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We've all heard of free-to-play games, I assume. It's mostly any sort of game you can play for free. While flash games, facebook games, etc. are covered by this, what I am referring to is the 'big-name' console quality games. They have good and bad aspects, and frankly I need to rant. So here goes...
THE GOOD:
Of course, these games are, for the most part, FREE! You can get a good amount of entertainment out of them, and usually being MMOs, they never truly expire unless of course you tire of them. They usually have pretty nice people, and if you get lucky you can find a really good game.
THE BAD:
Oh, here we go. IMO, the scourge of free-to-play games that feature what I call the 'pay your way' or 'pay to win' method. Basically, it forces you to invest your hard-earned money in the game unless you want to spend obscene amounts of time grinding for large amounts of cash. The worst examples of this are games that feature a special currency that is accessible only through a purchase. This currency would probably be used for the high-end ships, armor, weapons, whatever. Let me call upon Spiral Knights as an example. Every day, a player received 100 energy by logging on. However, this energy capped at 100, unless you bought more. The energy was used to enter a dungeon(10 energy per level) or to craft things. However, any armor that was more than 2 out of 5 stars needed 100 or more energy. This is an example of 'pay your way.'
That was really the main part of my rant. Of course, a free-to-play game could be really crappy too.
THE GOOD:
Of course, these games are, for the most part, FREE! You can get a good amount of entertainment out of them, and usually being MMOs, they never truly expire unless of course you tire of them. They usually have pretty nice people, and if you get lucky you can find a really good game.
THE BAD:
Oh, here we go. IMO, the scourge of free-to-play games that feature what I call the 'pay your way' or 'pay to win' method. Basically, it forces you to invest your hard-earned money in the game unless you want to spend obscene amounts of time grinding for large amounts of cash. The worst examples of this are games that feature a special currency that is accessible only through a purchase. This currency would probably be used for the high-end ships, armor, weapons, whatever. Let me call upon Spiral Knights as an example. Every day, a player received 100 energy by logging on. However, this energy capped at 100, unless you bought more. The energy was used to enter a dungeon(10 energy per level) or to craft things. However, any armor that was more than 2 out of 5 stars needed 100 or more energy. This is an example of 'pay your way.'
That was really the main part of my rant. Of course, a free-to-play game could be really crappy too.