Now, as many can tell, I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Vs. games. I’ve played every single one of them, and I owned several of them personally. I personally have three copies of Marvel vs Capcom 2 (DC, 360, and PS3) and I enjoy the game, a lot.
But, Capcom, has announced ULTIMATE Marvel vs Capcom 3. An upgraded MvC3 with 12 new characters (four of which have been officially announced, the rest accidentally leaked) 8 new stages, new modes, better net code, new moves for characters, and a complete rebalancing of the game. All this for 40 bucks. Personally, I think that’s a pretty sweet deal.
But, not all is right in the internet. Fans stir, anger rising.
“The games not a year old yet!”
“This can be all DLC!”
“I’m paying 110 dollars for one game!”
“I didn’t pay 60 bucks to beta test this game for 9 months!”
“MvC3 was incomplete and now they want to sell it to us again!”
Complaints like this, are flooding around the internet all over. And while, there is some validity to the anger, this leads to a certain mindset. Entitlement.
Many of those who complain, are complaining of the lack of DLC for MvC3, and this, I completely agree. MvC3 has a VERY lack luster DLC selection. Two characters? One costume pack? Shadow battle? Sure, it’s not the worst, but it’s really not much.
But, this is the thing, Capcom never OFFICALLY promised much DLC. They did say they were hoping to make a good selection of DLC out for the game, but as you can see, that really didn’t happen. So, they’ve decided to release the proposed DLC as a full game, and at a budget price.
As, someone who grew up in the 90′s on Super Nintendo, and a fan of Capcom, this came to me as pretty much no surprise. Heck, many of these arguments were used against Super Street Fighter 4 as well, and of course that turned out to be a non issue as well. But, I digress, in the 90′s us Street Fighter fans got MUCH less in full price sequels than we do today.
So, why all the anger? Why feel “ripped off” when they offer so much content, at not only a fair price, but a cheap one? It’s easy: people feel entitled.
Feeling a bit of entitlement, as if the company owes you something, isn’t anything new. But, it’s often usually just laughed off. You bought their product, and as long as it works, they don’t owe you anything else. If they give you excess, then great, they’re doing you a service.
In our age of gaming, many game companies are planning DLC for their games, before the game is even released. DLC is so rampant, that when a game doesn’t have it, some people start to feel ripped off.
Though, in reality, they aren’t. They’re getting exactly what they pay for. But companies, now give us a lot more for our buck than they ever have before.
Many look back at the “Golden Age of Gaming” fondly, and not realize how much more content you get NOW rather than back into the Super Nintendo or Playstation. Watching a friend play the older Resident Evil or Dino Crisis games, and seeing that they’re completed, multiple times in one day, just shows how much extra we get per game.
Now, if we don’t get the extra items, we’re starting to feel like it’s “incomplete”. One of the arguments on MvC3 is that the game isn’t complete. There’s a lack of modes, or a non impressive storyline. But, really, that’s not why you bought the game. You bought it to play with your buddies, or play online (yes, spectator mode would have been VERY nice, but they said in advance they couldn’t work it). Do you really care what Haggar’s storyline is? Or do you want him to piledriver Wesker into the ground?
If MvC3 was released before Super Street Fighter 4, many of these complaints wouldn’t be there. People would feel the game’s complete. They feel a bit of entitlement to the excess items that have been put into some games and not others.
Angry Joe recently put up an \”angry rant\” about Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3. Imploring us to not buy the game, to get Capcom to “Break up the disk into DLC”. This is being entitled. As much as I like Joe, he’s rather amusing, and watching his video’s are pretty entertaining, but when you tell a company “I want to buy your product, but ONLY the way *I* want to buy it” you’re acting entitled.
The worst thing, is the attitude of entitlement, especially in this genre of gaming, will only lead to the death of the genre again. Capcom wants our money, indeed they do. But, if you don’t purchase the products, guess what, it wont’ be worth the multi-million dollar risk to make it.
So, how do we get what we want, and not be entitled? Well, first off, don’t just vent on a message board or a blog (yes, I get the irony) write the companies. TELL them how you’re unhappy, but do it with respect and candor. Thought MvC3 was bare bones? Write them, and say how much you appreciate them making the game, but you felt it could have done more. You want more DLC made? Purchase DLC of like items. Want more DLC characters, buy MK characters, or Blazblue characters. If their numbers rise, it will show DLC is actually viable as a way to make money for our genre. Want the genre to survive? Tell them with your wallet and your words. Buy the game, voice your displeasure, support the scene.
Go to tournaments. Post up your own combo videos or what not. Write the companies. Be fair, and detailed. Put examples in your work. Be clear, polite, and most of all be factual. Anger and vice doesn’t really get us further. Not purchasing won’t get the updates made into DLC, it will just end our genre again. And sorry guys, I don’t want to go back to a time where our main fighting game release for a year is Fight Club with Fred Durst as a playable character.
Just a little rant, if it’s tl:dr it boils down to: Know what you buy, and support the fighting game genre. Please.
Yeah, Capcom “revived” the fighting genre only to kill it off again. Also, wanting a quality product does not mean people are feeling “entitled” by ANY means.
The fighting genre is still going on pretty strong. EVO had more views and players than it has had ever. So, I’d disagree with the idea of the genre being killed off.
The second point you bring up, is fairly subjective. What you and I call a quality product may be different, but did Capcom not deliver on what they said they would give you?
If you don’t like the game, I can understand that, but that does not mean a game is not a quality product. Again, I’ve dealt with games that had far less content, that didn’t get nearly as much negative said against it. The game may not be what you wanted, but doesn’t make it bad. It means you wanted something different.
But, again, quality is subjective. Most people find it’s quality to be quite high, and most of the complaints I have seen (yours could be different, I don’t know) tend to be on they wanted more than was promised. So, that DOES lead to the entitled mindset.
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