But I suppose the lesson for me is to instead focus on games that I can actually buy outright and thereafter play in whatever style I wish to without the developer ever being able to upturn the universe because their post-COVID profits are down.
Even this doesn't work 100% for most modern games.
When game developers moved from successive game
versions/titles, like Ultima I, Ultima II, Ultima III, ect ect....
to online portals, very quickly that became subscriptions.
Basically having ppl pay to play the game they already
bought and paid for... then selling pixels became the rage.
Pixels in the form of "stuff" but also virtual property.
At the same time we got the rise of the F2P online game.
The big platforms jumped on that bandwagon, buying
up F2P games for thier platform.
As you say David, you'd hope a bought game be free from
future whims of the devs. I would even consider those games
to be P2P because you "paid" for the right to play. The big
problem here is having a P2P game, disguised as a F2P game.
Its one thing to pay for pixels/property, its another to have
to pay just so you're not pulling your hair out trying to play
the darn game. Either way, the unwritten rule always has been,
that if you buy pixels.... caviot emptor, let the buyer beware.
I try to take
@Mykan 's view, I hope the devs really are trying
to make things better, but actions speak louder than words.
Lets take the Ultima series as an example. Would I as a player
freak, if 3 years in, in order to continue I had to kill someone ?
I'd be like I spent 3 years killing noone to keep that part of
my character ok in that disclipine.... of course I'm gonna freak.
1 act to "continue" sets me back 1-2 years, uhhhhh No.
When a game is as interconnected as Elvenar is, most players
(once they grasp the game) make choices in what is built in
thier city depending on thier playstyle/avail time. Changing
something a player bought/did 3-15 CHs ago and has been
building on since then, basically erases all that hard work.
It degrades the basic trust between the playerbase and Inno.
Once trust is lost, next goes revenue to Inno or an outright
exodus of players to other games. At the very least, players
"park", not knowing which decisions to make.
All games have a lifespan, when a new mgmt team tries to
revitalize a game thats already market saturated, its an huge
uphill climb. Usually its not a pretty site, and far too often
it fails and the game emplodes. Elvenar seems @ the stage
where new mgmt is squeezing out what life/revenue Elvenar
still has, then move on to greener pastures. This might take
awhile, but the downward spiral seems to be evident.
Had Inno chg'd mgmt, came in and look'd @ past threads,
and gone down a path of a charm offensive, by giving us
what we've been asking for for sooo long, the playerbase
might have been on Inno's side about making wholesale
changes to the game. Seems the opposite happened and
Inno came in with a wrecking ball approach. I'm not gonna
hold my breath, but I'll take David's view..... time to go
back to "bought" games. Sad thing is, ya can't just go down
to the local computer store/software outlet and buy a game,
and companies are shifting to "renting" from "owning".
Soon I fear all games will suffer the same problems we're
having here.
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