by TheNesta » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:45 pm
Well, I didn't mean for this to turn into a hate-fest on modern business practices, but, okay.
Look, I know people are upset about this situation, as well as some of the reprehensible marketing EA has taken with this particular game. Sure, it sucks. Does that matter to me personally? Not at all. As I said, this is a game I've been very excited for, and regardless of whether I was going to obtain this content or not* wouldn't really effect my excitement for the game, let alone boycott it. Now of course, that's just my opinion on it, your mileage may vary, and in fact, looks like it has based off the replies!
Now, of course there's quite a bit of an uproar over this, and, I guess rightfully so. But, I think until people actually get to play the game, and see the significance of the DLC, it's just people theorizing on how much people are really getting screwed over here. Should the content be included? Yeah, probably. But keep a few things in mind a few things first.
It could be less important than you think. - As I said above, we really don't know how big a role this DLC plays in the grand scheme of things. For example, with Mass Effect 2, the character Zaeed was included as free DLC in new copies of the game. A better way to handle the situation to be sure. None the less, were used gamers screwed over all that much? A little, he was a whole other character after all, but on the other hand he impacted the game very little. You could have an entirely complete Mass Effect 2 experience without him.
It's 2012, DLC is going to happen. - Like it or not, DLC is a common strategy used in the game industry nowadays. I won't bore you with the details of this, as you are probably already aware of the pros and cons of this system. Now, with that said. There was undoubtedly going to be DLC for Mass Effect 3. Now, I think the reason people are so upset about this particular piece of DLC is that it happens to be Day One DLC. Again, not uncommon nowadays either, but it does strike a bit of a nerve because it implies that obviously this content could have been included with the purchase of the game. So, this doesn't really make the situation any better, but, would it really be that big of a deal if this DLC was put out a month from now? No, I don't think people would be making nearly as big of a deal out of it.
Now, that's really all the defense I can offer. To be clear, it's a shitty situation, and I wish that weren't the case. In fact, it's painful to see EA using such brute force tactics to promote this game, because it just leaves people with a bad taste in their mouth, and as a fan of the franchise, I'd rather not see that. Still, I tried to provide a bit of explanation for it, because, hey, why not?
I know someone said they were going to boycott the game, and that's perfectly acceptable I guess. You know, vote with your wallets and all. But I guess when it comes down to it, the idea of boycotting is always so ridiculous to me. At this point, it's not going to make a difference in this particular case, and if you were interested in the game originally, it seems like you're just cheating yourself out of the experience. But, there are options. If you wait, you could get the game for cheaper, and the DLC could cover the cost of a full price game. You could wait for the eventual Game of The Year Edition which includes all the DLC. Or, I guess you could just get the game and not worry about the DLC.
Anyways, that's just my two cents. If it makes any bit of difference, I'll report back in here with how significant the DLC actually is.
*Note: I will be getting the DLC.
