Much like the sun rises each day, predictably in the east, beaming its rays down upon all sinners and saints without discrimination, this reaction piece was inevitable. My grievance (this time) arises not from an objection to divisive DLC or artificial difficulty, but from the current ‘state of play’—by which I refer to the way in which we play video games today, as opposed to a decade ago, and not Sony’s answer to Nintendo Direct. So then, let me ask it. The question on everybody’s tongue:
What ever happened to install and play?
Has the notion of users purchasing a computer game which is then fed into the CD ROM drive, loaded, and played sans online connectivity hullabaloo and signing a blood oath contract that requires downloading yet another launcher become so archaic, so obsolete, that we’ve simply forgotten it? Since the dawn of Steam in 2003, numerous game clients have been popping up all over the net, beseeching us to click the install button: Origin, UPlay, the Bethesda launcher, Desura (RIP), GOG Galaxy, and most recently, the Epic Store. It’s somewhat of a relief that places like GOG and the Humble Store still offer gamers DRM-free titles, but that doesn’t negate the fact we’re forced to jump over a virtual hurdle before unlocking the titles we want. And so I ask, with full awareness that Epic (and no doubt other companies who will mimic the exclusive/timed-exclusive model to snap up hungry consumers) is dangling delicious carrots in our faces, how many more clients can we kneel before until we’re all full up? How many more before we simply can’t carry anymore? Each time we hand over our e-mail address, are we just reinforcing a culture where new game launchers are free to keep nudging and squeezing themselves in gaps that once didn’t exist?
Conent with ‘content’?
It’s a similar case with subscription services. These days, it’s become uncommon not to see a game that’s been loaded with extra ‘content’, be it multiplayer, a battle royale option, episodic continuations, loot boxes, or some kind of drip-fed DLC. This isn’t to say all these things are bad. In fact, many of us love the promise of extended replay value; our favourite game gets to live on, just a little while longer. Does this mean we are no longer content with plain MacDonald’s fries? When our initial wonder is forever lost to the inexorable chains of time, when a game is ‘over’ and the screen fades to the menu—a down-time typically reserved for absorption of the awesome experience that just transpired—will we be satisfied? Are we, unbeknownst to ourselves, being conditioned to unconsciously desire quantity over quality? There is a rapidly growing number of services which cater to anyone fond of the ‘try before you buy’ approach: Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo all have packages that ‘serve’ players a selection of paid games which remain accessible so long as the monthly/yearly deposit is made. Quite handy when you think about it, although, it does come with a price: the perpetuation of non-ownership culture. As someone who grew up on physical media, this admittedly causes me great distress, and I would take bets others who hail from the retro crowd are also feeling the teensiest bit of resistance. Even Apple has joined the ranks with ‘Apple Arcade‘, which could very well wind up becoming a fantastic crowdpleaser that helps elevate Mac gaming (titles are cross-compatible on Mac/iOS), but my general reluctance remains.
I just want to play games. Preferably ones that don’t vanish.
This has been a very short blog post featuring the random thoughts of K.K.Atlas. Feel free to express your approval/disapproval/thoughts on life, the universe and everything in the comments section.
Header image credit (Tamás Karsai (Spidi))
Edit: And here’s yet another launcher from Rockstar, pulling Epic’s free giveaway trick. Cannot…resist…free…game…
Edit 2: Here is the only acceptable response to all these launchers vying for our attention, clogging our memory, and luring us in with free titles:
Thanks, Corsair. You are the voice of reason.
