I don't believe "just don't buy the microtransactions" is a solutionI apologize if this isn't what you meant by "reject that psychology". There's nothing optional about the way the game's progress has been designed around applying psychological pressure on the player to spend additional money and my stance is it shouldn't be in a premium game at all.
Up until this game's release, my biggest weapon to fight back against gross microtransactions in premium games was to not buy the game at all. Because reviews often explained what kind of microtransaction features were available, I was informed enough to do this. Even in cases where the full microtransaction details weren't available until the day of release (for reasons such as online servers not being live) I avoided issues by not preordering anything.
Now that publishers are actively hiding their post release monetization models from reviewers and patching them in post-release-window, the only way I can keep that up is to literally not buy any game until a few months down the road. Or at all. How is purposefully providing altered review copies in order to elicit artificially positive reviews accepted? Frankly, why is it legal? I know it brings up a swamp of questions about how to determine malicious intent versus the nature of unfinished review copies, but this is poisonous and it seems like there should be something that can be done about it.
not buying the microtransactions is more an end goal of what i'm talking about, rather than the whole idea. it's possible to not buy into the microtransactions but still be bothered by the reasons that are there to push you into the temptation of buying them. what i'm talking about is letting those reasons go. the crux of the enjoyment of mgsv isn't really in any of the systems that would involve you to interact with the microtransaction ecosystem, because that's too transparent. instead they rely on obsessive collection-based behavior that is present in most games to push you into a mindset where you engage with the microtransactions.
what i'm suggesting is letting that go to focus on enjoying the core gameplay. i struggled with it for a while, but i stopped sweating it when i realised there's nothing involving obsessive collecting that makes the game any more fun. i just got more selective with my fultoning, and put more focus into infiltration, combat, exploration, etc. i got my base to a natural, acceptably high level without obsessing over it, and left it at that. basically i'm arguing against wanting to max things out. there's a definite divide there too between what the creative side want, and what the money men want. there are little rewards in terms of things related to the core gameplay that come with higher levels, but the microtransaction people are relying on you wanting to max out those numbers. that's probably part of the reason S+ and S++ staff are locked behind the FOB system too.
as for not buying the games with microtransactions, it's a viable option. unfortunately that could be viewed as a mark against the creative people who made the game, and not the corporate influences who ensured a microtransaction system was put in place. there's no real answer that's right. buying the game but not buying the microtransactions should say "I like the creative people behind the game, but not this model that is asking for more of my money", but i don't know if any teams working the sales reports will see that.
as for the ethics of it, it's murky. boycotts can't really be enforced, nor do they usually work either. so how do people fight back against a microtransaction system they disagree with in a series they like, and a game they may want to play? they can try it your way and not buy it, or at least buy it used if possible, or they can buy the game but avoid the microtransactions. the company gets the money sure, but it's what they get it for that should hopefully make them pay attention. but like i said, i don't know if their internal sales reports reflect that.
ultimately bad press over microtransactions is more damaging than a few lost sales here and there, but of course that means a sufficient amount of people have to play and buy the game for that ball to get rolling.
long story short, there's no solution to microtransactions that's solid enough to hold right now in terms of being a consumer. as a gamer, maybe we can try to do more to reject the psychology that tempts or frustrates us into potential microtransaction usage.
