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Day one DLC is a choice, not a crime

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Day one DLC isn’t a crime, so why do so many gamers act so offended when it gets announced?  Casey Hudson, the executive producer behind the Mass Effect series, is no stranger to controversy created by his games.  The upcoming Mass Effect 3, much like its predecessor, will feature a significant portion of DLC.  At the announcement that the “From Ashes” DLC, which features a new squad member, will be available to purchasers of the Collector’s Edition at no additional charge but everyone else will have to shell out $10 for it at launch, upset gamers took to various forums and Twitter to protest.

This got me thinking.  What’s the big deal, really?  Hudson tried explaining this on Twitter, saying that it can take months from when a game is content-locked to when it is actually ready to ship.  (https://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson/status/172503190946856961) In that time, it appears that these developers would have nothing to do.  Creating extra content for the game is both a logical and financially sound decision.  In many cases, game studios will have to lay off a number of employees after a game goes gold.  This allows the studio to continue employing people that can add to the game, and DLC has a much shorter development time and cost than the content on the game disc.

But who cares about some programmer or writer or animator?  They aren’t the ones paying $60 for the game!  Well, sure…but upset gamers need to take a step back and realize they aren’t really being wronged or hurt here.  They are paying for the game, and this is a choice.  Paying for DLC, day one or otherwise, is the exact same thing.  As a consumer I can choose to buy the game and the DLC, buy just the game, buy the DLC on sale at a later date, or buy the inevitable GoTY/Ultimate/Here’s-All-the-DLC Edition in a year.  If I am really offended, I can choose to not buy the game at all. All of these are valid choices, because video games are a luxury and no one is ever coerced into buying one, or a part of one, or additional parts of one.

We, as a community of gamers, need to realize that we come off as childish and entitled to the very people we are buying these games from.  Is this really how we want to look?

 
Tags: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3
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Jarrod Bell
February 22, 2012

Couldn't agree with this more. It definitely seems like gamers need to realize a few things when it comes to DLC. They need to realize that they aren't entitled to free content because they are fan, bought the previous games, or pre-ordered a game months out.

You're getting what you paid for and this is simply an extension of that product.

Mass Effect 2 was a great experience for me even in the "incomplete state" of not having the DLC or the additional character. For those complaining about the story line changes why not play through the game as is then later on when this goes on sale pick it up then and play through Mass Effect 3 again to see what sort of changes this might bring.

Or we can all stand around kicking and screaming about it. That's a logical decision instead of acting like adults over this.

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Jake Davis
February 22, 2012

What people are upset about is the fact that a Prothean squad member, something that is undoubtedly important to the story, was finished before the game went gold and then purposely cut in order to bilk consumers out of more money. DLC and the act of charging for things that used to be free is bad enough, but cutting story content out of an RPG crosses a line, and the fact that you defend this unethical practice makes me glad I don't know you.

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Jarrod Bell
February 22, 2012

Everyone keeps assuming this is important to the story line yet the game can be played and beaten without it. So how important is it really? I remember similar things being said about Zaeed when Mass Effect 2 released.

I highly doubt Bioware removed a hugely important chunk of the story line and are hiding it away as DLC.

Also it amazes how no one who actually worked on this game knows so much about when it was ready and everyone just knows it was finished before the game went gold and the code was content locked for finalization.

Perhaps there is a chance that it was a concept that was originally cut then brought back once the team wrapped up Mass Effect 3 development? Or are we so dedicated to the whole idea of getting screwed over that we can't believe that?

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