Game Over: How Influencers and Predatory Practices Are Tanking ARPGs

[Rob⛧Slayer]

You ever notice how folks are just letting their favorite game genres go down the toilet, all because of slick marketing scams? Free-to-play has turned into a codeword for "we're gonna drain your wallet dry," and a chunk of this mess falls on those YouTubers and Twitch streamers hawking shoddy game designs like snake oil salesmen.

Anyone who thinks game developers can't make a buck the old-fashioned way has been drinking the Kool-Aid, probably fed to them by some shady streamer or developer with a hidden agenda. It's obvious now that the defenders of these scammy models are neck-deep in the sunk cost fallacy, and they want to drag the rest of us into their quagmire. Instead, let's hold these developers, publishers, and influencers' feet to the fire for their deceit and borderline criminal antics.

Free-to-play games? Total con jobs. Games-as-a-service? All hype, no substance. These models are designed to mess with your head, putting the good stuff—like cosmetics and basic features—behind a paywall. They've warped how we see and play games, and in the low-rent world of free-to-play, you'll never truly get what's missing compared to a straightforward, honest sales model.

Remember when games actually gave you something worth your time? Earning cosmetics was a badge of honor, proof of your skill and dedication. Now, you can buy your way into looking like a big shot, making real achievements meaningless. Tencent and GGG have trashed the industry’s integrity with their shady tactics.

Even Diablo III managed to keep live service going without resorting to dirty tricks. They handed out seasonal cosmetics with the base game, each class getting unique rewards. Nowadays, games drip-feed you content and milk you for every penny.

Influencers like Darth Microtransaction, Raxxanterax, and Rhykker are some of the worst offenders. They've sold out for fame and sponsorships, betraying the community’s real interests and going easy on publishers. They're helping to sink the genre, focused more on personal gain than on preserving the soul of ARPGs.

Tencent and GGG are throwing money at YouTubers and Twitch influencers to push their sketchy models, grooming players into accepting their con games disguised as "fun."

In Path of Exile and ARPG circles, you've got people like Raxxanterax, Rhykker, and Darth Microtransactions pulling the strings. The OTK network, Tectone, Mizkif, and Asmongold are doing the same in the open-world action RPG arena. In FPS and action shooters, figures like NickMercs, TimtheTatman, and Dr. Disrespect are spreading the deceit.

Then you've got Hasan Piker slamming xQc, Trainwreck, and Adin Ross for promoting gambling, while he's pocketing Tencent cash to push their "free-to-play" scams. This trend of influencers selling out for Tencent's dirty money is wrecking the western gaming market.

The 'free-to-play' model is a con, pure and simple, playing on the sunk cost fallacy. Players keep dumping time and money into these games even as they get less and less out of them. Their emotional and financial investment makes it tough to walk away, even when the genre’s quality and integrity are shot.

Publishers and developers have perfected the art of audience manipulation, prioritizing marketing over real game development. We need to get back to honest gaming, where the focus is on enjoyment and player well-being, not squeezing every cent out of us. We must hold these influencers accountable and push for a gaming industry that respects players and the heart of our beloved genres.

A straight-up honest release would mean a full game launch, season passes included, and expansions every couple of years—none of these anti-consumer gimmicks that Tencent has polluted the industry with.

I almost caved and bought Diablo IV's expansion in the sale, and PoE 2 was tempting until I reminded myself there's no real reward in playing these games as they are now. We desperately need everyone on board to save the genre from Tencent’s clutches. The only way to do this is by spreading the word about what’s really going on.


Please read Salt Engineer's post where he provides an in-depth analysis of how Tencent's acquisition of various gaming companies, including GGG, has led to predatory monetization practices that prioritize profits over player experience. The post delves into Tencent's history and ethics, outlining how their influence has changed the gaming landscape, particularly in the ARPG genre. It also criticizes influencers who promote these deceptive models, drawing attention to the negative impact on the industry. By reading this, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of the broader implications of corporate control in gaming and why it's crucial to support indie developers who prioritize genuine player enjoyment.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2694490/discussions/0/565867433751007187/

[TotalTriscuit]

Автор сообщения: Space

HEY! I love Rhykker.

DM, is that you?!

[Zero Proxy]

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Earning cosmetics used to feel like an accomplishment; when you earned them, it was truly rewarding. Back in the day, seeing someone with a specific cosmetic meant recognizing the effort and achievements behind it. Now, towns and dungeons are filled with low-level characters who look like they've completed endgame. It's bad game design and makes the entire genre feel shallow and uninspired.

Dude, to me cosmetics break the feeling of progression. I don't want to wear most of that stuff at all until end game to make things look cool. I want to see my characters get that gear and wear it and see the styles.

[TotalTriscuit]

Автор сообщения: riz

bro wait till you find out about p2w stash tabs

You're probably the type of clown that thinks Fallout 1st's Scrapbox is P2W.

[Von_Ippo]

dudes just fishing for points dont give him any

[Rob⛧Slayer]

Автор сообщения: The Holy Ghost - Its Fight Night

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

They've mentally worn you down. A flat rate would be more than profitable, but they know they can squeeze more out of you than just the price of the base game. In the end, most people end up spending more on cosmetics than they would on an honest game. Influencers are used to fuel irresponsible consumer behavior.

What would you rather?
- cosmetic sales
- base game and all expansions (seasons) cost money
- subscription based model

The current business model is the best for most people tbh. Though if you have a great income like myself subscription is a better model for you, and for some paying for each expansion if they want it might be best. But that doesn't mean cosmetic only sales is worse at all. Its entirely optional.

Before these changes, we had full game releases followed by expansions every two years, with events and seasons included with the base game. The flat rate system has always worked, and the cost of game development has decreased. Now, most of the money publishers spend goes to marketing, grooming their fandoms to adopt predatory monetization models. Publishers have it even better now because they can charm influencers and streamers for almost nothing to promote their new narratives. This has made the industry terrible. We need to go back to an honest product system.

Автор сообщения: 『Insperatus』

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

They've mentally worn you down. A flat rate would be more than profitable, but they know they can squeeze more out of you than just the price of the base game. In the end, most people end up spending more on cosmetics than they would on an honest game. Influencers are used to fuel irresponsible consumer behavior.

Flat rate is not more profitable. Although giving the player an option to support via cosmetic purchase with different tier levels is for longevity. Youre mentally worn down.

Also Darth is a shill, he was a hardcore D4 player till he discovered POE1 and acts like he was there from the start.

I was trying to say that they could make more than enough without having to lie or scam people.

[Wulfthofen Gaming]

Here a idea Rob go make your own game and then make it 100% free the way you want and see how long your staff stays with you since nobody will make any money for the time they worked.

[Dregora]

Автор сообщения: PsychaChi

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Darth Microtransaction, Raxxanterax, and Rhykker have been some of the worst voices for the genre, often selling out for clout and sponsorships. They misrepresent the community’s true interests, throw softballs at publishers, and seem completely disconnected from the reality of the genre’s decline—almost as if they’re doing full-time damage control for publishers, or at least seeking validation from anyone willing to pat them on the back.

Not to mention Darth view botted on launch day of PoE 2.. lol

Do you have proof of this silly claim?

[Rob⛧Slayer]

Автор сообщения: Wulfthofen Gaming

Here a idea Rob go make your own game and then make it 100% free the way you want and see how long your staff stays with you since nobody will make any money for the time they worked.

We need to go back to an honest flat rate product system. The 'free-to-play' model is both dishonest and fraudulent.

[Komarimaru]

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Автор сообщения: Wulfthofen Gaming

Here a idea Rob go make your own game and then make it 100% free the way you want and see how long your staff stays with you since nobody will make any money for the time they worked.

We need to go back to an honest flat rate product system. The 'free-to-play' model is both dishonest and fraudulent.

It is a flat rate, Free. This is coming from someone who bought D4 ultimate, and still had to pay for seasons after. PoE is far more fair and far more affordable.

I got a few stash tabs and a cosmetic with my pre-order support pack. That's cheaper than D4's model and I don't have to pay for game features later on, simply things for looks if I want them which doesn't affect gameplay.

[Maze]

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Автор сообщения: Wulfthofen Gaming

Here a idea Rob go make your own game and then make it 100% free the way you want and see how long your staff stays with you since nobody will make any money for the time they worked.

We need to go back to an honest flat rate product system. The 'free-to-play' model is both dishonest and fraudulent.

How is it fraudulent? It's a Free to Play game.. meaning upon release, it will be available to everyone. People playing it now are people who happily paid for Early Access, and understands that it isn't a finish game. Anything purchased after that would be all cosmetics which have 0% impact on gameplay except visual. None of the transactions are required to play the finalized game. I get the impression that people wish to play the game now but won't pay for the access to it now, so they whine about the F2P model. It's simple, you want in now, knowing that it isn't complete, pay for it. You want to play it for free, wait for it to be complete, like everyone else!

Would any of you that are whining about transactions would work for free? Whatever talents or skills you possess, would you offer it to the masses for free or 0? If you have a family or want funding for future projects, or wish to take some time off to recoup and get back to it, how can you do any of that without some form of income/revenue/sales?
Unlikely, because you want to get compensated for your time and skills.

[Horrible Marksman]

I'm curious, when was this golden age of Arpg cosmetics? I've been playing them all my life and I have no recollection of it. I actually dislike a fair bit of PoE's business model and consider it a a lesser evil at best, but the idea that there was some amazing time of hard earned cosmetics in the genre seems unrealistic. Looking at a few of the more popular ones...

Diablo = Certainly not.

Diablo 2 = Are they wearing shaft or valor? Fbb or Grandfather? Occy or Wizzy? Not exactly overwhelming cosmetic variety there since everyone just used the best gear they had available to them, which usually translated to everyone wearing mostly the same stuff.

Titan quest = Personally, my favorite gear was in Act 1. The rest looked kind of meh and usually you had a mixed set of randomly combined gear anyway. Not groundbreaking cosmetics there.

Grimdawn = Anyone can look pretty much however they want as long as they've picked up the gear which again, renders it all irrelevant.

Torchlight 1 + 2 = again it turned into a hodgepodge of sorts and meant very little.

It wasn't till the more modern era of Arpgs with things like Path, Marvel heroes, Lost Ark, and the like where cosmetics even became relevant in these games. Again, not to say I like it, but unless you're just categorizing any online game as an MMO, cosmetics were definitely not the primary motivator for gameplay in this genre historically.

MMO's are a different beast. Ultima, Everquest, Dark age, etc. For those games it meant something as it was a much more community based experience. Arpg's are more of a solo affair and all it really determines is whether you like the way your character looks while grinding the hours away.

I will say that PoE 1 toes the line a bit because so much of that basic gear looks like trash and in some cases I do mean that literally. If you want to attack the business model then I'd focus more on the parts that have a more direct impact on gameplay.

[Maze]

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Автор сообщения: MAz1ng87

How is it fraudulent? It's a Free to Play game.. meaning upon release, it will be available to everyone. People playing it now are people who happily paid for Early Access, and understands that it isn't a finish game. Anything purchased after that would be all cosmetics which have 0% impact on gameplay except visual. None of the transactions are required to play the finalized game. I get the impression that people wish to play the game now but won't pay for the access to it now, so they whine about the F2P model. It's simple, you want in now, knowing that it isn't complete, pay for it. You want to play it for free, wait for it to be complete, like everyone else!

Would any of you that are whining about transactions would work for free? Whatever talents or skills you possess, would you offer it to the masses for free or 0? If you have a family or want funding for future projects, or wish to take some time off to recoup and get back to it, how can you do any of that without some form of income/revenue/sales?
Unlikely, because you want to get compensated for your time and skills.

When you put the most rewarding aspect of the genre behind a paywall, it stops being free-to-play and becomes exploitative and predatory. It may not fit the legal definition of fraud, but it certainly skirts the line.

People? You mean kids who've been groomed by influencers and their advertisers to adopt irresponsible consumer habits? Too many of you were raised by TV and video game consoles, never learning the value of a dollar. You'll never know how much more you used to get for it.

Your foundation is built on bad faith, developers should sell honesty - not lies.

Sorry to break it to you, it will never stop being "FREE to PLAY" if you download the game day 1 of release, launch it, and you're running around doing campaign from beginning to end game, or decide to mix it up via pvp and didn't pay a single cent in doing so. By definition, F2P is exactly that, you're playing for free. And you seem to not get how you're getting so much value of game content for FREE! Back in the day, hell, even today, there are games that are not even worth their asking price. And most of them are unfinished or broken, with studio deliberately putting 20 to 30 percent of game that should be part of the package, behind a paywall. That's exploitative and predatory.

So you can squash this value of a dollar, that you have a gripe of paying for some cosmetics.

What game are you referring to that had some game changing cosmetics that made you say, "Damn that was a tough boss, but this unique skin was worth it?"

[Buggsy]

Are you telling me my character is going to be grey-brown rust-colored forever, unless I pay up?

[ButtGravy]

Автор сообщения: I'm new

Are you telling me my character is going to be grey-brown rust-colored forever, unless I pay up?

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Автор сообщения: MAz1ng87

How is it fraudulent? It's a Free to Play game.. meaning upon release, it will be available to everyone. People playing it now are people who happily paid for Early Access, and understands that it isn't a finish game. Anything purchased after that would be all cosmetics which have 0% impact on gameplay except visual. None of the transactions are required to play the finalized game. I get the impression that people wish to play the game now but won't pay for the access to it now, so they whine about the F2P model. It's simple, you want in now, knowing that it isn't complete, pay for it. You want to play it for free, wait for it to be complete, like everyone else!

Would any of you that are whining about transactions would work for free? Whatever talents or skills you possess, would you offer it to the masses for free or 0? If you have a family or want funding for future projects, or wish to take some time off to recoup and get back to it, how can you do any of that without some form of income/revenue/sales?
Unlikely, because you want to get compensated for your time and skills.

When you put the most rewarding aspect of the genre behind a paywall, it stops being free-to-play and becomes exploitative and predatory. It may not fit the legal definition of fraud, but it certainly skirts the line.

People? You mean kids who've been groomed by influencers and their advertisers to adopt irresponsible consumer habits? Too many of you were raised by TV and video game consoles, never learning the value of a dollar. You'll never know how much more you used to get for it.

Your foundation is built on bad faith, developers should sell honesty - not lies.

How did GGG lied?

[DontEatSmurfs]

Автор сообщения: Rob⛧Pentakill

Автор сообщения: MAz1ng87

How is it fraudulent? It's a Free to Play game.. meaning upon release, it will be available to everyone. People playing it now are people who happily paid for Early Access, and understands that it isn't a finish game. Anything purchased after that would be all cosmetics which have 0% impact on gameplay except visual. None of the transactions are required to play the finalized game. I get the impression that people wish to play the game now but won't pay for the access to it now, so they whine about the F2P model. It's simple, you want in now, knowing that it isn't complete, pay for it. You want to play it for free, wait for it to be complete, like everyone else!

Would any of you that are whining about transactions would work for free? Whatever talents or skills you possess, would you offer it to the masses for free or 0? If you have a family or want funding for future projects, or wish to take some time off to recoup and get back to it, how can you do any of that without some form of income/revenue/sales?
Unlikely, because you want to get compensated for your time and skills.

When you put the most rewarding aspect of the genre behind a paywall, it stops being free-to-play and becomes exploitative and predatory. It may not fit the legal definition of fraud, but it certainly skirts the line.

People? You mean kids who've been groomed by influencers and their advertisers to adopt irresponsible consumer habits? Too many of you were raised by TV and video game consoles, never learning the value of a dollar. You'll never know how much more you used to get for it.

Your foundation is built on bad faith, developers should sell honesty - not lies.

"When you put the most rewarding aspect of the genre behind a paywall"

which is ? what is this most rewarding aspect that i need to pay for ?