FREE is a very ominous word in the gaming industry.
If it is a stand-alone game (no internet required and no add-on items and stuff to acquire), then yes, while you can get the games for free, it’s not really free. You are trading away your own life (time/hours) for a free game. You may not realize it at the time, but if you were able to go forward 5 years or 2 years into the future and ask yourself, “Was giving 400 hours of my life worth it for this free game?”.
In life, nothing is free. We are all traders. Everything we do is a transaction and we are trading more than just money. This is another one of my own theories I came up with (I’m sure someone has already come up with this way before me), that the greatest skill you can have in life is to learn how to be a good “trader”. We always trading. Even if you don’t realize it. You are trading your time, health, relationships, opportunities, experiences, physical properties, knowledge, peace of mind, so many more things…
Second point, free games like MMORPG games or other apps and stuff which are free is a great way to lure people into their “trap”. The industry is realizing it’s actually MORE profitable to give away games for free because they will make more money down the line. It’s all about exposure …casting the widest net you possibly can. What will happen is as you play this free game, you realize how much you like the game, how addicting it is, and how fun it is to play with friends or strangers online. Now they got you. What happens after that point is you realize everyone else is ahead of you. They have better items, better equips, better tools, better skins/clothes, whatever… and in order for you to compete, you have no choice but to either a) spend real money to get in game credits to purchase these options and become elite or recognized or reputable, it becomes like an ego thing, b) play as a noob forever which sucks, c) outright quit the game you just started playing and really love and are addicted to.
So you can see how this works very well. Some people will just quit knowing they’d have to spend money to really get the most of the game. But a lot of them will jump onboard and start pouring out the cash as the game takes over their life and almost replaces their real life to a virtual one. It’s also a lot easier to convince people to pay $25 or $50 a month to play a game for 3 or 4 years than to ask customers for $500-$5000 up front to play their game. Nobody will pay $5000 for your game but they will pay $50 a month over a few years … smart aren’t they?
So next time you think of FREE, just remember, it’s not really free.
Pretty sure everyone here is aware that spending your off-time on consumer entertainment isn’t going to cure cancer or teach you to play the harp, but that’s not why you’re consuming entertainment products anyway.
And you are moving your fingers which consumes calories which means you have to buy more food to survive! /s
Most people who game fully understand what “free” means in this context. The only caveat are F2P games which monetize aspects of the game and can actually end up costing quite a lot. There are more “minor” variations in the form of loot boxes in many games as well. Some countries are considering deeming these things gambling and restricting them as such which positively freaks out the publishers who want to avoid that at all costs. So they tip-toe as close to the line as possible.
That said, most free games on Epic have no further costs except, maybe DLC or an attempt to upsell you to the “deluxe” version. But if you get the deluxe version you still get the game for free and are only charged the difference. Even that has been…uncommon.
[Moderating] cornflakes2, this is the forum for games. It should be taken for granted that anyone in this forum is interested in spending time on recreational activities. That’s what this entire forum is for. If you object to that, then why are you even here, wasting your time?
I’ve played games for years myself. I’m speaking from experience.
I don’t see what the problem was for simply explaining what “free” actually means.
How was it not “reasonable”? I didn’t attack anyone, say anything mean, or personal.
If I should have made a separate post about “free games” then sorry but threadshitting? But wow, people need to take it easy. If you disagree with something, please openly discuss and debate me on it. I have no problems with putting together a reasonable and sound discussion.
I’m not going to argue with anyone on this matter. It’s not an argument. Enjoy your free games! I have done that too (probably too much if I may say so myself!).
it’s odd I did the 2fa thing last week for the epic store but I’m guessing because I always have my launcher open for Fortnite updates it didn’t ask me for it when i claimed gta5 …
I have no idea. I know I claimed GTAV with zero issue, so I guess they already have me in their system. I have paid zero for any games on Epic, only claiming free games as they come up.
I know that the game has ‘improved’ since launch but I don’t think that anything could get me to install that turd of a game. More than anything it seems to be a testbed for seeing how much money it is possible to squeeze out of players.
Ike Witt, I don’t see it as any different than Elder Scrolls Online, which enjoys a pretty happy player base.
I’m certainly not defending Bethesda’s practice, but apparently enough players are willing to compromise to keep the game(s) afloat. And their microtransactions/subscription model is independent of whether the game is a “turd” or not.
Finally, why post about the free weekend if you don’t like the game? It’s a thread announcing free games/trials.
Aegis Defenders free on humble. The amount of free games in the last year is ridiculous. Easily over 100, with a lot of high quality games too. If you were just starting out as a new gamer you could easily just play free games and never actually buy anything if you were so inclined.
Civ VI free? I am surprised. I bought it on the first significant sale after release (so maybe 20% off, base version) because I always love/play Civ games, starting with the original (I think I still have some of my early boxes).
But…I never really bonded with it. For my playstyle and the things I enjoy, the changes were for the worst. Some simple things were now much harder to do (I don’t recall what now, but maybe “skip this unit’s orders for now”), and some of the annoyances may have been addressed in later patches or DLC. I sometimes think about re-installing, but Civ V scratches all my itches.
Don’t get me wrong: FREE is a great price! And there are many people who enjoy the heck out of the game. I’m just getting too…old and impatient, I guess…to learn vastly different mechanics (it seemed) before I start enjoying the game.
Everyone who has ever enjoyed a past Civ game should definitely get it at $0 (if they’re willing to go the Epic Games route).