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[Fragamemnon]

GungHo was successful in the traditional gaming space before Puzzle & Dragons happened and they still develop and publish those types of games. Even if their F2P player base dries up they won't collapse like Zynga.

Well they did buy up Grasshopper Manufacture, and I'm sure Metacritic51 could bankrupt anyone given enough leeway.

 

[JWong]

Dat Puzzle and Dragons money.

 

[CountAntonius]

I've put more time into Puzzle and Dragons than most games this gen and I've never spent a dime. I haven't felt ripped off or suckered in any way.

 

[Rad-]

Finland has done pretty well in this casual gaming era.

 

[Orayn]

Its not fun. Fun doesnt gate you. You dont have to wait 5 minutes or purchase a new level boost to finish a mario game.

All games have gates. In arcades, it was lives and credits. On longer games, it's usually whatever progression system the developers put in place. Are the gating mechanisms used by mobile F2P games generally frustrating and potentially exploitative? Far too often, yeah, but they are not the only games that limit player progress with some kind of arbitrary barrier.

Its all psychologically devised to screw as many dollars as they can hollas from your collars. And when that is part of the 'design' process? Well you get unfun. When it isnt part of the design process? Hats.

It is scientifically impossible to create a 'fun' game that is designed around f2p. You can take that to the bank! Fun as in eliciting emotions of joy from well designed game play elements designed to do only one thing, be fun, not the feeling of a pavlovian dog whos ears perk up when the right tone is made by your new master.

The same applies to nearly all gameplay-centric games, though. "Fun" is nothing but a sticky a compulsion loop. This isn't to say that such a loop can't be artfully designed and a worthwhile experience, but on a fundamental level, the "gamey" part of any game is going to be about giving the player certain cues and rewarding them for responding one way while punishing them for responding another.

Also, what's wrong with hats?

In my experience with these 'games' they arent what I would consider 'fun'. No Mario, not anything like that, you will never see a f2p game along these lines be remembered with the names of the greats in gaming.

I'm not personally a fan of it, but League of Legends will probably be remembered for almost single-handedly turning a mod into a popular sub-genre.

Games dont use you, you use games. f2p is premised on the opposite. That is why they can hardly be called games.


Facts!

When you get down to it, you are just a chicken waiting for that feed schute to open up. Thats how all these games end up feeling. The joy is in that feed finally dropping, not in anything the 'game' does. The carrot, the endless carrot, always within reach, but never attainable.

I agree with some of what you have to say here, but you're painting the issue in awfully broad strokes and I really don't like this new FACTS, I AM ALWAYS RIGHT gimmick you have going on.

 

[Orayn]

Edit: Double post.

 

[Acosta]

I ask you, wise Penny Arcade of old, how should I visualize this?

Thanks classic PA.