By now, everyone in the world knows that American tipping culture is getting out of hand. That doesn’t mean you can’t introduce another way of “supporting” creators. Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard, shared his desire to tip developers of especially enjoyable games.
“When I beat a game, there are some that just leave me in awe of how amazing the experience was. At the end of the game, I’ve often thought ‘I wish I could give these folks another $10 or $20 because it was worth more than my initial $70 and they didn’t try to nickel and dime me every second.’”
I’ve paid DE a fair amount of money over the years, but I only ever buy plat when I get the 75% off coupons (which has happened bizarrely often to me) and when I was working. I have over 2k hours in Warframe, and I feel like I was also covering my friend that I play with for when they were unemployed and couldn’t buy anything. Most of my plat goes to gifts for my friends and the occasional shiny thing for myself.
I also really appreciate the fact that it is perfectly possible to get the premium currency without spending a penny yourself through the trading system. Not to mention the fact that there isn’t any content behind a paywall. You can skip some RNG grind or get cosmetics, but the premium currency won’t buy you anything you can’t get otherwise.
(I am probably going to pay for the Tennocon access pass though because the exhibitions and Baro at the relay are actually super awesome)
Yeah the 75% off coupon is a scam. You can be away for 2 weeks on holiday, and the game recognizes you are “back after a long time” and serves you one immediately. Each time I go back to Warframe, I have a 75% coupon waiting for me (I take breaks for like a year or two for them to drop more content).
Which part of that is a scam?
It’s the regular price basically. You get it so often it might just as well be on 75% discount all the time. If you play warframe, you know it’s funny.
I tended to get them when I was logging in regularly. I figure 2k hours for me and around another 2k hours for my friend is worth the amount I’ve paid in. It’s pennies per hour of entertainment and it’s a better game with a nicer community than a lot of the AAA titles out there. Also, to my knowledge, DE seems to treat their employees fairly well and I would rather give my money to that kind of studio as opposed to the more abusive ones out there.