Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Cold Hearted Consumers

According to this article, the Playstation NetNotwork being down is costing Capcom millions of dollars in revenue. Many, of course, couldn't care less, and this is a problem I feel needs addressing. After all, Capcom are pioneers in the gaming industry, bringing us classics such as the Street Fighter series, the Megaman series, the Devil May Cry series, the Resident Evil series and many more. Yet so many are speaking out with cruel tongue and saying that Capcom deserves their loss, that Capcom needs to learn a lesson, and perhaps they wouldn't be losing money if they actually sold complete games on disc!

How cruel and cold hearted we can be as educated consumers...

A company that has given it's fanbase so much has earned the right to sell half a game on disc, and withhold the rest as DLC! A company that has pioneered so much has earned the right to sell hundreds of dollars worth of disc locked content! Don't you people understand this?! Depriving such a company of it's rightful nickel and dimed content is criminal! Just think... some poor Capcom executive's child, right now... would be in tears as his parent returns home to break the sad, sordid news; He will only receive one solid gold jewel encrusted iPhone this year as opposed to the two he was promised. Yet elsewhere, another poor Capcom executive would be sitting around the dinner table in their immense, palatial mansion on some private luxury island somewhere, breaking the horrible news to his family; Their annual million dollar end of year trip to the Moon has just been cancelled as they can no longer afford it, and instead they must make do with a common location such as Las Vegas, or the Bahamas.

Just think... Families could be ruined! Childhoods destroyed! Imagine the families being forced to wear the same clothes for more than a day! The humanity... the sheer humanity of it... And yes, all this can come about because us cruel, callous, uncaring, unfeeling consumers have the gall, the nerve to refuse to purchase disc locked content.

Indeed, how DARE we, as dirty, filthy, common peasant consumers, demand that the likes of Capcom, an entity so large and majestic they should be worshipped as the Gods themselves... sell us COMPLETE GAMES on disc?! HOW DARE WE?! Furthermore... how dare we REFUSE to pay for the annual rehash of the same product from last year that could, and should, have been released as a proper DLC addon to a title, such as Super Street Fighter IV to vanilla Street Fighter IV... How dare we REFUSE to pay for it as if it were a new and original title?!

Our crimes as the cold and unfeeling consumers we are run deep, my friends... We have also rejected, and refused to believe that DLC content such as Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath in Marvel vs Capcom 3 is actually real unfinished DLC at the time of launch, and that it wasn't disc locked content. In the face of our God, our Creator... we have shown the most blase and base mistrust. Such a crime alone is enough to damn us for life... Yet our crimes continue! They continue!

HOW DARE WE BE EDUCATED CONSUMERS?!

So please, have a heart, and open your wallet to Capcom. The next time you see that costume pack on sale for 30% off. Refuse the temptation, and INSIST that you buy it at FULL price, lest you deny some poor executive's child somewhere their rightful, silver-spooned childhood. We must remember that our place as dirty, filthy peasant consumers is simply to accept, with gratefulness and thanks, what Capcom deign fit to serve us. Remember, 40% of a game on disc is a PRIVILEGE, not a right!

6 comments:

  1. What you fail to address is that the loss of revenue for Capcom isn't because people are coming to a decision to not purchase DLC, but are forced from doing so by the hacking of PSN. The consumers aren't being violated by Capcom, for having to pay for content they were never promised, but by the hackers who stole their private information and compromised the network's safety.

    If people want to pay extra for costumes and game modes that would have been standard in previous console generations, that's their decision. When you pay for a disc, you not only pay for the working game but also how its content is presented--locks and all. Anything extra you either pay for unlocking, unlock somehow on your own (hacking the manufacture's server not withstanding; that's trespassing,) or ignore. Unless Capcom promised the content was standard, no one's being exploited. It's the consumers' responsibility to do proper research on the product and assume nothing is guaranteed. Your only real guarantees when buying any game is that it will work and not damage any of your consoles or accessories--it might still have parts that request you to pay more money or be downright no fun.

    You're being disingenuous in your comments about corporate bigwigs sacrificing luxury as a result of the downtime. Capcom is no more made up of six-figure income earners than your closest Walmart is staffed by the Rockefellers. When a corporation loses money, it's the people at the very bottom who suffer the most (at least in the United States; Japan might be different.) Many middle-income employees working in many aspects of the company and in no way involved in DLC will probably lose jobs over this. To say they deserve to lose their pay for reasons not only outside of their control, but that no one at any level of the company did anything to deserve just highlights how spoiled and insensitive you are.

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    1. You do know he was talking bad about Capcom in a good way? Jesus some people can't realize people talking trash in a good fashion learn to understand be gone with you fool!

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    2. You're either really bad at detecting sarcasm or you're reading into a second layer of sarcasm that isn't there.

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  2. Kotaku douche is douchey.

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