Oblivion

[PvK]

OG_Gleep said:

I like the system personally. I also don't think that its nessisarily wrong for developers to charge for additional content. I do think it was a poor choice to have the first one be a glorified skin.

I was talking about all the fantasy games with broken game balance and the ruts they get stuck in warping the reality of their gameworlds to try to provide balanced play instead of fixing the balance problems.

As for paying for extra bits of content, I agree it _could_ be appropriate, but it looks like it is already being abused to nickle & dime people for silly things.

PvK

[Vicious Love]

PvK said:
As for paying for extra bits of content, I agree it _could_ be appropriate, but it looks like it is already being abused to nickle & dime people for silly things.

PvK

Precisely. There's absolutely nothing wrong with charging for additional content, but this thing costs about 5% of the full price of the game. A few meshes and skins are not 5% of a game. I realize Bethesda aren't forcing this purchase on anyone, and buying a bland little micromod for more than it's worth is entirely the buyer's fault, but it still smacks of exploitation. Exploitation of overeager spendthrifts with a vestigial sense of finance, at best, but exploitation nonetheless. The fact that this content was complete long before the game was finished only makes Bethesda look that much worse.
I mean, think of how much either of Morrowind's expansions would have cost were they released in absurdly overpriced little packages like this.

Sure, the whole thing looks profitable on paper, and it's not like there's any breach of contract at play. Were there a contract between consumer and games publisher, I doubt it would include a "goodwill clause" which forces publishers to support the fanbase, release patches regularly, and charge reasonable prices(0.00 rupees, for instance) for their minimods. By that same token, there's nothing preventing performance artists from "entertaining" their audience with an hour-long show that consists of nothing more than a framed Polaroid of Phillip Glass duct-taped to an American Federal-era armoire under a blacklight.
Both practices are legitimate, and initially profitable, but both are miserly and petty enough to annoy the fanbase, and discourage them from purchasing any more of the publisher's/artists' products/services. Because they're sickeningly cheap tricks to pull.

[Morkilus]

(intentionally butchering your quote)

Vicious Love said:Phillip Glass duct-taped to an American Federal-era armoire under a blacklight.

Now THIS I would pay to see.

By the way, is this game the reason I can't get any more MP games in Dominions anymore? Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and start a PBEM myself

[Graeme Dice]

Vicious Love said:
Precisely. There's absolutely nothing wrong with charging for additional content, but this thing costs about 5% of the full price of the game. A few meshes and skins are not 5% of a game. I realize Bethesda aren't forcing this purchase on anyone, and buying a bland little micromod for more than it's worth is entirely the buyer's fault, but it still smacks of exploitation.

My, aren't you the disgruntled little communist! I wasn't aware that it was only moral to price content based on what fraction of the game that content represents. How foolish of me. It's a good thing I learned this from a self-admitted software pirate, or else I might never have realized it.

[Vicious Love]

Graeme Dice said:
My, aren't you the disgruntled little communist! I wasn't aware that it was only moral to price content based on what fraction of the game that content represents. How foolish of me.

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Communist?

I mean, I was expecting an irrational flame or two, but this is just... wow. I have no idea how to address that. Couple that with...

It's a good thing I learned this from a self-admitted software pirate,

...bearing in mind that I'd made no such admission, and it becomes clear that there's no point to continuing this flame war.

[Cainehill]

For a change I'm not interested in getting into a flame fest but - someone may be a software pirate, Graeme. Someone might also have been a beta tester, which is _another_ way they could be playing the game without purchase.

[Alneyan]

And incidentally, someone might actually have friends who happen to own the game. I know it's a bold idea, but it might just be the case, yaknow? Of course, I would be very surprised if such were to be the case... aren't we all supposed to be hermits?

Most if not all licences I have read allow the transfer of the licence to another party, provided that the previous owner removes the game from said computer. So the friends way stands even to a literal reading of the licence (unless the Oblivion EULA explicitly states the contrary).

Now Vicious Love, you are supposed to call him a bourgeois. No, really. Trust me on that one.

[Graeme Dice]

I mean, I was expecting an irrational flame or two, but this is just... wow. I have no idea how to address that. Couple that with...

Well, what on Earth would you call somebody who complains that a company is charging whatever price they want for a luxury good?

...bearing in mind that I'd made no such admission, and it becomes clear that there's no point to continuing this flame war.

Remember people. It's always better to ignore your opponents actual arguments and nitpick on a single issue, so that you can pretend that you won. Of course you admitted that you didn't purchase the game, since you quite clearly stated that you wouldn't be supporting Bethesda with your money.