I went to a theme park recently. Yes, it had nice polish and scripted events, but you could consume all the content in a hardcore day or two, even with the lines they had around the ride spawns to stretch it out. Lots of downtime. They add like one or two new rides per year, so I probably won’t resubscribe unless I feel like grinding that rollercoaster.
There was a literal line on the ground guiding you around the park, mindlessly from ride to ride, and almost all the rides were non-interactive, just watching it happen. The most meaningful decision I made was which seat to pick; it does not even matter if you ignored the line and rode the rides in any order. I appreciated that lack of gating, but most rides had forced grouping. I initially resented the randomized player-matching system for those groups, but I never had PUG problems.
The business model was unfortunate. There was no client to download, just a short-term subscription, but everything beyond the rides and bathrooms was part of the cash shop, including all the mini-games and (get this) all the loot, although it was mostly cosmetic gear. Even basic food was in the cash shop, and there were literal vending machines for energy potions.
I went to complain about that on the boards, but I could not find the log in.
: Zubon
You got me stumped. What game is this a metaphor for? Sounds like it might be Allods, but not sure as I have never played it.
If it is indeed as your metaphor implies then it sounds like a terrible game.
Good thing they don’t expect you to play more than ~12 hr/year. And yeah, the long term subscriptions really aren’t worth it.
Zexion: Meatspace, not cyberspace.
I played in a sandbox recently. Everyone gave me strange looks. I got dog poo all over my hands.
I don’t see what the big deal is.
Ah, you were doing it wrong. The whole point of playing in a sandbox is to smear dog poo all over everybody else, especially if they’re much younger, smaller, or otherwise weaker than you are.
Then you rode the Log Flume for six hours straight because let’s face it, the Log Flume is the ish. I think I’m doing this metaphor thing wrong though.
You are not the target audience, as you consume the content too quickly and don’t buy into the shiny (plastic) culture.
Now, if you were the ‘middle class’ family, too lazy to actually plan anything, and instead end up going to the same place, at the same time, every.single.year, you would ‘get’ it. Having the 2010 version of the mickey ears, the 2010 ($25) t-shirt, those are items worth grinding for.
The safety of not having to make choices, the safety of not having to figure out if the random location is going to be interesting (or have candy anyway), if you might, wait for it, possibly learn something new or experience a different culture. No no, best to avoid all of THAT and head back to the themepark. Again. Fore the 14th straight year (another clear badge of honor).
They do it to get away from those too ignorant to consider perspectives outside of their own narrow vision of the world.
It sounds to me like this is a metaphor for all current MMO’s.. even WoW.