Comment by revolvingocelot
3 years ago
Well, why do we want to go back there? The demise of the arcade, brought on by computers and consoles growing inexpensive and powerful, allowed videogaming to become an art form (eg Braid, FEZ, To The Moon, etc, are artistic experiences if a film ever was, cannot be replicated on other forms of media, and cannot easily be monetized into an arcade machine). Returning to an age where electronic entertainment needs you to feed it money every once in a while, regardless of how much or why, seems like a step backward.
More concisely, why excuse shittiness with historical precedent?
Arcade games are fun. It's great that we have more thoughtful, artistic games now, but not all games need to meet that description. I can still walk up to a Robotron cabinet and have fun, but I'll probably never play Braid again.
I'm speaking specifically to your criticism of Vampire Survivors, which as you said doesn't have microtransactions. I'm strongly opposed to the use of "compulsion loops" to generate revenue via microtransactions.