You Are Quite Welcome

[tf2.com]

http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/one-of-a-kind-hats.jpg

Despite my continued efforts to better you by yelling at you through a microphone to do better, it is often difficult -- and thus disheartening -- to figure out if any of you damp piles of mulch are actually improving.

I found the answer, in all places, in one of the insipid gun-themed women's magazines Miss Pauling leaves lying around, where I stumbled on an article about self-improvement. It was a revelation: Instead of screaming at you to improve, I could scream at you while you improved yourselves.

Source: TF2.com

 

[Yacan1]

 

[Prestige]

more map stamps

 

[Trotim]

Remember that article about skinner box mechanics?

The Chinese MMO ZT Online has the most devious implementation of this I've ever seen. The game is full of these treasure chests that may or may not contain a random item and to open them, you need a key. How do you get the keys? Why, you buy them with real-world money, of course. Like coins in a slot machine.

Wait, that's not the best part. ZT Online does something even the casinos never dreamed up: They award a special item at the end of the day to the player who opens the most chests.

Now, in addition to the gambling element, you have thousands of players in competition with each other, to see who can be the most obsessive about opening the chests. One woman tells of how she spent her entire evening opening chests--over a thousand--to try to win the daily prize.

She didn't. There was always someone else more obsessed.

That's how far TF2 has gone. Two years ago nobody would have accepted this. Oh well

 

[Sergis]

i wonder what will come next

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I wonder how much they pay their lawyers to keep them from having to put gambling restrictions on crates and such.

 

[Penguin]

Trotim, this shit doesn't effect you in any way, not even tangentially.

Why does it make you mad?

 

[Trotim]

I'm not mad, I just condemn it because I'm disappointed. Very shady business practices, addicting people and then exploiting it

 

[Wilson]

I'm not mad, I just condemn it because I'm disappointed. Very shady business practices, addicting people and then exploiting it

I will be honestly impressed if someone manages to get addicted of opening Mann Co. crates.

 

[tyler]

Opening crates gets pretty lucrative if you do it right.

 

[Trotim]

I will be honestly impressed if someone manages to get addicted of opening Mann Co. crates.

Sorry but how naive do you have to be? Just look at this.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=952

Look at it. All these replies and views? Tenthousands, just for trading. Every day.

You do know traders with like 10 accounts exist, yes? People aren't joking when they say that. And that people trade for keys... which someone always must have bought? To open crates? And that unusual hats are literally auctioned for hundreds of dollars? And that the people with those 10+ alt accounts always idle with them to maximize their "profit"? The profit they get from spending hours trading with strangers? And how so many people NEED to get "all strange loadouts" that again had to be bought by someone? And how the only purpose of "leveling strange weapons" is to make people farm x stat for hours, no, weeks?

Don't tell me that's reasonable.

You did check out the article right? Even if by some miracle all TF2 players were immune to addiction, all these things TF2 Team does to the game are specifically designed to be addictive.

You actually made me explain when I really should not have to.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I don't believe it. But I actually kind of agree with Trotim.

 

[HellJumper]

I don't believe it. But I actually kind of agree with Trotim.

It's hard to counter his arguments anymore. It used to be just a bunch of complaining, but lately TF2 has been stagnating like this, and Trotim is more or less right. I haven't even launched the game in a month and a half.

 

[Wilson]

I will be honestly impressed if someone manages to get addicted of opening Mann Co. crates.

I am man of my word, but not man of decent reaction images:

You'll have to settle with this shit.

 

[Tarry H Sruman]

Very shady business practices, addicting people and then exploiting it

Congratulations, you've figured out every product ever.

 

[Sel]

Trotim, this shit doesn't effect you in any way, not even tangentially.

Why does it make you mad?

Wait, having the community transform into a bunch of addicted preteens/teens, and a bunch of twenty/thirty somethings who care more about trading than the actual game doesn't effect him?

I've watched the conversations on 2f2f, and other communities, go from this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv1_srnwkMg , to non stop trading, don't pull this, "It doesn't affect you", bullshit.

 

[Godslayer57]

Still Swing that Vintage Vintage Merryweather people... just keeping it classy.

 

[Pocket]

So, Trotim, compared to companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Zynga, etc. how evil do you think Valve is at this point for having done stuff like this?

 

[Trotim]

So, Trotim, compared to companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Zynga, etc. how evil do you think Valve is at this point for having done stuff like this?

It's not really being "evil"... I dunno enough about most of the other companies to really judge it but I'd imagine of those Valve is still the most respectable. It's just the direction that's been worrying me for about two years now and it's sad and disappointing to see Valve actually go in that direction. They're probably still better than EA or Activision, but you can't deny they've done things that hurt their reputation, and that all this stuff is in fact not good for the game or community. I get that they're a company and need money and everything, and the move to f2p was also great, but...

Let's just say I'm probably the most surprised the things I said many months ago actually came true. I complained about these things because I was worried and had seen other studios or games go down that path and wanted Valve to not do the same mistakes. Others couldn't believe Valve would do such a thing either, that's why I got a lot of flak for saying that sorta stuff especially on SPUF. But... now we are actually here.

I'm far from throwing a personal tantrum anymore but the missed potential of the game and loss of respect for the studio are still quite bitter. Doesn't mean I hate the game though, just what they're doing with it nowadays. Thus, community mods. Funny thing is I requested that "thrown Sandvich only refills food meter" plugin a year ago too and I'm not some kind of clairvoyant. Just a bad rookie designer. That's why the... lethargy of TF2 Team is so insufferable.

And again they don't have to keep improving the game forever, nobody can expect that. Would be fine if they had stopped updating it after Engie Update or whatever. However instead they are forced to keep adding to it, for money, which arguably most of the time lately made it worse. That's an issue.

 

[littleedge]

Trotim is right, and it may be a bit exploitative and crap, but that's just how the world works. Mass Effect 3 and on-disc DLC, Farmville...Hell, even Blizzard does it with the mounts and shit you can buy. It might not be a day-only item you get for spending the most money, but the fact of the matter is that any company wants money to succeed. And people like having more shit or better-looking shit or better shit than everybody else, and if it costs money to do so, they will spend the money.

People are naturally collectors and want everything. People are naturally gamblers and know that eventually, they will win.