Mostly an addendum to my post about Loot Boxes

This should be one of my shorter posts, but I'd really like to get this out as well. I've said a lot about loot boxes in my last post and why they bother me, additionally there are a few other business practices which I'm not too fond of, including but not limited to: Season passes (especially when announced at the same time as the game), exclusive pre-order bonuses, and to a certain extend limited cosmetics and daily quests. But there's something that bothers me way more than that, and that's consumers defending the questionable decisions by big companies.

Okay, that probably sounds like I'm the most intolerant jerk out there, but hear me out, at least for one more paragraph. Your opinion is yours and I'm not trying to deny you the right to make up your own mind and express it. I'm only speaking about the people who can't just express their own opinion, but also tell me how my opinion is wrong and just shows how uninformed or greedy or whatever else I am. The type of people who will automatically deflect any sort of criticism I have about their favorite Free-To-Play game with a "It's a free game, did your parents not teach you how to be grateful for what you get?" or a "If you hate this free game so much, then why don't you just stop playing?"

this product is free sir, therefore any criticism you have is void

And there are a lot of these people. Enough for me to think that I can't be the only person out there who's annoyed by them. First off, my parents did a decent job teaching me about all sorts of valuable traits. Kindness, honesty, gratitude, loyalty, generosity, and many more. I know how to be thankful and I am thankful to have great games to play, but that doesn't mean I have to be thankful for every little dram, especially not if said dram is only introduced to justify a bad business model. I know it might be hard to grasp for some, but if a company decides for their game to give out rewards for the players, then that's part of their business model, and it's designed to make them the most money in the long run, it's not their sheer generosity.

Secondly, I don't hate the game and the fact that I take the time to express my concerns and thoughts about it should make very clear how deeply I care about some of the games I play. I really wish I didn't have to explain that, but apparently some people find it rather challenging to see the difference. If I explain how I think one aspect of a game is frustrating to me, then I don't do that to insult the developers or to convince others that it's a bad game, no, I do that to point out how the game could be improved by explaining what keeps me from enjoying it even more. Sometimes that might be bugs or game balance, other times it could be frustration about slow progress or meeting hostile players. If I hated the game I would have quit already, and I wouldn't even think about taking the time to point out how it could be improved.

Lastly, can we please just agree to be pro-consumer instead of trying to defend and justify every action of a company? The company is not our friend, they will do what's best for them, not us. Sometimes we might benefit from their decisions, because keeping the customers at least happy enough to be willing to keep playing and possibly spend their money on the game is in their interest as well, but other times they will lie and deceive us, take as much away from us as they can without causing an outrage and squeeze as much money out of us as possible.

So please for the sake of us all, the next time someone complains that it took them 50 hours to grind for a random in-game skin that would have otherwise cost them 3 bucks, don't call them greedy and instead just accept that their frustration is most likely justified. Just because a game is free it doesn't mean we should let companies get away with everything.

Exclusive offer: a one year supply of toilet paper for absolutely free! (it's free, therefore you forfeit the right to complain about it being used and having to come and collect 1/365 of it yourself each day; also: this is not an actual offer)