The future of video game marketing

Grim Tuesday said:

I agree Selentic that TF2 has become about items, and less about the game. In fact, I hardly play any more, since thats all its about. Its all people talk about, all they think about when playing. I want a game to be a game, not a hat simulator. Valve used to joke about it becoming that, and now it really is. Its not just one single hat, or a weapon I dont like, its that so many have converged to a pinacle of unrealism, atleast in the game world.

I can no longer suspend my disbelief in TF2, when I see items from other games, or real life. Valve had a fantastic universe going, but they had to go ruin it.

To me, its like George Lopez making a cameo appearance in HL2. Lolwut.

Anyways, I enjoy mapping, so thats all that keeps me playing, even if I only play once a week or so.

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the game is still fun. new polycount weapons, for the most part, were pretty balanced and fun. ignore the hat talk. and yes super. fuck the police polycount hats

Prior to the polycount update, I wasn't really in the "argh stop it" camp when it came to hats etc, but now that you can name your hat and color your hat and describe your hat and gift-wrap your hat and buy moar hatses it's definitely over the line from before.

I mean, before you could argue a few hats were out-of-character or just wierd, but everything hung together a lot better when it came to a cohesive game-world.

Ultimately I think if Valve made the transition from Then to Now a lot more quickly, people would've rebelled. But turn up the heat slowly, and the frog won't jump out...

Prestige said:

the game is still fun. new polycount weapons, for the most part, were pretty balanced and fun. ignore the hat talk. and yes super. fuck the police polycount hats

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Though fun, it feels less cohesive as an experience than before.

I think the promotional hat is something lots of people will trade for but doesn't fit the heavy at all and the voice actor doesn't sound like the heavy right now. The game itself though is fine, I didn't waste my money on Vista so I don't have a poker game and it looks interesting plus it is cheap so I may get it

note: I was going to get it anyway so the stuff is just a bonus

why exactly was an infraction received..?

EDIT: owait he posted for selentic :|


(it's all still true, though)

nik said:

why exactly was an infraction received..?

EDIT: owait he posted for selentic :|


(it's all still true, though)

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I went through the exact same process, lol, had the whole post all typed up, and then decided to take a look.

Oh ya.

This seemed like a good analogy for TF2's meta-game

As much as this is valve going in a bad direction, it's hardly as evil as you make it sound. Sure, they've significantly impacted on the art style and game direction, but it's all experimentation. And the fact that valve's doing cross promotion, it's your choice if you want to buy another game for a freakin' hat that doesn't exist. The mann co store is still optional, and valve do have a point: they're doing this shit for free. They've made some strange decisions, but it's all in the name of keeping the game fresh. Would you rather continue playing the base game?

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out how needy valve's fanbase is. They're giving you the option to pay some extra money for a purely cosmetic item (or occasionally, a weapon sidegrade) for a game you paid $20 for ($2.50 for some) and have been getting free stuff from for years. Blizzard practically force you to upgrade your copy of WoW every now and then, Activision, well, they're Activision, InfinityWard is continuing to charge $90 for a game that's still unbalanced and without dedicated servers. Compare that to valve giving free copies of portal out and all the stuff they do, and valve's fanbase is the one doing the most complaining. Valve is the one getting all the crap for releasing sequels and helping out the community.

^ Very well said. That's what happens when the community gets whatever they want - they end up spoiled rotten. :closedeyes:

People should know what they are buying when they buy the Telltale Poker game. If they don't know that it's just a poker game, that's their fault for not researching it enough.

Tapp said:

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out how needy valve's fanbase is.

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Yes, yes they are. There's a reason SPUF has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant forums on the whole Internet. I'm not sure Team Fortress 2's fanbase have gotten as bad as, say, Counter-Strike's yet, but they're getting there. And this is what is ruining the game more than the items themselves. I don't think Valve deserves the blame for this, but it's worth pointing out that's mostly happened in response to the things Valve has done.

Also, as a bit of a counter argument, the updates being free does not excuse them from having to be good. A bad update can make a good game into a less-good game. Being charged for the privilege of having your game made worse would be adding insult to injury, but getting it for free is still not good.

Prestige said:

I'm with Sel sorta. rather than nerf/fix natashca and heavy, they release more hats and basically sell items. not to mention pay/trade/etc.. to win with the polycount hat set bonuses.

edit: USA nuked people for not agreeing with democracy?

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Then please, why is it always the democratically-elected people that get knocked off by the CIA?

stevethepocket said:

Yes, yes they are. There's a reason SPUF has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant forums on the whole Internet. I'm not sure Team Fortress 2's fanbase have gotten as bad as, say, Counter-Strike's yet, but they're getting there. And this is what is ruining the game more than the items themselves. I don't think Valve deserves the blame for this, but it's worth pointing out that's mostly happened in response to the things Valve has done.

Also, as a bit of a counter argument, the updates being free does not excuse them from having to be good. A bad update can make a good game into a less-good game. Being charged for the privilege of having your game made worse would be adding insult to injury, but getting it for free is still not good.

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CS: its reelistick.

Bumping because it's funny to see in retrospect.

Trotim said:

Bumping because it's funny to see in retrospect.

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What do you mean?

It's like watching a trickle of water down the front of a dam, and saying "Eh, it aint much"

LeSwordfish said:

It's like watching a trickle of water down the front of a dam, and saying "Eh, it aint much"

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and then the dam is nuked

I thought the OP of this thread was surprisingly accurate. Dude should get a hat for his effort.