Hey, remember the whole horse armor controversy long ago for the Elder Scrolls Oblivion game? Of course you do! Its been a huge mockery for just being entirely cosmetic yet setting you back a couple dollars. How dare they force you to consider maybe buying something extra days after the release! Wait.... so... if I just wanted horse armor and had $2.50 lying around on my account, what exactly is the crime of that investment? Don't get me wrong, I do believe its stupid, but its not exactly a terrible thing that hurts Oblivion. I still believe its stupid because I'd rather save that money for something useful or better suited to me. Something like... a western themed costume for Penny Fox in Awesomenauts.
No seriously, same price to: $2.50. Its just a simple skin, but to someone who's dedicated 85% of the game to playing as this character, likes the general game, and loved this costume over the default, its worth it. I don't regret a bit of it either. The game is littered with costumes like this all over the place, and honestly you'll be paying possibly double of what the whole game is worth if you were to buy them all. Actually, there are two costume packs that have 'em in bulk for $15, so $30 right there and I still think that's missing Penny's and Ted's which would amount to around $12 right there (Ted has fancy re-voice packs that cost extra). The stock game of Awesomenauts is $10 by comparison. That just sounds ridiculous, and you may think nobody buys into that kind of crap. Yet I've bumped into fuzzy teddy suited Alyas, cop Lonestars, robo-snipers, a chicken clunk, and a bumble-bee gnaw, oh and another Desperado Penny fox. There was also a person on the game's support forum (I had a glitch that needed sorting) who told me I bought the "wrong" alternate costume for Penny, indicating s/he favored the Cheerleader alternative. All of this is premium DLC content people are actively buying and using around $2.50 or more, so they clearly value them and gave in some support. Another game that fuels itself and shows off with premium costumes is LittleBigPlanet, where its inspired some interesting costume ideas, recolors, and even levels to suit a new costume, but could still be enjoyed if you just wanted stock stuff. Actually quite a few other Sony published games do this, like StarHawk, Uncharted 3, Resistance, Modnation Racers, and while not quite there Killzone Shadow Fall came close with voice over, mech skins, and taunt DLC.
Why is this all so relevant though? Well because despite all this that horse armor hate is still flowing strong in the vocal gaming culture and communities. Fine I get it, again I really do believe the horse armor is stupid. Despite buying into Penny Fox's western costume that's more of an exception for me than the rule. Unless its dirt cheap for its value, or it really hits a niche that suits me, I'm a hard to sell person with this stuff. I see where people are coming from when they say they don't support it and would rather look into the DLC market for real expansions and some serious game-play spices. However what I do have a problem with and lose my understanding for are those that insist the cosmetics aren't just undesirable for the person, but in fact a plague and something worth fighting against before it harms all your games. I'm sorry, but the whole thing falls apart with a clear contradiction and feels like hate for the sake of hate. If its DLC that doesn't do anything, and your complaining that its hurting your games because *reasons*... well you just said it right there, its not doing anything for your experience by existing. So how is it a problem? Also lets dispel the argument that its taking away from true DLC, because we're talking about skins and cosmetics. This is stuff an art team can do in a day or so, run it by some animation tests, and call it done. It takes more effort to probably put the damn thing in the store than it does to make it (which is why in most cases its done in massive amounts). So you'll still get your shivering isles expansion, new maps, new characters, or whatever else it is you were looking for. Actually most games that do cosmetics are up there among those putting out possibly the most of new content, and new spices for longer than the average game. Cosmetics are only a fraction of their commitment and its often a sign that the team is still working to enhance the game beyond the launch copy. I would even go as far as to say the industry is better for the consumer with these costumes. Look back at Killzone again for this one, even if it is a little weirder than say a common costume. They give you free maps and in exchange they bomb you hard with optional DLC that effects mostly looks. There's a special hacker and retro weapon themed expansion pack, and a co-op expansion as well, but for the long time it took to get those out they were giving maps out for free and took a chance on players buying special bonus stuff. It works to, with people flying cheese colored bots, and showcasing and reviewing all the many voice packs. By contrast lets look back at killzone 2 and 3. In 2 if you bought the $6+ map packs, you'd be disappointed to find your money was wasted and nobody used them because it would tear a hole in the community. In 3 the matchmaking really could care less what you got, you could be thrown in with a bunch of players who never had it and thus didn't have the cycle, or thrown in with the cool kids that bought it. Either way, the game basically cut matchmaking into yet another category that could potentially leave people out or keep you out of what you paid money for. Oh and in both cases you were also locked out of potential trophies if you didn't buy it, screwing with your completion percentage if you actually care about that sort of thing. In shadow Fall the community stands united as everybody has every map possible, and its fantastic that way. Imagine if more games followed this model. Unfortunately some like COD get away with charging on both, but even then... I can't really complain about new narrators as a premium option.
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| $2 useless taunts + Free maps > $15 maps, take it or leave it |
So what awoke this whole thing was actually thanks to Capcom's shenanigans. They recently bumped up content in ultra street fighter and dumped a dozen or so summer themed costumes. I'll admit from Capcom it looks suspicious after the disc locked and delayed characters out of SFxT. However I've still got to bring the same argument around again when I see people hating on the entire Horse Armor style. Its not cancer or anything guys, its freakin' bonus content you may or may not want, and if you don't want it just leave it. If you leave it your not missing out on anything. Its called free will, use it, say no, and then you're done and can continue playing your game exactly as it was before. They aren't holding your precious expansions, characters, or online competition ransom, they're simply giving you the option to send in your favorite character in his tacky swimming trunks. That option isn't destroying your game, its just another choice you can make with your money. Unless they suddenly decorated your game with locked "please buy" icons (which admittedly is a little too often for comfort), they haven't screwed with your $60 purchase. Street Fight was still the same competitive arcade fighter it was before, Killzone is still an underrated and amazing team based FPS, LittleBigPlanet is still an amazing level sharing socially driven platformer, and Awesomenauts still is still an amazing 2D take on the MOBA genre. Horse armor is just a little extra treat you can grab if your hungry for a little decoration with your fun game. Its not the end of the world people, you can find much more deserving topics to bitch about. So please... can we get a grip on reality and stop moaning about how "awful" horse armor DLC is?
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