Why video game companies are evil

by The Rabid Aardvark

I’ve become firmly convinced that video companies are evil. The very most basic sign of their evilness is their overpriced games. There’s no way I’m believing sixty or seventy dollars is a fair price for a game! But maybe with development and all, it’s fair, but I’m still firmly convinced Bill Roper is laughing his arse off at us as we plunk down a dutiful sixty dollars for whatever he churns out.

Another thing that has occurred to me is expansions. Once you buy a game for sixty-odd dollars, you may think you’ve bought the game and that’s that, but NO! You have to buy one or more high-priced expansions to the game if you want to keep playing with all of your friends! To me, this is like paying multiple times for the same thing. It should be that if you can provide proof of purchase for the original game you get expansions FREE because YOU’VE BOUGHT THE GAME and not just the “basic” or whatever version of it. Think about it, it’s completely unfair to bill you several times for the same thing only so you can keep playing it with the rest of the people out there. Even worse I’m convinced they withhold crucial stuff from the game just so they can stick it in the expansion, just so they can squeeze more money out of us. Remember how in Warcraft III the gryphon rider says “I’ll have an even bigger role in the expansion!” or somesuch? This is just proving that Blizzard was already making the expansion when they made the basic game! If this isn’t proof of their exploitation of the poor video game player, nothing is.

Another thing I find highly aggravating is their insistence in putting out “upgraded” versions of games (the different Warcrafts, the different Quakes, the different everything). This makes one feel outdated and old school if he continues to play the old version when the new version is out. If I bought the game, damnit, I want to keep being able to enjoy it without the nagging feeling that there’s a better version out there that I could and should be enjoying!

This is just my humble opinion, but I think video game companies should constantly release new upgrades and even complete overhauls to their games for free to people who bought the basic version of a game. If I ever made a game, that’s how it would be, never mind it not being financially wise. I want to be NICE to my customers, damnit! I want people who buy my game to feel GOOD that they bought it and never make them feel crummy or obligated to shell out more money to keep enjoying their game.

I admit I find great pleasure in playing old games in defunct game lines or by companies that have gone out of business, content in the knowledge that I will never feel that the time I have spent on that game is somehow less than worthy because now there’s a bigger, better version of the game out and I was somehow wasting all that time playing an inferior version.

Perhaps one day I’ll write a separate rant about what would be the ULTIMATE video game.