Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

[HisMommaCallHimClay]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

The delivery model for gaming is changing and gamers have the rare opportunity to help guide the future of the industry. Right now, it is a CHOICE. In the future it will not be.

It may seem 'affordable' now. Its only a game here and a game there. It may seem like it is good business ... raping customers as much as possible as long as they are willing to bend over. Eventually though, your *** is going to get sore and when that day comes, please think back on how you voted.

Right now we have the choice to bend over or not. One day, the die WE cast will be set and bending over will not be optional.

But they don't here you.

[shellsgot86]

I think 2k should've let us start off at mid 70s and then leave how it is now so we can be decent enough to save our VC I bought some and delete the my career player and start over and use the remains VC to make my player mid 70s no sig skills so its fair cause speed and quickness is a most this year and about time!!

[gutsdabeast]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

VC is the #1 reason I returned my copy of 2K13 and it's because of all the reasons people listed in this thread.

Like everyone else, I was signed for 2 years at 500 vc per year. I went to equip a textured arm sleeve - that was free in previous 2K games - which was now being sold for 3,000 VCs (the regular sleeve is 800vc). Let's imagine that my rookie MP was really in the NBA and received a contract for $500,000 a year ($100,000 per 100vc) and then let's convert that money into coins. That means:

500 vc = $500,000.

So what we have are two arm sleeves that in real life, would cost:

800vc = $800,000
3,000vc = $3,000,000

For a game that markets itself as being a realistic sim of the NBA, this is ridiculous. In what world are headbands, sleeves, socks and such priced more than an NBA player makes? What player is going to save up 6 years worth of salary to be able to buy himself an arm sleeve? Sure, after your contract is up, you can negotiate for a higher salary, but at it's core, this is nothing more than a shameless cash grab by 2K trying to force their consumer to pay real money to dress up their virtual baller.

This here is the biggest problem. If the game is meant to be realistic. With realistic interactions with the GM, press conferences & the like. Why does your rookie have to pay for items given to him by the team or their sponsor?

So does Anthony Davis have to spend half his salary for an arm sleeve? If so it sucks to be the number 1 overall pick. Derrick Rose must slave away for his ankle braces. It's ludicrous for this to be the case now.

If the were to give you the regular accessories for free but you have to pay for the stat-boosting accessories that would be one thing. But to have to pay for a headband is crazy.

Even EA hasn't gone this far yet (they do have their own transactions that are suspect). I can create a player & accessorize him however I want. The game isn't as creative but it's free.

Spend your money however you want but realize this is a problem. I think the feel is if you don't take a stand now it will only get worse. Will the game become pay to play?

The old model of console video games is changing for better or worse because of costs but their has to be a limit to how much you can withhold from the average gamer while still charging $60.

[11anthony]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Why do you care? More money for 2K=bigger budget=bigger crew=better game.

What makes you think more money = bigger budget?

For all you know it could have been:

More money = bigger paychecks for the devs.

[BornBetter]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

What makes you think more money = bigger budget?

For all you know it could have been:

More money = bigger paychecks for the devs.

Yeah, they put in probably anywhere from 80-90 hours or more a week programming this game for you and you complain about them making a little extra money? Developers aren't cheap.

[11anthony]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Yeah, they put in probably anywhere from 80-90 hours or more a week programming this game for you and you complain about them making a little extra money? Developers aren't cheap.

Who said I was complaining about them making money? I'm just stating that more income doesn't ways mean a bigger budget.

[pikten]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

face it 2k became a money grap,am curious i want to see what these guys who bought vc for mp will say when their mp freeze after the finals ,many report this glitch for both ps3 xbox

[liodeesxalf]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Some people just don't get it. I mean, those accessories are ALREADY in the game, available from the get-go. Only, 2k restricts the access to them in the one mode that provides the most escapism and caters to our fantasies of playing in the NBA. They purposely make it so it is extremely difficult to earn VC with the idea that the player will become impatient and just spend real money just to regain access to the accessories. It's shameless.

It's like, say you buy a car, and it has all the standard features, like air-con, climate control panel, radio, mileage-efficiency display, etc. Only, you can't use them right away, you have to own your car for like say half a year before you can use them...OR you can pay the manufacturer a set sum to use it right away. even if it was a small-sum, its not right and doesn't make sense. It's not about being cheap, its about principle.

Since all that stuff is already in the game, they're not working any harder to provide us with new content, so they don't really deserve the money they make from selling VC.
If we were paying for dlc not in the game, like say new legend teams as players request them throughout the year, then i can understand paying for it since they actually had to do some work to get the player license, do research on players stats and tenancies for that year, make the player models, and so on.
This is different though. they're pretty much just sitting back, watching sheep give them more money, and essentially for free, for something thats been standard and free in myplayer since the mode was first introduced because they know people will throw money at them if they make the people more impatient.

Not going to lie, 2k knows business and knows how to make money, and they know how the mind of the masses work. I'm not sure what the ratio is, but if the game used a 1-1 currency ratio between VC and the USD, and scaled down the price of these the accessories appropriately, people would probably be more hesitant to buy the sleeves, compressions, headbands, etc since they would see how much their getting for their actual dollar.
Instead they inflate the currency of VC, making it in the hundreds and stuff, and subconsciously it feels like you would be getting more than you actually do. Its actually pretty standard business using numbers psychology. say your buying medicine; for the average american who doesn't know metric, they are more likely to buy a label that reads 150mg than a label that read .3grams even if they were same price, same brand, exact same product.

[Ken Griffery Jr.]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

<snip>

Instead they inflate the currency of VC, making it in the hundreds and stuff, and subconsciously it feels like you would be getting more than you actually do. Its actually pretty standard business using numbers psychology. say your buying medicine; for the average american who doesn't know metric, they are more likely to buy a label that reads 150mg than a label that read .3grams even if they were same price, same brand, exact same product.

This is the same reasons Microsoft instituted their stupid points system years ago. Saying something cost 800 (or 1200) points is psychologically easier to accept than $10-$15 dollars.

[24ct]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Some people just don't get it. I mean, those accessories are ALREADY in the game, available from the get-go. Only, 2k restricts the access to them in the one mode that provides the most escapism and caters to our fantasies of playing in the NBA. They purposely make it so it is extremely difficult to earn VC with the idea that the player will become impatient and just spend real money just to regain access to the accessories. It's shameless.

It's like, say you buy a car, and it has all the standard features, like air-con, climate control panel, radio, mileage-efficiency display, etc. Only, you can't use them right away, you have to own your car for like say half a year before you can use them...OR you can pay the manufacturer a set sum to use it right away. even if it was a small-sum, its not right and doesn't make sense. It's not about being cheap, its about principle.

Since all that stuff is already in the game, they're not working any harder to provide us with new content, so they don't really deserve the money they make from selling VC.
If we were paying for dlc not in the game, like say new legend teams as players request them throughout the year, then i can understand paying for it since they actually had to do some work to get the player license, do research on players stats and tenancies for that year, make the player models, and so on.
This is different though. they're pretty much just sitting back, watching sheep give them more money, and essentially for free, for something thats been standard and free in myplayer since the mode was first introduced because they know people will throw money at them if they make the people more impatient.

Not going to lie, 2k knows business and knows how to make money, and they know how the mind of the masses work. I'm not sure what the ratio is, but if the game used a 1-1 currency ratio between VC and the USD, and scaled down the price of these the accessories appropriately, people would probably be more hesitant to buy the sleeves, compressions, headbands, etc since they would see how much their getting for their actual dollar.
Instead they inflate the currency of VC, making it in the hundreds and stuff, and subconsciously it feels like you would be getting more than you actually do. Its actually pretty standard business using numbers psychology. say your buying medicine; for the average american who doesn't know metric, they are more likely to buy a label that reads 150mg than a label that read .3grams even if they were same price, same brand, exact same product.

This.
Exactly...
They get it...This is what this is all about....

[The Limit]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

If they didn't let us buy VC, I wouldn't even play MyPlayer, because I don't have the patience nor time to build up my player. I get frustrated on too many occasions, so I'm very happy that 2K made this feature and I hope that they continue to allow VC to be purchased.

[ILLSmak]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

VC is the #1 reason I returned my copy of 2K13 and it's because of all the reasons people listed in this thread.

Like everyone else, I was signed for 2 years at 500 vc per year. I went to equip a textured arm sleeve - that was free in previous 2K games - which was now being sold for 3,000 VCs (the regular sleeve is 800vc). Let's imagine that my rookie MP was really in the NBA and received a contract for $500,000 a year ($100,000 per 100vc) and then let's convert that money into coins. That means:

500 vc = $500,000.

So what we have are two arm sleeves that in real life, would cost:

800vc = $800,000
3,000vc = $3,000,000

For a game that markets itself as being a realistic sim of the NBA, this is ridiculous. In what world are headbands, sleeves, socks and such priced more than an NBA player makes? What player is going to save up 6 years worth of salary to be able to buy himself an arm sleeve? Sure, after your contract is up, you can negotiate for a higher salary, but at it's core, this is nothing more than a shameless cash grab by 2K trying to force their consumer to pay real money to dress up their virtual baller.

Realism is creating your own dude? If it was realistic, you'd be like "roll me a random dude with random abilities and I will try to make him into an NBA player."

I can understand the argument that people are getting 99 rated players and dominating people online... but the arm sleeve argument? That's ridic. Especially considering that you will likely be making ****loads of money in the later myplayer years. What is the max salary? Winning rings... etc. lol

Like they said, you are supposed to have something to work for and if that makes you return your game, I don't know what to say.

Last thing I'll say is these things have value in the game and to the gamer more than they would for an NBA player. Think of it more as a benz for the game because it's a status symbol.

-Smak

[MrBigShot1]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Yes, getting drafted as an NBA prospect and then playing in the NBA is realistic. That's what NBA prospects do. Paying the equivalent of $800,000 for a sleeve is unrealistic on another level. That's a terrible comparison. Some people in this thread don't, and probably never will grasp what's happening here.

[Ken Griffery Jr.]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

Realism is creating your own dude? If it was realistic, you'd be like "roll me a random dude with random abilities and I will try to make him into an NBA player."

I can understand the argument that people are getting 99 rated players and dominating people online... but the arm sleeve argument? That's ridic.

Good lord did you miss the point. *SMH*

MrBigShot1, and other people in this thread, understood exactly what I meant. Just because it's not "realistic" to create a human (virtual) being from scratch and craft them into an NBA superstar doesn't mean all other forms of realism associated with basketball can be thrown out the window. By that logic, what was the point of marketing that they included the new CBA? Or that historic teams are as accurate as possible? If we're going to go by the "Hey, the whole game isn't realistic" mentality, why not just replace Kareem on the '87 Lakers with the Yeti from NBA Street? It's because while you can get away with some unrealistic aspects, you must ground your game in some form of reality.

Even if your MP was earning 20,000 coins per year which, according to the example in my earlier post would be $20 million dollars, for him to pay the equivalent of $3 million dollars for an arm sleeve, sweater or whatever is outright ridiculous.

[Ramboooo]

Re: Stop Buying Virtual Currency, please

I understand your point, I respect your stance...as I've purchased skill points for MLB 12: The Show, to bump up my fastball velocity from day one.

What I did not do was pay for the ability to change my style of batting gloves, or switch from an old-style helmet to a new one, or to give my guy shades. Plus when I shelled out my money for my skill points, I didn't have to choose between fastball velocity or a compression sleeve.

Surely you can understand our point, even if you don't agree with it??

Everything you did to your guy to make him unique, wouldn't have costed you a dime last year. This is the issue. It's inexplicable, and it can't legitimately be justified. Let's stop acting like earning enough VC to get a headband has anything to do with the game being a challenge, or your guy getting better...it's a headband people.

Look...I love 2K, been playing NBA 2K since the Dreamcast...haven't had a NBA Live game since Live '97 with Mitch Richmond on the cover. But I can still call 2K on it's BS. Let's not love a company/game to a fault to where you're acting like other people are being ridiculous for making valid points.

If YOU have no issue with paying for a headband...fine. I'll refrain from judging you, and say to each his own. But DO NOT compare buying in-game accessories, that have been in the game since the turn of the century - to a map pack DLC or song packs in one of those singing games. While people have arguments against both, at least you can also make the argument that it's new content being added.

Headbands, wristbands, rubberbands, knee-pads, finger tape, ankle braces, full sleevs, half-sleeves, etc. where ALL in the game for at least 2-3 years now. This unique look you were going for, that cost you 20,000 VC, was free last year. The justification for making you pay for it this year? Doesn't exist.

So while it's good that you're enjoying your experience with the game, and don't mind paying for minor items like a rubber band on your wrist...it would be cool if you didn't act like people were complaining about the price of the game or something.

I'd actually argue the opposite. BECAUSE it's a headband, it's not that big of a deal. My Player is a progression mode - do u guys not comprehend this? Maybe this $$ is going for a better online architecture, etc. I'm happy with the online this year because they got the main thing right -- FUNCTIONALITY. If they needed to make more $ for that to happen with the VC, then so be it. Plenty of companies do the DLC stuff because it's optional and it's fluff - not part of the core game. If we gotta play a few more games to rack up some VC to buy some special socks or something, so be it lol. Still think ppl talking about accessories like the game isn't the same if your my player doesn't have every item asap. Like I've said, we gonna be playing this game all year so there's plenty of time to rack up VC...