When was MTX introduced in this game? and is it bad?

[Chaos]

Was it introduced after v1,0? or before that? is it intrusive?

[Bomoo]

No it's just a bunch of fugly, tacky cosmetic crap. No gameplay benefits.

[Wolfgang]

Just purely cosmetic. No advantage in having it.

[Chaos]

but the cosmetics looks nice, so there is an advantage in having it?

[Bomoo]

Publicado originalmente por Chaos:

but the cosmetics looks nice, so there is an advantage in having it?

Nope.

[Skookumsquitch]

Publicado originalmente por Chaos:

Was it introduced after v1,0? or before that? is it intrusive?

They're pretty shady and worthless for the price.

[Ydyp]

Publicado originalmente por Sammida:

Publicado originalmente por Chaos:

Was it introduced after v1,0? or before that? is it intrusive?

They're pretty shady and worthless for the price.

Guess you have to look up the meaning of shady. As you can perfectly see and know exactly what you buy if you do so. Only thing I would like to see removed is the fake store currency.

And OP they were introduced after 1.0 so they could keep up support longer and not going the route of bazillion DLC at the steam store. And as others said it is pure cosmetics for your avatar and have zero impact on the core gameplay loop.

Also keep in mind there are methods in game to unlock cosmetics as well, like the EXO campaigns they run and certain achievements that unlock some to.

[Xilo The Odd]

Publicado originalmente por Chaos:

but the cosmetics looks nice, so there is an advantage in having it?

it doesnt give you chesty women or beef cake guy bods, so, no. no advantage.

and yeah, much agreement with Ydyp, fake currency is BS. its the only manipulative thing about the MTX shop. disassociation of value.

but awhile back i totaled up what it'd cost to buy literally everything they had at the time. think i said 480$? dunno how much they added since that statement.

[Bomoo]

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

and yeah, much agreement with Ydyp, fake currency is BS. its the only manipulative thing about the MTX shop. disassociation of value..

That's more of a you problem. Is fun-bucks fake currency sleazy and manipulative? Yes. Is it their fault if you're daft enough to walk right into the obvious money trap? No.

[Xilo The Odd]

Publicado originalmente por Bomoo:

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

and yeah, much agreement with Ydyp, fake currency is BS. its the only manipulative thing about the MTX shop. disassociation of value..

That's more of a you problem. Is fun-bucks fake currency sleazy and manipulative? Yes. Is it their fault if you're daft enough to walk right into the obvious money trap? No.

ok then lets say, i dunno, put a 8 year old with no real concept of the value of money to begin with in front of this shop. lets see how long it takes them to rack up a bill because they have no idea how much they'd be spending.

fun-bucks is a time old scam, true, why it is still legal is beyond me. its beyond it being a personal problem, its a simple disassociation trick game devs have been using so they can make 60$ worth of content into 600$ worth of micro transactions with no option to simply buy all of it for a reasonable price.

at the very least in this case, for an adult, this is an easy pass. for a child... have you heard about the school bullying stories for not having a fancy Fortnite skin? or the countless ones about racking up 10K$ in MTX on a mobile app? or heck buying V-bucks for fortnite. its scummy and there needs to be something done about it when children are involved or if something is targeting children as its audience. youtube already does something like this because they legally have to.

[Chaos]

Publicado originalmente por Bomoo:

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

and yeah, much agreement with Ydyp, fake currency is BS. its the only manipulative thing about the MTX shop. disassociation of value..

That's more of a you problem. Is fun-bucks fake currency sleazy and manipulative? Yes. Is it their fault if you're daft enough to walk right into the obvious money trap? No.

I mean the people that bought this on early access had no way of knowing they would introduce mtx instead of conventional dlc, and they won't be able to refund it either, so it seems kind of manipulative to me :/

[Xilo The Odd]

Publicado originalmente por Chaos:

Publicado originalmente por Bomoo:

That's more of a you problem. Is fun-bucks fake currency sleazy and manipulative? Yes. Is it their fault if you're daft enough to walk right into the obvious money trap? No.

I mean the people that bought this on early access had no way of knowing they would introduce mtx instead of conventional dlc, and they won't be able to refund it either, so it seems kind of manipulative to me :/

there is this too. i've seen stories of people trying to avoid games that have MTX shops, only to see them added later to games they enjoy. avoiding them, for various reasons. usually though, to prevent themselves from ever spending more cash on something than it is worth.

[Skookumsquitch]

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

Publicado originalmente por Bomoo:

That's more of a you problem. Is fun-bucks fake currency sleazy and manipulative? Yes. Is it their fault if you're daft enough to walk right into the obvious money trap? No.

ok then lets say, i dunno, put a 8 year old with no real concept of the value of money to begin with in front of this shop. lets see how long it takes them to rack up a bill because they have no idea how much they'd be spending.

fun-bucks is a time old scam, true, why it is still legal is beyond me. its beyond it being a personal problem, its a simple disassociation trick game devs have been using so they can make 60$ worth of content into 600$ worth of micro transactions with no option to simply buy all of it for a reasonable price.

at the very least in this case, for an adult, this is an easy pass. for a child... have you heard about the school bullying stories for not having a fancy Fortnite skin? or the countless ones about racking up 10K$ in MTX on a mobile app? or heck buying V-bucks for fortnite. its scummy and there needs to be something done about it when children are involved or if something is targeting children as its audience. youtube already does something like this because they legally have to.

Perfect. I imagine Astroneer has quite a young audience, so SE's decision to add the currency was completely heinous.

[Lystent]

I strongly agree that the microtransactions are insanely overpriced. Leaves me asking myself who would buy, and the answer is rather concerning.

That said, the devs are either not listening, or they just don't care.

[Xilo The Odd]

Publicado originalmente por Sammida:

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

ok then lets say, i dunno, put a 8 year old with no real concept of the value of money to begin with in front of this shop. lets see how long it takes them to rack up a bill because they have no idea how much they'd be spending.

fun-bucks is a time old scam, true, why it is still legal is beyond me. its beyond it being a personal problem, its a simple disassociation trick game devs have been using so they can make 60$ worth of content into 600$ worth of micro transactions with no option to simply buy all of it for a reasonable price.

at the very least in this case, for an adult, this is an easy pass. for a child... have you heard about the school bullying stories for not having a fancy Fortnite skin? or the countless ones about racking up 10K$ in MTX on a mobile app? or heck buying V-bucks for fortnite. its scummy and there needs to be something done about it when children are involved or if something is targeting children as its audience. youtube already does something like this because they legally have to.

Perfect. I imagine Astroneer has quite a young audience, so SE's decision to add the currency was completely heinous.

we dont know for fact that this is how it is, but based on strong evidence by others in the industry and what they typically do, its a safe assumption till they can state otherwise. but they wont if that is in the intent.

[Willa Grey]

Publicado originalmente por Xilo The Odd:

ok then lets say, i dunno, put a 8 year old with no real concept of the value of money to begin with in front of this shop. lets see how long it takes them to rack up a bill because they have no idea how much they'd be spending.

fun-bucks is a time old scam, true, why it is still legal is beyond me. its beyond it being a personal problem, its a simple disassociation trick game devs have been using so they can make 60$ worth of content into 600$ worth of micro transactions with no option to simply buy all of it for a reasonable price.

at the very least in this case, for an adult, this is an easy pass. for a child... have you heard about the school bullying stories for not having a fancy Fortnite skin? or the countless ones about racking up 10K$ in MTX on a mobile app? or heck buying V-bucks for fortnite. its scummy and there needs to be something done about it when children are involved or if something is targeting children as its audience. youtube already does something like this because they legally have to.

If an 8 year old is able to get the funds to buy the currency, then that same lack of concept of value can just as easily blow a ton on any other store. The virtual currency doesn't make that easier. Especially games that use Steam for payment processing. The payment method would have to be on the account, which means they could buy anything on Steam. Unless the parent only loaded a set amount on the account wallet - but in this case, a virtual currency (even if it uses the $ symbol) is actually preventing a child from spending more than they are allowed.
Besides, if a kid that age gets free range to an online store, then it's entirely the parent's fault. Any parent who's taken their kid shopping with them knows what happens if they are left to do what they want.

As for the cost of every MTX item - Why would you want to buy every single cosmetic option in the store? It's not like content DLCs that add gameplay, it's just cosmetic. You buy the ones you want, ignore the rest. And, unlike other games that do this, it is exceptionally easy to ignore the entire store in Astroneer.

The existence of MTX, especially purely cosmetic ones, should not be an issue of outrage - especially when it comes to games that are regularly updated for free. The method should be the concern, and there are actual shady aspects to the way System Era does it, no need to go the "Think of the children!" route. Two things; the limited run aspect (creating a sense of urgency), and the way the items are priced and the cost of the currency being built to incur sunken cost mentality. As an example: You want a skin that costs 800 points, but you can only buy 1000 points. You then have 200 points left, but little to nothing is priced that low - so you need to buy more points in order to not feel like you wasted money. These are the truly manipulative practices.

That said, the player still has some agency to not buy into it, and you can play the game entirely without ever opening the store. (and you don't even see store items while customizing your appearance - you have to open the store to know a skin exists.) Overall, it's a mixed bag and it's fine to complain about the bad parts, but it's hardly some sinister crime worthy of mass outrage.