The get you coming, they get you going!

Okay.. I must be old.

Because I recall a time when, you paid for something.. you owned it. And there was no major pressure for a warranty, no fear that it would crap out after a year's use, and that more or less (depending on what you bought)..once you finished paying for it, it was done, no more paying for it. ..except for houses or cars, which require upkeep. But how much do you keep paying for a CD, or a pair of pants, or ..uhh.. a bag of apples??

And so.. Game companies have erred from the path of staying true to their audience, in my opinion. Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft were the big guns that blew through the walls and showed the western-world this demon. Plenty of them existed over in EurAsia for a long time now. The difference? You pay your 50$ or more for the game, install it.. and then pay to be able to log-in/on and play the blasted thing. Whereas for most of the ones in EurAsia.. it's a micro-charge (they call it).. where, the game is free.. but for items, or multiple characters, or whatever, it costs you a nominal fee. One-time fee, but these things(items) typically have a limited-time use to them.. let's say, for sake of an arguement, 7-days use before it's removed from your inventory.

The key thing here is.. you pay for the game system or computer. You pay for the internet connection.. you pay for the game. ..and now you must pay to enjoy the thing you've paid for already.
That's like having to throw a wedding every month just to stay married to your spouse.
Or renting your house.. or your car.. and never being able to the thing outright.

To me, this is legal-thievery at it's most money-grubbing-greediest.

The only way I've found to fight back is.. by not playing these games. Not buying them, or using them. ... And I'm not alone.. my friends are now starting to see the idiocy of this. ...and, go figure.. in general, our desire to play games dwindles. Time for a new hobby.. maybe something healthier. I've picked up the bass.. and am slowly getting back into comics and reading. Not sure what my friends are doing. But one thing is certain : It's not wasting our money on these wallet-pigs who whore-out our interest in games.

Some things never change

...man alive.
Okay.. I've been known to get loud, cuss out my tv and get riled up when playing video games. Especially when being sniped, ganked, cheap-shotted and wall-clitched by people.
.... and that's one thing. Understandable by some, untolerable by others, and just basically ignored by yet-more-others.

But there's just something about playing online and dealing with people being stupid by choice or habit.
Getting stoned and playing warcraft, for example (too many kids boast of this)... being drunk and playing (I'm guilty of that at least once.. funny at the time.. don't think I've ever laughed so much at eating someone's shotgun before)... but the thing that just completely ruins it..is when the racist epithets come out.

Now, I'm not one for being politically correct.... so where do I draw my limits?.. mostly at what's offensive to me. And ignorance.. willfull ignorance no less.. really just gets my ire up. I mean come on kid.. use something else.. there's plenty of swearwords available... In this age of `enlightened acceptance`... where does all this love and peace and hippy-beatnik-ness exist, really? Aren't we supposed to just hug and love each other, ignore our differences and sing kum-bye-yah while holding hands in a global-circle?? Stereotype aside.. seriously.. we see ads on tv, hear them on the radio... and what do we experience in the world?... the opposite.

Granted.. everybody is racist to a certain degree, on some level. But where does that ingrained, in-born thing end and the choice to hate someone and be derogatory to them begin because of their skin colour or heritage??

And to go on and on about this crap... over... what?
Being knifed from behind because you're too careless to watch your 6?
Having someone camped out snipe you in the teeth and knock you off your pedastel?
It's a game.. but when the racist cracks start coming out.. it's no longer a game.

Makes me wonder if all those bleeding hearts screaming for equality and justice and tolerance play video games....
I for one.. can't stand it anymore. It's to the point I just stop playing games that have these people in them... and yet, if that were all it took to end it... I'd think it'd be done by now.. except we all know that these things never go away.. they just crawl under the carpet for a while, like some dirty secret, until it can come out to bite you in the face again.

*sigh*