I stopped at consoles when they became another enshittified always online tool of theft. I stick with pc, old consoles, or my old 360 as a new Gen console.

I think most games get shut down when they still have players. Plus they could release server code so people could host their own games, like in the olde days of the 1990s. They don't because they're primarily concerned with profit. That aside, "it brings joy" is not sufficient on its own as a justification. Heroin brings joy, but you likely wouldn't say that's a fine gift for a child. Why is that? Probably because we recognize the potential harms and unhealthy habits. Maybe you accept the risks and harms of digital slop are acceptable. I don't think I'd want to encourage that in children.

>There must be a reason to yoke yourself to the pay-for-skins version, but I’m really not sure. The MTX-filled version is the only thing you have on console.

In a roundabout way, yes, because it allows a player to player economy to form (outside of valve's purview), which other games prevent by preventing trading. However, the ability for items that have been purchased or acquired to be traded to people has a great effect of making common things more accessible to players as a whole, even those who don't spend money (Craft hats or unique weapons in TF2, for instance). I think that as a buyer, you would want to have something that isn't permalocked to your account, but I could see the argument from an abuse standpoint.

Very environment friendly:)

Clickbait

The current landscape of gaming is so foreign to me. Gaming for me has always been an experience to get lost in a fantasy world — something akin to reading. Nowadays everyone seems obsessed with the online and competitive sides of it. It feels like you can't have a conversation about videogames without someone bringing up Fortnite and the new skins they unlocked by treating it as a job.

I wish they just made up their mind.

because that's what the majority of people play. the majority of people buy 1-2 games a year and play them all year. COD, sports games, the big popular shooters. they are casual fans. they don't give a shit about stuff like Expedition 33 and would be totally uninterested in a game like that as boring and stupid. all my friends/family who play games think I'm a gay weirdo for liking non sports, non military, non driving games.

who, kids? it's all relative. anything before the living memory of teens is retro. that's why it takes 20 years for stuff go to become cool again.

OK, must be nice? I don't care about that. I just want to play games on my couch. PC gaming is a huge pain in the fucking ass so I stopped PC gaming like 5 years ago. I am too old to be spend hours try to fix broken games.

Good for you! I find modern consoles to be a cesspool of data theft and annoying logins that I dont want (in, Microsoft account for xbox), plus not owning any of my actual games is a red flag, as well as needing internet to even play a single player game. However I get it for ease of use if youre already in that space. I also enjoy making things much harder than they need to be, hence my 15 year old cpu linux gaming pc I keep hobbling along!

Macro transactions

I don't say I want to encourage that. All I want to say is that this might be a similar situation to the "satanic panic" in the 80s and 90s which in hindsight feels stupid and a thing of the past.

I hope you said something like, "oh, that looks cool, can I try?" And then go around easily killing some enemies you already know and then comment on how easy the games kids are playing these days are.

If we'd have known this would happen then we could have killed the gig who came up with those armor and everyone involved in its conception and release.

I would say 'no' on principle. No child of mine will EVER receive virtual currency as a present for Christmas. I would sooner buy them £120 worth of games than even £5 in Robux.

And my kid wants a fingerboard. What's next, pogs?

Its partially lack of marketing. You have to have the time to be at least somewhat keyed into the gaming community to even know what exists and is good. For example I don't have a lot of time to play, so I am ideally looking for something like 15-30 minute increments. All the mass produced things marketed on tv or whatever are that type of game. God forbid I find a game and then realize it has some punishing save system.

..and the world was a better place for it.