Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunes
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I know this is a TL;DR for a lot of folks, and I apologize. I think we all secretly hope that the next great game developer will read our comments and take them to heart, but sometimes its worth venting for the sake of venting.
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Actually I was scanning for the actual reason, I would say that those are but only results.
For your likes, I don't think graphics really matter, but maybe you are unaware of the use of graphics style in modern mmo's which is linked to the actual reason.
Here is what's been going on, psychologists told publishers/investors how to make a compulsive game that makes LOTS of money and the publishers tell the devs how to make the game.
Where does that LOTS of money come from if every freakin modern mmo is now f2p? Well from a very narrow few, targeted ages 18-25 years old (no less for legal reasons... but their money is welcomed too), that are categorized as gullible to the point of not being able to control their bank accounts.
To attract the 18-25yo crowd to find the "whale" (they call them whales) amongst them, they typically design the art style of the game to be "cartoony".
Once they get them in, it becomes a balance of a "skill game" vs a "cash game". Usually starting out as a skill game, where you are not very compelled to spend cash yet. But once the whale is hooked, they start spending $1000's into the cash game to continue progressing at an enjoyable rate or access special things to make them feel good for the moment, and even to take them away again if not maintained with their cash flow (a classic trap).
There are many-many tricks to do this, such as progression gates, token layers, antes and many other tricks to catch the whale and empty their bank accounts. Some of these tricks they learned from animal experiments, others through studying well known cons from the annals of psychology.
Games stopped being designed purely as the skill-game, fun for the many is not the target at all any longer. The target is the few that spend LOTS of money, the underdeveloped compulsive spenders, those are the people that the games are designed for.