you want to play as can kind of make you feel like it's okay to spend this money on them, especially when they are relatively cheap. But as Jules said in the video, these prices soon stack up and it can be hard to see when to stop, once you've already started a collection. My brother is 12 and has been playing the game since he was 9. For his latest birthday he got £50 worth of ps vouchers, all of which went onto Fortnite, A FREE GAME WITH NO ADDED GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS TO BUY APART FROM THE LOOK OF YOUR CHARACTER. That is all I have to say. Thank you for reading this.
Microtransactions aside, release nearly any game from the last 5 years in the early 2000s then it and the publisher would be destroyed for releasing a buggy mess and they would be chased out of the industry. You can even release with the same graphics and all the polish in the world wouldn't save it from being DESTROYED by critics and customers alike. A game needing a day 1 patch of nearly the size of the game would be laughed all the way to the bargain bins.
Microtransactions are one of the reasons that the last consoles I bought were PS2 and Wii. I'll stick with retro: buy a game, insert game, play game. No huge data updates, no having to have an internet connection, no dlc, no microtransactions. I refuse to be a part of it.
You must not enjoy gaming at all these days then. Nearly everything has updates attached, or require an internet connection for cloud saves/achievements. And not all DLC is *bad*. Case in point: Mass Effect 3's Omega and especially Citadel.
I've never had issues on my PS3. It because truly pervasive with the current gen. Yeah it was out there in the previous gen, but nowhere near as bad is today. I have never bought fewer games for a console than I have this gen. I refuse to buy games that have them at launch. And I wait about 12 months post launch to see if they add them in games I might be interested in. I bought less than 10 games for the PS4. I have a minimum of 20 with every other console I've ever owned, all the way back to the NES.
@@gfear24 They started to introduce it and experiment with it back then, it was still the early days. I think by the mid 2010s they were well established. By the way in PlayStation's latest quarterly finance report you can see most of their revenue was generated by DLC, microtransactions, and other in-game purchases. 41 percent, thats $2.29 billion. So microtransactions are here to stay sadly.
I know. Microtransactions are literally virtual drugs. Once you start, it's like you spiral down into an endless cycle of wasting money on something that should've been free.
Microtransactions are no different than gambling! Anyone that tempts me to get something via a microtransaction and I instantly flashback to the peer pressure where people tried to pressure me to drink, smoke, do drugs, etc.) which I never caved to once! And I treat this circumstance no differently. There's something so much more satisfying earning these items through the in game currency vs caving instantly and buying these items with IRL money. Fall Guys for example I have bought things that piqued my interest in the game by building up Kudos (their in game currency) and have never once spent my IRL money on any of their battle passes, character skins, etc.)
I never comment on videos, but I will today. This was such a well written piece. Congrats to WhatCulture for your stance on this predatory system. I've never heard of the term "Default" until this morning. As someone who really relied on video games as a teenager to escape social pressures, the thought of being bullied because you don't have the "cool skin" breaks my heart. Well done to all involved. ❤❤❤
We’ve all said this and we’ve talked about it forever even on the channel but Jules I’m real glad you took the time to point it out again, it’s not just acceptable, we need to be upset with this!
I love this video, thank you for putting this out there. So many parents have no clue about this stuff and how it is conditioning the youth of today to develop habits that will be more tragic come adulthood. Very well done sir!!
This is one of the most thoughtful and impactful videos on the gaming industry that I've seen in a long time. 10 points to WMG and Jules - this level of discourse is needed more within the gaming community. It helps advocate for players and the art form.
Every time I heard Jules say “but I’m an old man” bothered me. He has a point and a damn good one, so it doesn’t matter if it was done by a 10 year old or a 80 year old. The truth, even if it’s “subjective”, has no age. Regardless, good vid, absolutely loved it.
such a shame, as someone who got bullied in my younger years, being bullied online for just using the default skin/character is just stupid and sickening.
its kind of funny but i was reading reviews or early impressions of squaderns and one of the high points were oh yeah no microtransactions and that you have to unlock all the cosmetic items in the game yourself.
7:35 I'm sorry but this logic of increasing price tag from 60 only works if video games were being only sold in USA. In other countries games already cost alot more, sometimes to the point of being complete bs.
I rather have the free will choice of buying whatever cosmetic I want rather than a randomized lootbox determining what I get. Yes, I would prefer unlocking them myself, but it’s a lesser of two evils I’m willing to swallow
That is not a fair point, at all. It is the kind of ridiculous "point" someone with Stockholm Syndrome would make. Predatory monetization is predatory monetization. Being psychologically manipulated into doing what someone else wants you to do is not "free will choice", in any capacity. Anyone who gives this bullshit excuse is a pawn being moved from C2 to C3, nothing more. This is not a zero-sum game. Those two bad choices are *not* the only choices. You are not obligated to choose between those two bad choices. People can (and absolutely should) reject and condemn both cosmetic transactions and lootboxes. If more people were to stand up to (and reject) these types of corporate assfucking instead of meekly taking that assfucking like a homeless prostitute with a drug addiction, we wouldn't be in this mess. Instead, we have people who keep condoning the actions of (and making excuses for) the same corporations that keep repeatedly fucking them in the ass because hey, at least they aren't assfucking us with a broken bottle like some other corporations are.
Thats like saying i would take it in the mouth rather then the rear. Your missing the point lets say neither because if accept one then they will do both.
Big shout out to you for this content. Far too often i hear people sticking up for cosmetic microtransactions, whilst ignoring the significant impact that they have on individuaks and the industry as a whole. Here's hoping this turns a few more heads in the right direction!
Another thing which worries me about all this too is just how angry people were about horse armour, now that would be seen as a bargain in some games. This happens with lots of controversial things in gaming, in normalising “it’s just cosmetic”, how long until the backlash to gameplay altering micro transactions like those seen in Battlefront 2 gets worn down to the point that’s seen as normal too? It’ll happen, I’ve no doubt. Especially after seeing how much people are willing to defend companies at their terrible practices.
to me, cosmetics is half the game, something i enjoy most in video games is personalizing my character, vehicles and other things.. it be locked behind a pay wall makes me feel like i'm the one being punished for one of the things i enjoy most in my video games
Well said. I agree with you. It's funny how often people mention Dead or Alive charging real money to change a character's hairstyle, but Elder Scrolls Online flies under the radar. Zenimax Online Studios charges $10 for a change of hairstyle or color. Yes, ten. Champions of monetization.
A major publisher admitted years ago they don’t design games to be fun or entertaining, but to be addictive. The little dopamine rush we experience when we find a “skin” that reps our personality must be repeated.
Now THAT's the content I'm here for. Well thought discussions of important themes and opinions on matters that go beyond the game of the moment. Well done, guys! We need to see more of this.
Congratulations on lying to yourself just so you can be a pretentious twat online. It is hilariously misguided that you believe that "only buying dlcs" somehow means you aren't being scammed. The vast majority of paid dlc IS a scam. But hey, keep making excuses for the same companies that keep scamming you. I'm sure they LOVE it.
While I do buy DLC too, the problem lies in the fact you cannot buy a full game at launch anymore. The Sims, Spiderman, Control, Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc, all these games ended up releasing DLCs long after you've already paid a lot for a game. If you buy the game and DLC on their release dates, you're paying over a 100. Games used to be sold as a full game on old consoles, nothing new unless a later version came out and something was added into the game (which even then was rare). While DLC often adds more to your experience, microtransactions exist to either make you look pretty or further your progress by paying, look at GTA Online. Though PC gamers have also been suffering from expansions for years, which is basically just a form of DLC.
@@mnArqal93 Yup. Publishers and developers basically punish day-one buyers. Look at a game like Destiny. The later you adopt, the more you get for your money since the later editions skip you past a lot of grinding while giving you access to the latest content.
@@--_--IMP--_-- I havent bought many but how is buying witcher 3 or fallout 4 dlc a scam? Those games are def worth the price. I payed for dlc that was upwards of 40 hours long. So good try douchebag
The worst part too is they'll just shut you down and say "okay boomer" or say you're not with the times. Yet this was something that wasn't even common 10 years ago.
Excellent video, and thank you for the positively at the end as your new “default.” Keep up the great work. Gonna share this one in the book face because I think this needs to be heard even more.
And people still say "Appearance is not everything" But as my mom used to say "See that? That's an "off" switch." . Sometimes a solution is not so difficult.
• 3:32 - It's even more insidious than that. They don't say "this shirt is $1" or "this sword it $0.99", they using in-game currencies which don't feel like real money, and worse, they make it so that the conversion rates between the in-game currencies and real money aren't a nice round thing like 1:1 or 10:1 or whatever, they make them obscure like 425 BLARBS for $1.97 so that players can't convert in their heads to see how much it actually costs because most players won't bother using a calculator. 😒 • 3:53 - Yup, they got a lot of flack for that. You pay to "unlock" a hair-color, but you don't get to actually keep it, you "rent" it. 🤦 • 4:10 - Of course. Devs can make literally near-infinite variations of cosmetics. One click and boom! There's 65,536 new color variations of the same shirt. One more click and boom! There's 16,777,216 variations of the pants. Two keys pressed and bam! There's nearly-uncountably-infinite swords with infinitesimal increases in damage between them. They can make all the assets in the world for free and charge for them. And it's not just children or people with addictions that are being taken advantage of, it's also people with OCD who have a _compulsion_ to complete things. Their _mental disability_ is being abused. 🤦 😒 • 5:05 - Jeez, I've heard of this. It was bad enough when kids didn't have a game at all back in the day, but now they're getting teased about using the default skin in a game. WTAH‽ 😕 As if kids didn't already have enough to worry about. • 5:40 - I can't even imagine being arsed to make a skin for _Minecraft_ (and wouldn't want a prefab that others are using). 🙄 • 6:18 - Older people (read 25+ 🤦) should get "zoomers" to play some "old" games to show them what real gaming used to be. I'm sure their minds would be blow and then maybe they'll stand up against greedy publishers. ¬_¬ • 6:25 - I never even cared for this junk even when they were free. Why would I waste my time to re-play the game again and again to unlock costumes? 🤨 I loved _Silent Hill_ but I'm not playing it again and again to get Heather to wear a cheerleading outfit or Harry a chainsaw or to see an alien ending. 🙄 I don't know about other people, but I have other things to do in my life. ¬_¬ • 7:12 - I'm getting friggin' decision-paralysis just looking at this clip. How do you even choose which one to use? 🤨 • 8:24 - A lot of F2P games _are_ pay-to-win, especially "Chinese Browser Games". Look at "cool downs". I once tried Evony for a couple of days way back when. It was going okay, but then I ran into a block where I couldn't do anything else for free without waiting hours and hours (a couple of cool-downs were _over two weeks!_ ) Needless to say, I stopped playing. ¬_¬ • 9:20 - Ugh, I know right? Remember when people were paying massive amounts of real-world money for plots of land in _Second Life_ ? Who the hell pays thousands of dollars for a few bits on a computer to switch between 0 and 1? 🤨 🤦 Back in the halcyon days of yore, I played _Legend of the Red Dragon_ on BBSes and got frustrated by the daily caps. You couldn't pay to win, there was just a limit on how much you could do per day for the sake of fairness, there was no payment at all. Years later, I downloaded a copy of the game and figured I could run it and hack myself whatever I needed to run through the whole game quickly. But by then, I had moved on to 3D Windows games and couldn't be arsed to bother. 🤷 But that's the point, if I lost interest and didn't care about that, who cares about these games either? People have even shorter attention spans now and move on to other things so quickly, why bother with all this junk? Just play the game and move onto another. Duh. ¬_¬ • Obligatory meme comment: the dislikes are game publisher executives. 🙄
I've been saying all of this for years, it's so ingrained now even my generation accept it. The born in the 80's, played through the golden era of games people. Early in multiplayer gaming history it was a badge of honour to walk around in an outfit you had unlocked through some trials most people couldn't be bothered to, using cheats you unlocked. Where did all the fun cheats go? They were a way of extending the replayability of game ffs, that's a value add! One example I can remember is fining it too easy to beat my mates at Toca World Touring Cars, I used a combo of exploding curbs and the on rails cheats to level the playing field at the same time. The on rails cheat would steer you onto the racing line (the curbs), so the challenge was to go too fast to hit the inside curb & not so fast you'd hit the outside curb. It was hilarious & it made nobody good at the game XD Here's one solution. Ban any virtual currency (not crypto) & make it so they have to show the running total you've spent, that way some people would at least think twice when they notice they could have paid 1 months rent with the amount they've spent or something they needed, but could never seem to afford. TLDR: Micro transactions of any kind are evil, I miss fun cheats. Ban non local currencies from ingame store's.
Had a cousin who played Fortnite. That's the first time I heard the term "default" skin as a derogatory term. Thing is me and my mate played it as well at the start. And we would never spend money on a cosmetic. So we were a bunch of "defaults" who ran around playing (relatively) decently in comparison to my cousins and his friends. And I really tried to discuss the point of gambling and microtransactions in video games with him. It worked, sort of. He almost never plays multiplayer games anymore....
This is one of the most profoundly direct hard hitting videos I've seen on whatculture. Sir you truly deserve every penny you earn and I will forever be a fan and supporter.
I remember that fortnite had some "doctor" or expert in psychology running the milking system, finding the sweet spot for items, color combination and all the bs, they were invited to some dev con to talk about microtransactions
Another problem with microtransactions is that it discourages innovation. Simpsons Tapped Out and SimCity Build It are profitable enough EA has essentially killed the franchise, and it's only mobile microtransaction garbage. This also includes devs who purposely made mod support hard (like GTA 5) so they can sell more cosmetics in multiplayer rather than just mod cosmetics or get people to continue playing single player.
This video needs to be shared, thank you Jules for pointing all this out, I'd personally love to see more videos like this. I'll also admit that as a Warframe player, I have defended the game's tough loot system since technically everything is able to be earned from grinding long enough. Even earning the premium currency to buy skins can be done by earning something another player wants. But to be honest, I'd be lying, yes everything can be earned but drop rates are so low that most players just give in and buy the thing they want. It's not just cosmetics either, literally everything can be bought, the only defense would really be to say that the game is mostly a PVE and FTP title and therefore doesn't hurt other players. I have said that would gladly buy the game at full price or pay a small monthly subscription if it meant a better experience overall and improved drop rates... The game has taken a good chunk of cash from me and I've known other players who've paid literally thousands because of this.
I had no idea bullying over “not wearing the correct” skins was a thing. That’s so shitty. Kids should just let other kids style their characters the way they want. I honestly agree with this whole video.
if there's no fortnite skin to bully you over , kids will find other things, just like they did 10 years ago when there was no microtransactions whatsoever....
i actually do agree. i do think 2020 is slowing any real noticable prgoression forward with this sort of thing possibly 2021 but once 2022 i do think we can see things starting to somehow continue to get more and more agressive. i could be wrong in how 2020 is slowing any real noticeable progression though and infact publishers are using 2020 as a distraction to get away with more agressive tactics. but yeah point is in 2-3 years from now i do think things in video games will be even more agressive then they are now.
I'm really glad you've done a video on this, it's an important subject. Jim Sterling has been making this point for years, good to see this message getting wider dissemination.
My mindset is: if I can't play to unlock it, I won't buy it in the ingame store. If it isn't a worthwile addition (like a good dlc), I refuse to buy it. I refuse to spend money om something cosmetical, or pay to win. I even go as far as to not buy the game at all if it has a pay to win format. My time is precious, because I work fulltime and do a study aswell. I feel like it's a waste of money if I can't play to win or play towards an achievement that gives me the cosmetic item, in my opinion thats part of the thrill of even getting a cosmetic item.
I remember playing Ratchet and Clank on PS2 and having to complete challenges to unlock certain armour/skins. If I didn't get it, it was always on me. Now if I want to get a comestic in a game I've got to hope I get it in lootboxes or I can unlock it by some in-game currency that either takes 5000+hours grinding or just pay. Or it's actual DLC!!
Completely off topic but 1. Is that a stardock for your bike? 2. You cycle, love it. 3. Next to you, guitar cab on vid left? These aside, the points you raise have been plaguing the community for to long, need more people highlighting this, nice job Jules!
Predatory yes, gambling no. It’s not gambling because you know what you’re getting. Loot boxes are gambling because you are paying in hopes of getting something but might not get it. Cosmetics aren’t gambling just predatory
Aidan i think the argument that cosmetics are addictive can be made too though. The same way getting likes on social media gives you a hit of dopamine, kids wanna have the cool characters that their friends approve of, otherwise they are “defaults”, social suicide lol.
I hear you Juls, I've spent some money in cod mobile, their crates are designed to give you the worst until without knowing you have spent 300.000 cop (my country's money) it's to damn much money for a gun that looks cool, i told to myself only to buy battle pass, but for some reason i keep on buying these crates, and the stupid thing is that im not in the best financial situation, but yeah, I'll stop, i don't have a console in the moment so it's kind of the only game i play 😅 Anyway, excellent video 🔥
This is absolutely spot on. The industry ignoring the science behind the long term gambling issues that can arise reminds me of the tobacco industry back in the past (and still today in poorly regulated countries) of ignoring the link between smoking and cancer for commercial gain. Come on games industry grow a pair and deal with this now instead of trying to deal with consequences in 10 years time. And I mean properly, not with weak self regulation ‘when the fun stops’ style warnings!
This was a great video on a part of the microtransaction problem overlooked in general. A bug-bear for me is DLC-at-launch. If it is available at launch, it should be a part of the base game. Releases having multiple versions on day one is absolutely ridiculous. For example, Assassin's Creed Valhalla on the PS5 has four versions available at launch from GAME -: Assassin's Creed Valhalla (£51.99) Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Drakkar Edition - UK Retail Exclusive (£57.99) Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Gold Edition (£84.99) Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Ultimate Edition - UK Retail Exclusive (£99.99) On the PS4 they have EIGHT versions at launch; the four above and four with various collectables. The collector's edition versions I don't have an issue with as you're paying for something extra outside of the game itself, but having four different versions means the base game is really only around 2/3 of the full experience.
Excellent video and very well put throughout. I hate the “it’s just cosmetic argument”. Cosmetics are a very big part of my enjoyment so shrugging it off like that really annoys me. I miss the time of them being unlockables and in game rewards for doing well and to show off. Now it’s just to show how much money you have, Oh how far we’ve come since Horse Armour. That end point about there being something wrong with how the industry is run if games can sell 10’s of millions of copies and still need this crap is spot on. Blame it on a bunch of shareholders at each company requiring perpetual, unsustainable growth from their companies. If they earn £35 million one year you bet they’ll want £40+ mill the next even though there’s no need for anyone to ever need that much money every single year. You can bet the developers lower down never see any of this extra money gained from micro transactions, in fact they’ll probably get laid off while their bosses brag about record sales and income. It’s fucking disgusting.
Thank you for this video. There are serious themes in video games. While most of us watch for entertainment, thank you for taking the time (and risk) to bring these issues to light.
He mentioned it in the video; a general increase in game prices. But then people bitch about that as well. Basically a no-win situation. It's basically either microtransactions or $100 games for the "base/standard" versions. Of course there is the indie scene. But as much as I like them (especially being a hardcore CRPG/adventure game fan), it is still the AAA games that drive the market.
@@Viscount_Castlereagh And then never be able to update the game again? The money only lasts for so long. It's better if it's a consistent stream of revenue.
In-game cosmetics are only "better" than power-up type cosmetics for the exact reason you said, Jules, thank you for saying it. I SO miss the days when the things that are now obtainable by micro-transactions were only obtainable by in-game feats and actions. Preach it Daddy J!
Let’s be real. The biggest problem are with the industry is us (gamers), who demand more and more, but wanna pay less and less for games. I totally understand that developers wanna keep earning money long after realease, since they’re expected to keep the game alive and fresh for years to come. We expecting people to work for free? I sure wouldn’t, no matter how much I loved it and how passionate i was about it. At the end of the day, I still need to pay rent and put food on the table for me and my kids. The whole bullying thing is horrible, but we can’t blame the developers for that any more than we can for kids that use violence or the school shootings etc. Clothing has loooong been an issue when it comes to bullying, but I don’t see anyone pointing their fingers at the manufacturers. Isn’t that the same thing? We blame so much on gaming, but in most (not all) cases it’s actually the parenting that’s the issue. We buy our kids games like GTA, Mortal Kombat or Call of duty without having any clue what they actually do in those games. We wouldn’t put a 8yo of front of a scary or violent movie without thinking twice, so why are games any different? It’s real easy to blame developers, but let’s face it. We as gamers are toxic and wanna eat the cake without either baking it OR buying it. Someone should just have it delivered to our doorstep for free and god help them if they want something in return. It’s also much easier to blame the developers instead of looking ourselves (as parents) in the mirror and facing the facts that it’s much easier to put our kids in front of a screen than actually doing some proper parenting. My kids play games too, but not online with others (yet) and not without us knowing what they play and what’s going on. If my sons told me they get bullied cause they don’t have enough skins or the right ones? I’d have a long talk with the school and the other parents to try and solve the issue. Not call Epic and blame them.
To add on, games use alternate currencies that are imbalanced with the prices of the cosmetics, so you're forced to buy more currency, thus losing money.... Then, it's a psychological piece where you don't actually see the actual price of what you're buying, so you can't see the significant prices you're spending on the "800 super points" skin...that you use once
You’re absolutely right about the default skin bullying! It blows my mind that kids act like this. My son plays Roblox and he told me that kids get bullied online for that, I just couldn’t believe it
Watch some of the old 360 cod lobby videos 😂 you ain't seen nothin yet.
this is the first i have heard of default being a being a bully term. that being said for the most part i avoid cosmetic items as for me for the most part i feel like they feel kind of out of place and make my character look silly in most games i play. i like default cosmetics mostly myself.
People have always bullied the have-nots. Primates value status, humans included. It's hardwired into us.
@@MIXMASTER6991 pick up a wheel gun! And you suck uninstall the game! and put the uptown you noob!
Not exactly for microtransactions. But a while back, kids were actually being bullied in schools for not playing Fortnite. Could you imagine sitting in a classroom and having people laugh at you because you haven't played a certain game! It's the one thing I can say I never saw happen or experience when I was at school.
This video is possibly one of the most important videos out there. This practice is just wrong and well done for highlighting it.
Ian Harvey Jim Sterling has been highlighting it for YEARS...
Is it really wrong? Really? I mean how often do you buy new clothes? Is it a con when you buy a t shirt and its not in style forever? Such con many bad..... or you're just listening to this moronic channel on anything.
@@ChrisTomson Jim stearling is a horrible person and you shouldn't listen to what he has to say. I used to think he was playing a character especially when he said "thank God for me" but hes not. He really thinks you should thank God for him
@@JimmyTurner So basically you support microtransactions based on your comment? Tbh I I don't see how anyone support it.
@@HikarusukeShindou i support cosmetic microtransactions. Why would i care if someone wants to pay for virtual clothes? Why would i care if a company finds a way to make more money?
If you are dumb enough to pay for a virtual skin in a video game thats on you and nobody else. Ive never bought one. Never felt the need to. Never been pressured to. Instead of complaining about them tell the idiots to have some self control and if not atleast take personal responsibility for being dumb to pay for them.
As somebody who used to get bullied for the clothes that I wore as a kid because it wasn't name brand, it really makes me sad to think that kids are getting bullied for virtual clothes.
Bullying is disgusting in every way, shape and form.
I truly LOVE you videos, I look forward to watching them.
As an old guy I understand what you're saying.
I just sat my 10 year old son down to watch this... he has listened to his old man say these same things.
Thank you brother
Raise the ESRB for any game that contains microtransactions, or outlaw them completely and rely on ingame currency earned by progress
You don't even have to do that. Make it ao that microstransaction can only be bought with credit card.
Now we simply need responsible parents that don't give their kid their or - even worse - its own credit card.
Lets be truthful, parents dont care about ESRB ratings, and ESRB isnt up to date anyway. We all are far from your kids playing a game in front of the only tv or computer in your house. I mean my father can still remember ninja in MGS saying "I love the pain". Parents just need to say no and teach their kids that bullys online aren't worth it just log off.
No pare ts need to actually act like parents
@War Wolf wouldn't there also be adult content in most of those
ESRB and PEGI both are run by the industry it self. The wording of their regulation will be full of loopholes. Self-regulation is failing unfortunatly.
I’m so tired of the words “Microtransactions” and “Games as a service” 😐😐
Use the term "surprise mechanics", much better now, right?
Joel Deakin lmao they love their money 😆
i find it funny saquderns is being prassied as not having one of those 2 things. its just its funny how when a game avoids those 2 things now its something to be praised for.
@@joeldeakin2003 hey I know people who who probably would defend the bullying in these games by saying it's a "feature" yes bullying by real people in the game is a "feature" it adds a "challenge" to the game or motivates you to be better or something like that.
"games as a service" gives you access to the new Flight Simulator at a discounted price tho
Jim Sterling has been banging this drum for literal years, doesn't get the reach you guys get though. We need more outlets with videos like this.
Jim to me is the perfect example of a guy who I agree completely with in regards to what a problem is but will vehemently disagree with on what the solution to that problem should be.
@@invidatauro8922 isn't Jim Sterling the guy who also supports censorship in video games and etc?
I wouldn't trust that man, even if he tried to be pro-community.
@@zahkrosis5133 Exactly, like I said, I agree with him completely on the problems, but the solutions are where me and him would likely come to blows.
I love it when Jules talk to us in the end like we are actually there!!! IN EVERY VIDEO!!! Damn its reassuring!!! THANKS JULES!!!! THANK YOU!!!
I can't even imagine what these kids go through I'm 30 now and I can still remember the feeling of being made fun of back in school and it still bothers me to this day
I too was bullied, but I learned that my bullies were either weak and used bullying to feel strong, or they were abused by their family and that’s what made them bullies.
Ironically most of my childhood bullies that I ran into later in life apologized for their behavior and shared they had their own problems and acted out instead of trying to deal with them.
Don’t give them any power to make you feel bad. In fact, you should be proud of yourself that you are resilient and persevered all that abuse.
@The_Rifster It does not matter nothing and nobody makes ppl bullies, ppl always choose to be one it's always a matter of free will and nobody has a right to abuse others no matter what's happening at home they need to be better. Regardless since they've sinned eventually they deserve to pay for that. Those who chose to hurt others simply are just pathetic cowards that is all. If they faced a real fighter they'd run away crying. The only reason they apologize is because it's a fake apology they just want to pretend they did nothing wrong and get a free pass for being evil and dodge consequences and punishment and you fell for it hard there.
Jules and Jim Sterling collaboration incoming. Join up their tag lines and you've got 'Thank God for Your Mum'
It winds me up how whatculture hosts never talk about this on the same level as Jim Sterling. Jim Sterling is GOAT.
@@kratos.8151 I can watch Jules talk about these topics all day long whereas Jim's style gives me a near panic attack. I can't describe it. Just as he talks about how awful everything is, it stresses me out. Sure that's the point of it, but it makes me want to avoid his videos all the more. Jules has a much calmer tone, much more 'radio host' relatable type that makes a person want to listen and be soothed by.
@@MsYunaFires I agree that Jules has much more accessible approach, Jim is more intense. I find Jim's style cathartic, I have to be in the right mood for his vids, like in a ranting mood.
At first, I was like, if it isn't pay to win, I'm fine with it. After Jules pointed out the addiction and bullying aspects, I became mad and started reminiscing about the times when we could just unlock everything through grinding or completing special objectives and finding secrets
To quote Yahtzee "If you charge money for something you can make infinite amounts of with little effort, it's not a" service", it's the very death of economics as a concept "
The use of "default" as an insult is eerily similar to something in the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson way back in 1992. In the book there is a virtual reality internet. Some people buy expensive avatars, hackers make their own custom avatars. But then there are the "black and whites," people who can't afford nice avatars, and instead are represented by low resolution grayscale avatars.
The internet was barely even a thing when the book was written, and Stephenson fairly accurately predicted people bullying others over Fortnite skins
I freaking love this video. Calling attention to the real failing of the video game industry. I am 28 and was hanging out with a group of 27-38 year old original gamers who expressed the same displeasure of the gaming industry as this video pointed out. Thank you for bringing more light to this subject. (We had this conversation while playing donkey kong country and comparing it to modern games).
The fun in games has come to an end for me and this is one of the reasons, as a kid I had so much fun just forgetting about the world on the PS2 and collecting things in the actual games
I hate when people excuse them as being "just optional" as if it was a valid excuse.
You don't have to buy it
@@surfhappens202 you just did exactly what the op said he hates people do lol.
but its true if its optional then you dont have to spend a dime. if ppl truly just didnt spend their money on pointless cosmetics then the practice wouldve died a long time ago
@@thewewguy8t88 Doesn't mean the dude isn't correct in his statement lol the game is free to play, the skins are cosmetic and optional
I played Path of Exile for 500 hours without purchasing anything. I decided to buy some cosmetics simply to give them some money for making a game I got a lot of enjoyment out of. The same thing happened when I started playing League of Legends. If I can get what are now thousands of hours of enjoyment out of a game without using their microtransactions it seems like a perfectly valid excuse.
Thank you for this video. This is a discussion that needs to happen on a wider level. I detest games with cosmetic micro transactions. If I learn that they're in the game, I've started to not buy them.
I'm 17 now and have been playing games for about 8 years, but only properly getting into it in 2014/5 when I got my PS4.
I had friends that would spend so much of their parents money on skins for guns on CoD, often times without them even knowing, doing the same for every game they played that offered them something to buy.
A few years later Fortnite would come out and them same friends are spending more money on all the skins and battle passes that came onto the game. Ive never seen the hype behind paying for something that really isn't going to benefit my performance or even enhance the experience of the game as a whole but I remember a lot of them same friends judging me quite heavily for not having them same skins. This never really bothered me because I stuck to my standards, but them same people are still buying them skins.
I can't say much for other games, but I know for a fact that Fortnite is very clever when it comes to their skins, designing different skins for every different mood, personality of play style, reflecting your own opinions as the player, in the game, and sure I suppose not having the skins to fit the persona you want to play as can kind of make you feel like it's okay to spend this money on them, especially when they are relatively cheap. But as Jules said in the video, these prices soon stack up and it can be hard to see when to stop, once you've already started a collection.
My brother is 12 and has been playing the game since he was 9. For his latest birthday he got £50 worth of ps vouchers, all of which went onto Fortnite, A FREE GAME WITH NO ADDED GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS TO BUY APART FROM THE LOOK OF YOUR CHARACTER. That is all I have to say. Thank you for reading this.
This was great to read.
@@Hangman149 lmao I read that as hard to read for like 5 solid minutes don't know why lol, but thank you
Microtransactions aside, release nearly any game from the last 5 years in the early 2000s then it and the publisher would be destroyed for releasing a buggy mess and they would be chased out of the industry. You can even release with the same graphics and all the polish in the world wouldn't save it from being DESTROYED by critics and customers alike. A game needing a day 1 patch of nearly the size of the game would be laughed all the way to the bargain bins.
Microtransactions are one of the reasons that the last consoles I bought were PS2 and Wii.
I'll stick with retro: buy a game, insert game, play game. No huge data updates, no having to have an internet connection, no dlc, no microtransactions. I refuse to be a part of it.
Pc has some great ones too :)
You must not enjoy gaming at all these days then. Nearly everything has updates attached, or require an internet connection for cloud saves/achievements. And not all DLC is *bad*. Case in point: Mass Effect 3's Omega and especially Citadel.
I've never had issues on my PS3. It because truly pervasive with the current gen. Yeah it was out there in the previous gen, but nowhere near as bad is today. I have never bought fewer games for a console than I have this gen. I refuse to buy games that have them at launch. And I wait about 12 months post launch to see if they add them in games I might be interested in. I bought less than 10 games for the PS4. I have a minimum of 20 with every other console I've ever owned, all the way back to the NES.
I oNlY pLaY oLd StUfF bEcAuSe AlL nEw StUfF sUcKs!!!
@@gfear24 They started to introduce it and experiment with it back then, it was still the early days. I think by the mid 2010s they were well established. By the way in PlayStation's latest quarterly finance report you can see most of their revenue was generated by DLC, microtransactions, and other in-game purchases. 41 percent, thats $2.29 billion. So microtransactions are here to stay sadly.
Cosmetics are just as manipulative as any other type of microtransaction.
They're digital dealers selling downloadable drugs. "Naaah, that's not addictive. I promise."
1st one is free! 🤪
Hah, you are right and I salute ya for that
I know.
Microtransactions are literally virtual drugs. Once you start, it's like you spiral down into an endless cycle of wasting money on something that should've been free.
Microtransactions are no different than gambling! Anyone that tempts me to get something via a microtransaction and I instantly flashback to the peer pressure where people tried to pressure me to drink, smoke, do drugs, etc.) which I never caved to once! And I treat this circumstance no differently. There's something so much more satisfying earning these items through the in game currency vs caving instantly and buying these items with IRL money. Fall Guys for example I have bought things that piqued my interest in the game by building up Kudos (their in game currency) and have never once spent my IRL money on any of their battle passes, character skins, etc.)
I started watching this channel a few months ago and I honestly love everything you guys put out Keep it Goin!!!
I usually end up watching there videos at work I just put it on and listen it’s usually something interesting
I never comment on videos, but I will today. This was such a well written piece. Congrats to WhatCulture for your stance on this predatory system. I've never heard of the term "Default" until this morning. As someone who really relied on video games as a teenager to escape social pressures, the thought of being bullied because you don't have the "cool skin" breaks my heart. Well done to all involved. ❤❤❤
We’ve all said this and we’ve talked about it forever even on the channel but Jules I’m real glad you took the time to point it out again, it’s not just acceptable, we need to be upset with this!
i bought street fighter 5 for 60 bucks back in 2016, and since then, i've probably spent an additional 100 bucks just on costumes
hey i bought the sims 4 in 2014 and yeah they constantly put a lot of dlc. i think its at 30+ packs now.
@@thewewguy8t88 Yeah all the Sims 4 dlc is worth $1000 now
Loser
Good video, Jules. I saw another similar one about the hyper-nomalization of microtransactions and such. Pretty interesting.
I love this video, thank you for putting this out there. So many parents have no clue about this stuff and how it is conditioning the youth of today to develop habits that will be more tragic come adulthood. Very well done sir!!
i absolutely loved this video, its like your little advice clips at the end of the compilations, but a full length one, make more pleasemate
Lol at your name
This is one of the most thoughtful and impactful videos on the gaming industry that I've seen in a long time. 10 points to WMG and Jules - this level of discourse is needed more within the gaming community. It helps advocate for players and the art form.
Every time I heard Jules say “but I’m an old man” bothered me. He has a point and a damn good one, so it doesn’t matter if it was done by a 10 year old or a 80 year old. The truth, even if it’s “subjective”, has no age.
Regardless, good vid, absolutely loved it.
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen on this channel. More content like this please. Really well-written and thoughtful commentary.
such a shame, as someone who got bullied in my younger years, being bullied online for just using the default skin/character is just stupid and sickening.
its kind of funny but i was reading reviews or early impressions of squaderns and one of the high points were oh yeah no microtransactions and that you have to unlock all the cosmetic items in the game yourself.
7:35
I'm sorry but this logic of increasing price tag from 60 only works if video games were being only sold in USA. In other countries games already cost alot more, sometimes to the point of being complete bs.
yeah, central america you need 1/5 from your avrg payment to buy a new game
Yeah it shows how naive he is that he thinks this would actually be a good idea when other countries are already showing us it's not.
I have subbed to y'all but this is the first video I've watched in months.
Thanks for putting light on this matter
I rather have the free will choice of buying whatever cosmetic I want rather than a randomized lootbox determining what I get.
Yes, I would prefer unlocking them myself, but it’s a lesser of two evils I’m willing to swallow
that is a fair point. but you and me are clearly not the targets of buying cosmetic items.
If this is the cost of all the free maps and updates added to games. I can live with that
That is not a fair point, at all. It is the kind of ridiculous "point" someone with Stockholm Syndrome would make. Predatory monetization is predatory monetization. Being psychologically manipulated into doing what someone else wants you to do is not "free will choice", in any capacity. Anyone who gives this bullshit excuse is a pawn being moved from C2 to C3, nothing more.
This is not a zero-sum game. Those two bad choices are *not* the only choices. You are not obligated to choose between those two bad choices. People can (and absolutely should) reject and condemn both cosmetic transactions and lootboxes. If more people were to stand up to (and reject) these types of corporate assfucking instead of meekly taking that assfucking like a homeless prostitute with a drug addiction, we wouldn't be in this mess. Instead, we have people who keep condoning the actions of (and making excuses for) the same corporations that keep repeatedly fucking them in the ass because hey, at least they aren't assfucking us with a broken bottle like some other corporations are.
This is a bad take.
Thats like saying i would take it in the mouth rather then the rear. Your missing the point lets say neither because if accept one then they will do both.
Big shout out to you for this content.
Far too often i hear people sticking up for cosmetic microtransactions, whilst ignoring the significant impact that they have on individuaks and the industry as a whole.
Here's hoping this turns a few more heads in the right direction!
Another thing which worries me about all this too is just how angry people were about horse armour, now that would be seen as a bargain in some games. This happens with lots of controversial things in gaming, in normalising “it’s just cosmetic”, how long until the backlash to gameplay altering micro transactions like those seen in Battlefront 2 gets worn down to the point that’s seen as normal too? It’ll happen, I’ve no doubt. Especially after seeing how much people are willing to defend companies at their terrible practices.
Shoutout to markiplier for doing a small part to break the trend using the default skin in fall guys
He is a Queen and he slays
I do like cosmetics... but when bundles become 90$ like valorant !! then I become cheap AF
Naw you're just smart
You are absolutely not being cheap. That is simply egregious.
Valorant skin prices are just exorbitant
Cosmetics are terrible too, it should be free like older games.
@@Syphonpsx except for the fact that it takes more money and resources to make games now therefore making it harder for a game to be profitable
to me, cosmetics is half the game, something i enjoy most in video games is personalizing my character, vehicles and other things.. it be locked behind a pay wall makes me feel like i'm the one being punished for one of the things i enjoy most in my video games
Amazing video Jules, I seriously respect you for having the guts to put something like this out there
This is one of my favorite TH-cam gaming channels. They are always full force with their views of the gaming industry. Keep going hard!
Amazingly well thought out and well presented. Cheers mate.
Well said. I agree with you.
It's funny how often people mention Dead or Alive charging real money to change a character's hairstyle, but Elder Scrolls Online flies under the radar. Zenimax Online Studios charges $10 for a change of hairstyle or color. Yes, ten. Champions of monetization.
A major publisher admitted years ago they don’t design games to be fun or entertaining, but to be addictive. The little dopamine rush we experience when we find a “skin” that reps our personality must be repeated.
I’m so happy that there’s a big gaming channel that dares to make videos like this still.
A well executed important informative piece of TH-cam work. I've seen this tackled many times on TH-cam but not as well done as this. Nice job man 👍
The lists are great but I love these deep dives and such an important and yet often under discussed issue. Well done Jules
Microtransactions is a demonic word for being robbed by greedy thugs
Now THAT's the content I'm here for. Well thought discussions of important themes and opinions on matters that go beyond the game of the moment. Well done, guys! We need to see more of this.
It's really not hard to not give these scammers money.. in years of playing I've only bought dlcs. And only after making sure they're good
yeah well your not a kid or someone with complusury issues.
Congratulations on lying to yourself just so you can be a pretentious twat online. It is hilariously misguided that you believe that "only buying dlcs" somehow means you aren't being scammed. The vast majority of paid dlc IS a scam. But hey, keep making excuses for the same companies that keep scamming you. I'm sure they LOVE it.
While I do buy DLC too, the problem lies in the fact you cannot buy a full game at launch anymore. The Sims, Spiderman, Control, Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc, all these games ended up releasing DLCs long after you've already paid a lot for a game. If you buy the game and DLC on their release dates, you're paying over a 100. Games used to be sold as a full game on old consoles, nothing new unless a later version came out and something was added into the game (which even then was rare). While DLC often adds more to your experience, microtransactions exist to either make you look pretty or further your progress by paying, look at GTA Online.
Though PC gamers have also been suffering from expansions for years, which is basically just a form of DLC.
@@mnArqal93 Yup. Publishers and developers basically punish day-one buyers. Look at a game like Destiny. The later you adopt, the more you get for your money since the later editions skip you past a lot of grinding while giving you access to the latest content.
@@--_--IMP--_-- I havent bought many but how is buying witcher 3 or fallout 4 dlc a scam? Those games are def worth the price. I payed for dlc that was upwards of 40 hours long. So good try douchebag
That pretty much confirms what I tought. Only older gamers like us really understand. Kids nowadays think this is the norm...
The worst part too is they'll just shut you down and say "okay boomer" or say you're not with the times. Yet this was something that wasn't even common 10 years ago.
Excellent video, and thank you for the positively at the end as your new “default.” Keep up the great work. Gonna share this one in the book face because I think this needs to be heard even more.
And people still say "Appearance is not everything"
But as my mom used to say "See that? That's an "off" switch."
.
Sometimes a solution is not so difficult.
I remember South Park did an episode about this “freemium isn’t free” and how addiction plays into micro transactions
Free = you don't have to spend money
-mium = not really
• 3:32 - It's even more insidious than that. They don't say "this shirt is $1" or "this sword it $0.99", they using in-game currencies which don't feel like real money, and worse, they make it so that the conversion rates between the in-game currencies and real money aren't a nice round thing like 1:1 or 10:1 or whatever, they make them obscure like 425 BLARBS for $1.97 so that players can't convert in their heads to see how much it actually costs because most players won't bother using a calculator. 😒
• 3:53 - Yup, they got a lot of flack for that. You pay to "unlock" a hair-color, but you don't get to actually keep it, you "rent" it. 🤦
• 4:10 - Of course. Devs can make literally near-infinite variations of cosmetics. One click and boom! There's 65,536 new color variations of the same shirt. One more click and boom! There's 16,777,216 variations of the pants. Two keys pressed and bam! There's nearly-uncountably-infinite swords with infinitesimal increases in damage between them. They can make all the assets in the world for free and charge for them. And it's not just children or people with addictions that are being taken advantage of, it's also people with OCD who have a _compulsion_ to complete things. Their _mental disability_ is being abused. 🤦 😒
• 5:05 - Jeez, I've heard of this. It was bad enough when kids didn't have a game at all back in the day, but now they're getting teased about using the default skin in a game. WTAH‽ 😕 As if kids didn't already have enough to worry about.
• 5:40 - I can't even imagine being arsed to make a skin for _Minecraft_ (and wouldn't want a prefab that others are using). 🙄
• 6:18 - Older people (read 25+ 🤦) should get "zoomers" to play some "old" games to show them what real gaming used to be. I'm sure their minds would be blow and then maybe they'll stand up against greedy publishers. ¬_¬
• 6:25 - I never even cared for this junk even when they were free. Why would I waste my time to re-play the game again and again to unlock costumes? 🤨 I loved _Silent Hill_ but I'm not playing it again and again to get Heather to wear a cheerleading outfit or Harry a chainsaw or to see an alien ending. 🙄 I don't know about other people, but I have other things to do in my life. ¬_¬
• 7:12 - I'm getting friggin' decision-paralysis just looking at this clip. How do you even choose which one to use? 🤨
• 8:24 - A lot of F2P games _are_ pay-to-win, especially "Chinese Browser Games". Look at "cool downs". I once tried Evony for a couple of days way back when. It was going okay, but then I ran into a block where I couldn't do anything else for free without waiting hours and hours (a couple of cool-downs were _over two weeks!_ ) Needless to say, I stopped playing. ¬_¬
• 9:20 - Ugh, I know right? Remember when people were paying massive amounts of real-world money for plots of land in _Second Life_ ? Who the hell pays thousands of dollars for a few bits on a computer to switch between 0 and 1? 🤨 🤦 Back in the halcyon days of yore, I played _Legend of the Red Dragon_ on BBSes and got frustrated by the daily caps. You couldn't pay to win, there was just a limit on how much you could do per day for the sake of fairness, there was no payment at all. Years later, I downloaded a copy of the game and figured I could run it and hack myself whatever I needed to run through the whole game quickly. But by then, I had moved on to 3D Windows games and couldn't be arsed to bother. 🤷 But that's the point, if I lost interest and didn't care about that, who cares about these games either? People have even shorter attention spans now and move on to other things so quickly, why bother with all this junk? Just play the game and move onto another. Duh. ¬_¬
• Obligatory meme comment: the dislikes are game publisher executives. 🙄
This needs to seen by the wider gaming world. Such an important message.
What's completely unacceptable is the games that add microtransactions in singleplayer too and many go further than just cosmetics.
I've been saying all of this for years, it's so ingrained now even my generation accept it. The born in the 80's, played through the golden era of games people. Early in multiplayer gaming history it was a badge of honour to walk around in an outfit you had unlocked through some trials most people couldn't be bothered to, using cheats you unlocked. Where did all the fun cheats go? They were a way of extending the replayability of game ffs, that's a value add! One example I can remember is fining it too easy to beat my mates at Toca World Touring Cars, I used a combo of exploding curbs and the on rails cheats to level the playing field at the same time. The on rails cheat would steer you onto the racing line (the curbs), so the challenge was to go too fast to hit the inside curb & not so fast you'd hit the outside curb. It was hilarious & it made nobody good at the game XD
Here's one solution. Ban any virtual currency (not crypto) & make it so they have to show the running total you've spent, that way some people would at least think twice when they notice they could have paid 1 months rent with the amount they've spent or something they needed, but could never seem to afford.
TLDR: Micro transactions of any kind are evil, I miss fun cheats. Ban non local currencies from ingame store's.
Had a cousin who played Fortnite. That's the first time I heard the term "default" skin as a derogatory term. Thing is me and my mate played it as well at the start. And we would never spend money on a cosmetic. So we were a bunch of "defaults" who ran around playing (relatively) decently in comparison to my cousins and his friends. And I really tried to discuss the point of gambling and microtransactions in video games with him. It worked, sort of. He almost never plays multiplayer games anymore....
This is one of the most profoundly direct hard hitting videos I've seen on whatculture. Sir you truly deserve every penny you earn and I will forever be a fan and supporter.
So good to see someone doing proper journalism.
You da man Jules.
Girls Frontline.....
*DROPS $30 ON A CHARACTER COSTUME*
I remember that fortnite had some "doctor" or expert in psychology running the milking system, finding the sweet spot for items, color combination and all the bs, they were invited to some dev con to talk about microtransactions
I never paid money for a transaction.
I normally don't like this guy's vids but this one is actually a good one and informative
Another problem with microtransactions is that it discourages innovation. Simpsons Tapped Out and SimCity Build It are profitable enough EA has essentially killed the franchise, and it's only mobile microtransaction garbage.
This also includes devs who purposely made mod support hard (like GTA 5) so they can sell more cosmetics in multiplayer rather than just mod cosmetics or get people to continue playing single player.
Brilliant video highlighting a serious problem that’s been around for years now!
This video needs to be shared, thank you Jules for pointing all this out, I'd personally love to see more videos like this.
I'll also admit that as a Warframe player, I have defended the game's tough loot system since technically everything is able to be earned from grinding long enough. Even earning the premium currency to buy skins can be done by earning something another player wants. But to be honest, I'd be lying, yes everything can be earned but drop rates are so low that most players just give in and buy the thing they want. It's not just cosmetics either, literally everything can be bought, the only defense would really be to say that the game is mostly a PVE and FTP title and therefore doesn't hurt other players. I have said that would gladly buy the game at full price or pay a small monthly subscription if it meant a better experience overall and improved drop rates...
The game has taken a good chunk of cash from me and I've known other players who've paid literally thousands because of this.
I had no idea bullying over “not wearing the correct” skins was a thing. That’s so shitty. Kids should just let other kids style their characters the way they want. I honestly agree with this whole video.
Kids are shitty and will bully over anything.
if there's no fortnite skin to bully you over , kids will find other things, just like they did 10 years ago when there was no microtransactions whatsoever....
Just as it was in RL for ages, online it has been the same the moment there were items showing your wealth. Nothing new, bullies will always be there.
imagine using your parents money to floss on someone. Bro, you didn't earn that, you're spoiled.
Remember the good old days when alternate costumes, characters and extra story missions were free.
Thank you for this video Jules. Unfortunately, this is the future
Cyberpunk can’t get here soon enough
i actually do agree. i do think 2020 is slowing any real noticable prgoression forward with this sort of thing possibly 2021 but once 2022 i do think we can see things starting to somehow continue to get more and more agressive. i could be wrong in how 2020 is slowing any real noticeable progression though and infact publishers are using 2020 as a distraction to get away with more agressive tactics. but yeah point is in 2-3 years from now i do think things in video games will be even more agressive then they are now.
Keep preaching this. Its very sad that once you could unlock these items, and now we gotta pay for loot boxes that doesn't give you want you want
I'm really glad you've done a video on this, it's an important subject. Jim Sterling has been making this point for years, good to see this message getting wider dissemination.
My mindset is: if I can't play to unlock it, I won't buy it in the ingame store. If it isn't a worthwile addition (like a good dlc), I refuse to buy it. I refuse to spend money om something cosmetical, or pay to win. I even go as far as to not buy the game at all if it has a pay to win format. My time is precious, because I work fulltime and do a study aswell. I feel like it's a waste of money if I can't play to win or play towards an achievement that gives me the cosmetic item, in my opinion thats part of the thrill of even getting a cosmetic item.
I remember playing Ratchet and Clank on PS2 and having to complete challenges to unlock certain armour/skins. If I didn't get it, it was always on me.
Now if I want to get a comestic in a game I've got to hope I get it in lootboxes or I can unlock it by some in-game currency that either takes 5000+hours grinding or just pay. Or it's actual DLC!!
Completely off topic but
1. Is that a stardock for your bike?
2. You cycle, love it.
3. Next to you, guitar cab on vid left?
These aside, the points you raise have been plaguing the community for to long, need more people highlighting this, nice job Jules!
Best aging video in TH-cam history.
They’re addictive and should be considered gambling in examples like Fifa, cosmetics not so much, but still addictive 🤷♂️
I agree some games have you spend like 30 pounds all for a few items and cosmetics
Predatory yes, gambling no. It’s not gambling because you know what you’re getting. Loot boxes are gambling because you are paying in hopes of getting something but might not get it. Cosmetics aren’t gambling just predatory
Onion well said “just predatory”. Imagine that was like a defense in court lol
Onion ‘should be considered gambling in examples like Fifa’, didn’t mean to suggest cosmetics where addictive
Aidan i think the argument that cosmetics are addictive can be made too though. The same way getting likes on social media gives you a hit of dopamine, kids wanna have the cool characters that their friends approve of, otherwise they are “defaults”, social suicide lol.
I hear you Juls, I've spent some money in cod mobile, their crates are designed to give you the worst until without knowing you have spent 300.000 cop (my country's money) it's to damn much money for a gun that looks cool, i told to myself only to buy battle pass, but for some reason i keep on buying these crates, and the stupid thing is that im not in the best financial situation, but yeah, I'll stop, i don't have a console in the moment so it's kind of the only game i play 😅
Anyway, excellent video 🔥
Holy Hell, did I just watch something that resembled journalism? In the game industry? That just earned you a more regular viewer.
This is absolutely spot on. The industry ignoring the science behind the long term gambling issues that can arise reminds me of the tobacco industry back in the past (and still today in poorly regulated countries) of ignoring the link between smoking and cancer for commercial gain. Come on games industry grow a pair and deal with this now instead of trying to deal with consequences in 10 years time. And I mean properly, not with weak self regulation ‘when the fun stops’ style warnings!
This was a great video on a part of the microtransaction problem overlooked in general.
A bug-bear for me is DLC-at-launch. If it is available at launch, it should be a part of the base game. Releases having multiple versions on day one is absolutely ridiculous.
For example, Assassin's Creed Valhalla
on the PS5 has four versions available at launch from GAME -:
Assassin's Creed Valhalla (£51.99)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Drakkar Edition - UK Retail Exclusive
(£57.99)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Gold Edition (£84.99)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Ultimate Edition - UK Retail Exclusive (£99.99)
On the PS4 they have EIGHT versions at launch; the four above and four with various collectables. The collector's edition versions I don't have an issue with as you're paying for something extra outside of the game itself, but having four different versions means the base game is really only around 2/3 of the full experience.
Excellent video and very well put throughout.
I hate the “it’s just cosmetic argument”. Cosmetics are a very big part of my enjoyment so shrugging it off like that really annoys me. I miss the time of them being unlockables and in game rewards for doing well and to show off. Now it’s just to show how much money you have,
Oh how far we’ve come since Horse Armour.
That end point about there being something wrong with how the industry is run if games can sell 10’s of millions of copies and still need this crap is spot on. Blame it on a bunch of shareholders at each company requiring perpetual, unsustainable growth from their companies. If they earn £35 million one year you bet they’ll want £40+ mill the next even though there’s no need for anyone to ever need that much money every single year. You can bet the developers lower down never see any of this extra money gained from micro transactions, in fact they’ll probably get laid off while their bosses brag about record sales and income. It’s fucking disgusting.
Thank you for this video. There are serious themes in video games. While most of us watch for entertainment, thank you for taking the time (and risk) to bring these issues to light.
Yeah I agree with your points, but what's the alternative?
Sell the game as a complete finished product at launch like they done in the good ol' days.
He mentioned it in the video; a general increase in game prices.
But then people bitch about that as well. Basically a no-win situation.
It's basically either microtransactions or $100 games for the "base/standard" versions.
Of course there is the indie scene. But as much as I like them (especially being a hardcore CRPG/adventure game fan), it is still the AAA games that drive the market.
@@lycanwarrior2137 Exactly my point!
@@Viscount_Castlereagh And then never be able to update the game again? The money only lasts for so long. It's better if it's a consistent stream of revenue.
Please keep up the deep dives! I love these
In-game cosmetics are only "better" than power-up type cosmetics for the exact reason you said, Jules, thank you for saying it. I SO miss the days when the things that are now obtainable by micro-transactions were only obtainable by in-game feats and actions. Preach it Daddy J!
PREACH BROTHA even i am fed up paying for those... .. NO MORE.
Thank you, I have fallen into this trap many times and I’m stopping now
I bought a few Overwatch loot boxes a few years ago, before I realized what I was doing and stopped. I haven't made use of a microtransaction since.
If I was a kid during microtransactions I would have purposefully been a default just to get a rise out of everyone.
One of the best videos I've seen on this channel.
1 outfit in Black Desert Online is $34, but now they are selling them in a bundle of 3 for only $58 (reduced from $87)
Brilliant. Thank you for addressing a blatantly escalating problem in such a calm, rational, objective manner.
Let’s be real. The biggest problem are with the industry is us (gamers), who demand more and more, but wanna pay less and less for games. I totally understand that developers wanna keep earning money long after realease, since they’re expected to keep the game alive and fresh for years to come. We expecting people to work for free? I sure wouldn’t, no matter how much I loved it and how passionate i was about it. At the end of the day, I still need to pay rent and put food on the table for me and my kids. The whole bullying thing is horrible, but we can’t blame the developers for that any more than we can for kids that use violence or the school shootings etc. Clothing has loooong been an issue when it comes to bullying, but I don’t see anyone pointing their fingers at the manufacturers. Isn’t that the same thing? We blame so much on gaming, but in most (not all) cases it’s actually the parenting that’s the issue. We buy our kids games like GTA, Mortal Kombat or Call of duty without having any clue what they actually do in those games. We wouldn’t put a 8yo of front of a scary or violent movie without thinking twice, so why are games any different? It’s real easy to blame developers, but let’s face it. We as gamers are toxic and wanna eat the cake without either baking it OR buying it. Someone should just have it delivered to our doorstep for free and god help them if they want something in return. It’s also much easier to blame the developers instead of looking ourselves (as parents) in the mirror and facing the facts that it’s much easier to put our kids in front of a screen than actually doing some proper parenting. My kids play games too, but not online with others (yet) and not without us knowing what they play and what’s going on. If my sons told me they get bullied cause they don’t have enough skins or the right ones? I’d have a long talk with the school and the other parents to try and solve the issue. Not call Epic and blame them.
People want something for nothing as they say.
The title of this video could be from a Jim Sterling Video. I like it!
i was just thinking that!
To add on, games use alternate currencies that are imbalanced with the prices of the cosmetics, so you're forced to buy more currency, thus losing money....
Then, it's a psychological piece where you don't actually see the actual price of what you're buying, so you can't see the significant prices you're spending on the "800 super points" skin...that you use once