The Games Being Played

[wpcol_4fifth id=”” class=”” style=””]Without exposing too much of my inner Walter Matthau¹ I have a particular gripe to voice here about the state of gaming and in particular how elements of social gaming are invading my few and very valuable moments of leisure. I know that being uptight about my leisure time is probably the wrong tact to employ, but well, I’m me and if I began apologizing for that I’d never stop. Moving on…

My understanding² is that the phenomenon of exchanging actual hard earned greenbacks for virtual currency began with MMORPGs³ like World of Warcraft (WoW) where the currency of the online universe began to have a value in the outside world as well. Gamers with copious amounts of time on their hands were able to amass stockpiles of value within the game–be it virtual currency or the leveling up of characters–that others with demands on their time could simply not compete with. Those working stiffs forced to log off and address issues in the world of actuality⁴ who had more money than time, created the necessary demand for a service wherein they could buy their way through parts of the game in order to successfully compete⁵ with their more aimless counterparts⁶. This practice known as “gold farming” quickly became an acceptable or at least expected practice in such gaming and since gamers are competitive by nature and therefore ranked and sorted those that want⁷ to be on top will use such tactics⁸⁹.

Perhaps a Dantesque “Abandon all hope (of keeping your wallet closed)” warning should accompany today’s games.

Before the advent of gold farming the costs of playing a video game¹⁰ was kept to the purchase of the system and the games to be played. I didn’t have to insert a dollar to play the next round of Duck Hunt or Mario on the NES, which was part of the revelation and revolution of such systems and although these games appear quite quaint in comparison to vast advances offered by today’s systems¹¹ they offered an experience that rewarded ability. If the gamer did not improve then the he did not advance. The system was almost Darwinian¹² in nature. Either the gamer learned and adapted or the game was shut off and he, for the purpose of the analogy, suffered extinction. It was harsh and cruel, but those with poor hand-eye coordination were punished. It seems the world has always worked this way. Gamers could ask a friend at school, buy a magazine and when the Internet came about¹³ use the web to find walkthroughs and when appropriate cheat codes¹⁴. But no matter how much help was received ultimately you had to sit at the console and do it for yourself. Even if a friend showed you exactly what to do, you couldn’t claim the victory unless you did it yourself afterward. There was honor and integrity. It was the 80’s and 90’s. It may have been sparse, but it existed in gaming. It certainly couldn’t be found in the rampant commercialism of celebrity, but I digress¹⁵.

One’s gaming success was directly related to one’s ability (and sometimes luck) but success was connected to the actions on the screen when holding the controller. This was gaming at its purest and, dare I say, most honest.

Today there is a different breed of game. Perhaps due to the lessons learned by social engineering types after watching the creation of artificial markets (via gold farming) or due to the success of freemium models with the opportunity offered by the Internet. Either way the creation of artificial time constraints¹⁶ that can be sidestepped by a simple payment of 9.95 via credit card is wholly absurd; the abilities being tested in any gaming situation should not be how quickly I can type in my credit card number. Though I hold Zynga partially responsible for the remarkable explosion of exploitation of users¹⁷ , Zynga has found its niche in social gaming. The most deplorable violation is that forcing¹⁸ gamers to exchange real cash for virtual currency has proven itself to be such a viable market that it is making its way into traditional gaming.

I first encountered this idea of paying for performance when talking to my mother-in-law about her Facebook farm. Though her actual garden is far more satisfying and has far greater appeal than her virtual farm, what else can she do in the harsh cold winter months of Maine? I don’t know if she’s ever bought virtual goods for her farm, but I do recall being disgusted at the time by the remote possibility of doing so¹⁹. I’ve since created a Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs are more my style—I expect this is of little surprise. I care much more about triceratops than I do turnips, and I have found the same issues I took offense to in with my mother-in-law’s farm abound in the Jurassic Park game. Had I known this when I began I would not have begun such an endeavor²⁰. The park itself is appealing and at the lowest levels of “play”²¹ things progress relatively easily and rapidly, but after a few hours of tepid, half-concerned play²² the park becomes almost unsustainable and it is revealed that the designers have created a demand for real currency. If I am ever to earn some of the advanced and coolest dinosaurs²³ it would appear that I’ll have to reach into my actual wallet, which will deny me the ability to actually earn anything. After a recent upgrade where some of the original parameters and values of the game were changed it appears impossible to reach the greatest achievements without resorting to pay the pizzo²⁴. Although this filching is nowhere near the type of eminent threat that the dinosaurs posed in Crichton’s imagined theme park, the game itself does deserve its own warning. Perhaps a Dantesque “Abandon all hope (of keeping your wallet closed)” would be appropriate.

These issues are also apparent in 3real racing where virtual currency is soaked up by upgrading cars (as it should be) and then further spent by avoiding / surpassing the obnoxious time taken to service and upgrade the fleet of cars purchased. At least this imposed time penalty follows thematically. Servicing cars takes time just as does growing²⁵ dinosaurs, but why do these time penalties rear their ugly heads in so-called social and lite gaming? Why are many of the games that use such dastardly schemes “free”? Why can’t I just pay 10 dollars²⁶ and bypass or unlock these trivial inconveniences and be done with them so that I can actually play the game instead of spending my free time waiting to enjoy myself?²⁷ Does anyone else see our game creators engaging in the very caustic activity of creating a market based on removing the artificial inconveniences that they themselves have created for no other reason than to withdraw currency from our pockets?²⁸ Why are we buying into these systems and rewarding coders for such inventions?

Can gaming get lazier? It seems the games themselves prefer not to be played at all. They (or at least their designers) prefer participants bypass play through designed circumvention as long as passing up game play results in a bank transaction.

Perhaps there is no way to extract social and lite gaming from such hideous trends; I’ll begrudgingly accept this if I have to, but can we do something to get this out of traditional console gaming? One of the features of FIFA13 (a soccer game), which I regrettably don’t have as much time to play as I’d like to²⁹, is FIFA Ultimate Team. In this mode gamers compete online against others and as well as manage their teams³⁰. This is accomplished chiefly by selecting the correct personnel (players and coaches), managing the status of contracts and dealing with injuries and fatigue³¹. As gamers win matches they earn virtual currency to keep their teams afloat and this currency is spent to lengthen contracts (or else the players and coaches become unavailable to participate in future matches) and to increase the quality of personnel. In order to move up the ranks and better one’s team the gamer needs to play and win. If he does not he still earns virtual currency due to in-match achievements (such as the number of shots taken) but not enough to compete (other than in name only) and they will eventually suffer bankruptcy. This bankruptcy would (perhaps should) mean game / mode extinction unless the game was written to save them (it may well be, but I haven’t encountered this yet³²). This would occur if players were forced to further their campaigns based entirely on their abilities. There will always be a new rube to play against. No one will be stuck on the bottom. Instead of this Darwinian structure (which would frankly be preferable) I have encountered the ability to pay actual money to circumvent learning how to play (and improve) and earn the earn right to put together a better squad. No work required, just a credit card.

If the game asked gamers to pay for aesthetic features such as their favorite jersey style³³ or stadium³⁴ and didn’t interfere with the core functionality of competition, I’d be annoyed³⁵ but I wouldn’t be enraged.

So that I don’t end on a rant, let me bring a few final thoughts into focus—

1. The freemium³⁶ model is a fair one. Many of the games that employ such tactics cost nothing or next to it. The model allows a low barrier to entry for prospective players and lets them try out a multitude of games before purchasing. If the games are good then the creators convert fans into buyers and players into currency. This is inherently a good and valuable idea³⁷, but this relationship should not be open ended built upon systems designed to annoy dollars out of our pockets or to give competitive advantages to those who have a wallet fat enough to overcome their lack of ability.
2. The cost of additional maps on COD may be annoying, but the sale of such maps in now way fits into the problematic paradigm(s) discussed here. The creation of additional content should be supported by payment. Digital goods do and should have value and should be treated that way. This is not a cry for the type of user’s rights that many believe they should have and therefore express inappropriately through piracy; content creators do deserve payment. I am instead decrying the type of artificial services creators are designing a market for as a way to fleece their users. Creators should not be engaged in designing ecosystems just for the purpose of preying upon their users.
3. Do I have money to spend? At this point in my life, I suppose I do. I can dig out $2.95 of the cushions of my sofa once or twice a week (sadly, I have a very messy sofa), but I’m not inclined to. I’m of the mindset that success should take practice and time and patience. It should involve frustration and using one’s resources (meaning talents, attributes, capabilities and working to increase those as needed) and not resorting to one’s finances to get around such trivial and small problems. If gaming is for kids, which it once was, then let it not be jaded and created with the empty capitalistic irony of the 80’s. Let it offer fair playing fields and real successes to be earned.

Lastly–What kind of world do we live in that now when we build our games we build in the expectation of outside monetary influence? Should I allow my son to bribe his way through Uno or Chutes and Ladders? Should game night include “For a $1.50 of your allowance, I’ll let you tell me that red 6 is a green 9…”?

As long as money is being made this will not change, so I urge you to become a gamer who doesn’t feed the machine out of irritation. Instead be a good gamer, force a change by not gaming instead of converting your hard earned pay into their meaningless virtual currency. Force the well to go dry on such tactics so that we can all have our games back.
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¹I’m thinking here of Matthau’s character in Grumpy Old Men, though now to think about it many of his other characters may also apply here; watch the original Bad News Bears to gain greater insight and cultural credibility–Billy Bob Thornton’s version doesn’t hold up.

²This may be due to my viewing perch as part of the uninformed periphery…I was a busy college student when WoW (World of Warcraft) hit as I recall.

³ Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games…unless you play them you probably aren’t aware and will never recall this acronym.  I sincerely apologize for wasting your time with such nonsense.

⁴ These items would include but not be limited to education, occupation, children, girlfriends – the last one is a cheap shot I know, but it was just so very easy.

⁵ And / or offer value to their teams / hoardes / factions / etc…

⁶ This does perhaps betray my opinion of certain types of gamers. In this instance I  do hate the player and not the game. There is a need for moderation. It isn’t the game’s job to build in forced moderation, but it is the job of the human to recognize the need for fresh air, exercise and grooming.

⁷ Read “need”

⁸ They will at least try to even if / when they are outlawed by EULAs (End User Licensing Agreements). You’ve seen plenty of them, but you’ve probably never read one even though you’ve checked the wonderfully non-threatening box agreeing to surrender to the game manufacturer your first child. Don’t worry; you aren’t alone.

⁹ My quick and hasty and by no means search for background for this piece led me to a BBC article by Cristina Jimenez “The high cost of playing Warcraft” which gives greater depth than Wikipedia where I –through stereotyping—expected greater expertise. At my age, I should probably know better.

¹⁰Outside of the arcade, of course, where the construct was understood and a time honored tradition.

¹¹Which currently includes the XBOX 360, PS3, the home computer and even the iPad — leaving out smaller hand held gaming such as the PSVita or the cellphone in your pocket

¹² I’m sure Darwin would be pleased to find himself and his ideas concerning the larger biological processes of our world mentioned in a piece about video games when the world has more pressing matters.

¹³Yes, for all practical purposes I am older than the Internet. This is not lost upon me as I write this on an iPad, which has greater gaming than the original NES. However it does make me feel like taking a mid-day nap and then going out for the early-bird special, so I’d rather you don’t mention it to me in conversation.

¹⁴Up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, select, start is probably the best of all time–turn on the blood! If you are culturally unaware of this reference than I feel sorry for you because you missed out on the formative experience of playing Mortal Combat and surreptitiously turning on and off the “hidden” blood feature to keep it out of the hands of your younger siblings who would’ve alerted your parents.

¹⁵If you’d like to see the heights of my ability to digress please take a listen to 15-Whatever!? and / or read articles from the 15-Whatever!?

¹⁶And other such annoying annoyances

¹⁷I mean gamers or at least I want to

¹⁸Read “strongly nudging through the creation of the aforementioned annoying annoyances”

¹⁹I’ve since checked–she hasn’t and I love her all the more for not doing so.

²⁰Do I need to do research in order to play games now?

²¹Read “maintenance”

²²which seems to be the only kind of play that social gaming really demands

²³and really who doesn’t want at least one  cool dinosaur? My son’s daily behavior proves this to be an inalienable desire (at least for 6-year-old boys)

²⁴Yes, I am likening this to the mob’s protection racket as the game designers are, for payment, protecting you from themselves.

²⁵at least theoretically

²⁶Or less. Please let it be less. This is only meant to illustrate the lengths I’d be willing to go to get rid of the problem. Please [insert game producer here] do not take this as any type of agreement.

²⁷If I bought in to the use of all caps to represent yelling I would’ve used them here, but since I do not you will not find them in the piece. I expect either way you understand the depths of my frustration.

²⁸I have enough trouble keeping money in my pockets without someone else grabbing at my wallet. Those who have come around for jeans day can attest to the trouble I have finding $1 amongst the debris and artifacts associated with being a “responsible” adult.

²⁹The trappings of adulthood have been pushing me to abandon my childhood whimsy for years, but I will resist!

³⁰Taking on the role of General Manager has long been a trope of sports video games.  It allows sports fans to re-imagine the world of athletics and create super teams.

³¹If this game is anything like life then some players are horribly injury prone.

³²At my advanced age I still have some game.

³³perhaps a throwback or something horribly anachronistic

³⁴Both real or imagined stadiums could work. Let’s have soccer in Fenway Park. The dimension don’t work? They can in a video game. Are you a history buff as well as a soccer (I am American) aficionado?  Let’s see soccer in a Roman Coliseum. Need more? Let’s put lions in the stands.  More you say?  After the opposing team’s midfielder suffers a game ending injury — it seems to happen every game — let’s have a lion eat them.  All this and more just pay $2.95!)

³⁵remember Matthau

³⁶The Freemium model can be defined as offering a lesser model for free as a “try before you buy experience”; buying gives the consumer access to a larger and generally advanced set of features. For more information on “freemium” and its history listen to “Free” by Chris Anderson which is available for free as an audiobook through iTunes.  You can read it as well, but that will cost you.

³⁷While it may be difficult to calculate the reputational³⁸ value of such an act it could be argued that it will out pace its monetary value.

³⁸While “reputational” may not exactly be an accepted word in today’s English lexicon I have decided to use it all the same.

³⁹This is especially true for games that cost $60 or more. I love you FIFA, but don’t try to deny this.

⁴⁰Sadly, I have a very messy sofa. I blame my children.

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