Escaping Reality

I’d play ESO if i had regular income. At least, i think i would… not sure what else might interfere or override that, in the presence of sufficient funds. My 3 beta weekends convinced me it’s good enough, despite all the disproportionately severe gamer-elitist criticism abound. ESO really isn’t bad at all, from what i’ve seen. I think the real problem is that people form their game-expectations incorrectly, and have lofty and elevated demands, to begin with.

Let’s look at some numbers:

There are 720 hours in a 30-day gaming month. At $15/720 hours of full access, that’s a steal. But let’s take at least 8h/1day out of that, for sleeping purposes, and then another 8h/1day for “work” and other non-gaming activities. Let’s say it’s possible to game for 8h/1day, for 30 days. That’s $15/240h/1month.

$15/240 hours… is about 10x as long as most cheesy single player whiz-bang-explosion-heavy “AAA” games, at 1/4th(25%) of the price.

$15 for 240 hours, or, $15 for 8 hours per day for 30 days straight, is about $.50/day (fifty cents per day). $.50 for 8 hours. $.25 for 4 hours.

If you only play 4 hours every day, it’s $.25 for 2 hours, $.50 for 4 hours.
If you only play 2 hours every day, it’s $.25 for 1 hour.

So, if you only play 2 hours in each of 30 days, that’s 60 hours of gameplay for $15. Still way better than any currently available “AAA” game. You’re looking at $60 for a new release that has almost no replay value, and a 30-40 hour campaign… and then $5-$15+ for any DLC (of which there are usually several, which only end up adding a few hours worth of non-replay gameplay).

SWTOR’s current model is even better: you can jump on the “expansions” with a single month sub, and then go back to preferred mode (which is a slightly enhanced version of what straight f2p gets). I’m pretty sure i’m going to end up installing swtor again… but i’m so tempted to jump into ESO, because it’s honestly a pretty well-done game, even if other people swear it isn’t. Some people jdkwtf they’re talking about, or are excessively negative toward anything that isn’t ideal or perfect. And i just don’t have time for people like that. I hate that those types have apparently manufactured authority in the gaming review “industry,” because it’s misleading quite a lot of naive people, and likely hurting businesses who deserve to prosper from doing their best. Demanding perfection is absurd.

ESO is a game in which anyone who judges it fairly, could enjoy thousands of hours.

If you go into any game thinking “this game sucks and is stupid,” you’re not going to have much fun. People should stop doing that, because it seems quite a lot of them aren’t having much fun.

Life works the same way; if you approach it thinking “life sucks and is stupid,” you’re not going to enjoy your time and experiences as well as you could, and you might even miss out on a whole lot of potentially awesome stuff.

We only get to play for so long. Try to get the most and best of it.

I’m not suggesting anyone pay for something they dislike… just defeating the “it’s too expensive” argument. Anyone who can afford a gaming PC and fast enough internet for online gaming, should not be upset over a box+sub revenue model, especially for a game with such… vastness. The game world is huge and gorgeous, and they even have deliberate “end-game” plans, rather than merely hyping up a journey to max-level, upon which there is nothing else really interesting to do (cough*TSW*cough… unless you want to grind pvp currency or dungeon currency, by repeating the same few actions ad infinitum/nauseam).

Some people simply dislike the game, and aren’t fond of the lore-universe. Others say it’s “good,” but they refuse to pay for it, as if they’re actually offended that the company who poured so much time and resource into the project, don’t deserve to be beneficially compensated for it.

I think it’s more accurate to suggest that lots of people think it’s good and want to play it, but don’t have enough discretionary income to afford it, without giving up something else… but they choose to blame the system or the game maker, instead of owning their own limitations, and saying “i like it, but i can’t afford to play it.”

I guess it’s more well-received to decry their business model, than to admit one’s own financial shortcomings.

I like that they’re trying to not make it all about gear, and that they’re not intending to ever have “pvp gear” or “raid gear.” They also have “veteran rank,” which unlocks at max level. You can also become a vampire or werewolf (and then cure it later, for a fee…).

I never played oblivion or skyrim, but i did play the hell out of morrowind, many years ago, and i’d have to say that aside from the getting away from 1st-person-perspective (which is still included and easily accessible), the game world does indeed “look like the elder scrolls.” Dhalmora gave me nostalgia shivers. I also like how crafting is important and accessible from day 1, and how there are (seemingly) many different ways to spec a character, due to racial/faction/class differences. You can even spec a straight-crafter character, instead of spending all your points on combat abilities. Idk, i like what i’ve seen of what they’ve done with it, and i like what they wrote about what to expect from endgame. I like what they claim they’re trying to do with the game. Whether they actually deliver, is another matter (and one place most other games have ultimately failed; people have to like what you say you’ll do, and then you have to actually do it).