M - Mo' money, mo' problems

As we move into an age where there are fewer and fewer large production companies we are also seeing a growing trend of outrage at these companies.  It seems like the more money that a company generates, the more seething hatred is directed at them.

PC gaming has roots steeped in a whole lot of companies doing a whole lot of things together.  Looking back you see big names like id Software who are rather smaller players in today's market, but were very big in the formative years of gaming.  Now we have giants like Activision-Blizzard and EA.  The few independent games that get good press normally have their company swallowed up by a large studio or have what they have done eclipsed by a game from a large studio.

Sometimes the anger directed at these companies is warranted.  With MW3 coming out and looking like garbage and playing like a shitty console port with a fish-eye FoV, you deserve the backlash.  When you are Blizzard and take forever to release a game but release it in mostly working order and more polished than 90% of the market can manage by the end of a game's life cycle, it isn't quite as understandable.  When you are EA and are gaining a reputation for pushing games out the door before they are read, I would gladly take up a torch and march on the headquarters with you.  In these situations customers have a right to be anger.  Waiting for a game or getting something that isn't done or wasn't done well is very frustrating, especially considering the price that we pay for these games.  That is where the second part of the money issue comes into play...

The more that we seem to be paying for games, the more stuff they seem to be adding that used to be included.  I haven't had so many issues with games than I have had in the last three years or so.  DLC is now something that a game relies on and most games aren't stable and reliable until months after release.  By the time the first 2 DLCs are out you are seeing screenshots of the next game.  By the time the third DLC is out you don't care and the fourth DLC comes out just before the next game does.  Lather, rinse, and repeat.  It is incredibly frustrating.

I remember having a game sate my urge for several years and the only DLC we ever had was free. We also had strong communities that developed for the game and gave new maps, skins or bundles of both and more.  Tribes and Unreal had some very good map and skin packs, not to mention entire conversions of the game.  Both had RPG mods on servers that saved experience and changed gameplay dramatically.  They also both had specialty servers that had rulesets and modified gametypes that played completely different and offered a fun and entertaining break from the original game.

I don't remember paying 60 bucks for those games, either. =X