Does anyone else feel like the online pass is a scam?

[skinfanfromIL]

I think the concept of an online pass is a scam, but (as mentioned by the person above me) you either have to buy it new or buy the online pass or give up on the platinum.

I don't have the platinum because I chose the 3rd option.

[julesthegr8]

Originally Posted by AlejandroM

No one is scamming you.

You are just being a massive tool if you waste $10 on a bronze trophy.

Well technically he would be wasting it for a bronze AND a platinum trophy!!!! HAHAHA
Anyway, who cares? Developers are just trying to make some money that they lost because you and many others are playing their game used. Think about it....if you made a mix tape (ok Im a little older, so what) and you were selling them. How would you feel if after a while people werent buying what YOU created, instead they were just copying the tapes from their friends and you got nothing? Same concept. Just pay the $10 if you want the trophies, You didnt pay much for the game when you rented it right?

[skinfanfromIL]

Originally Posted by julesthegr8

Well technically he would be wasting it for a bronze AND a platinum trophy!!!! HAHAHA
Anyway, who cares? Developers are just trying to make some money that they lost because you and many others are playing their game used. Think about it....if you made a mix tape (ok Im a little older, so what) and you were selling them. How would you feel if after a while people werent buying what YOU created, instead they were just copying the tapes from their friends and you got nothing? Same concept. Just pay the $10 if you want the trophies, You didnt pay much for the game when you rented it right?

A better comparison would be that they were selling their copies of the mix tapes to their friends or letting their friends borrow it instead of buying the mix tapes from the creator or the company/people that have an agreement with the creator to sell the mix tapes.

Copying their friend's mix tape would imply piracy. Which is not even close to the same thing as buying used.

[hope090209]

I fully support online passes.

I don't like having to use an online pass for 2 trophies...but I knew that before I set out to attempt the plat...plus also give online a bash!

[JHChiBulls]

Some people spend $60 on a new game for the exact same purpose as people who spend $13 (online pass/renting cost) on the same game. To Platinum the game and then let it collect dust for the next 3 years on a shelf.

I don't think online passes are a waste at all. If you know you want to Plat a game, but don't want to pay full price for said game, then $10 for the online pass and the cost to rent the game is totally worth it. Or you can rent the game, unlock every trophy except for the online one's and then return the game.

[alberick]

then why do 90% of the games NOT have an online pass? Sorry guys, play online or one bronze trophy, its a ripoff.
Really sad to see that most accept this as a necessity, this is how the masses are being ripped off, be it games or anything else.

[gyrfalcon09]

Originally Posted by alberick

then why do 90% of the games NOT have an online pass? Sorry guys, play online or one bronze trophy, its a ripoff.
Really sad to see that most accept this as a necessity, this is how the masses are being ripped off, be it games or anything else.

Where does that number come from? I would argue that the better part of newer releases are now requiring online passes.

Here's a list of most if not all games that require an online pass:

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Battlefield 3, 2
Bulletstorm
Dead Space 2
DiRT3
Dragon Age 2
Driver: San Francisco
EA Sports MMA
F1 2011
FEAR 3
Fifa 11, 12
Fight Night Champion
Homefront
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (Vita)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Madden NFL 11, 12, 13
Mass Effect 3
Medal of Honor
Mortal Kombat
NBA Elite 11
NCAA Football 11, 12, 13
Need for Speed (Hot Pursuit, The Run, Shift 2)
NHL 11, 12, 13
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
Resistance 3
Skate 3
Socom Fireteam Bravo 3
Socom 4
SSX
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, 12, 13
Twisted Metal (PS3)
UFC 2010 Undisputed
Uncharted 3
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Wipeout 2048 (Vita)
WWE ’12
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011

Now, obviously that's not every game, but it's a fair chunk of the newer, big titles with online play. Obviously it's a trend that's caught on with the main developers, and whether you agree or disagree with it's use, it's not going anywhere and you can either buy used and then shell out $10 to play online, or buy new, or buy used, boycott the passes, and don't play online.

Is it developers finding a way to squeeze a $10 profit out of gamers who didn't buy the game new? Yes.
Is it a scam? No. We may not like it, but it's only good business for developers. They're charging for a service, that's not a scam, that's the economy.

Source: List of games requiring Online Pass to play online | Games I Like

[alberick]

and the economy is a scam. People are being taken for pigeons more than ever before and everybody seems to just accept it. Looking at the list below its mostly games that were an epic fail anyway (Homefront, Medal of Honor, Warhammer 40K, Bulletstorm, the whole Socom lineup and maybe some more titles that i'm not interested in), as if they knew it in advance and said 'hey lets include an online pass so at least we can make up for the bad sales when people rush en masse to their second hand dealer'

And how many of these games have trophies related to an online pass? I know for sure that Amalur doesn't because i platted it with a second hand copy.

My opinion is that this is something that should have been boycotted by the whole gaming community while it was still in its 'kids shoes' to set a sign but as usual it didnt happen.

[ReynosoSix]

Originally Posted by iansanzo

Well if you are the type to buy second hand games or used games then it is a rip off. But if you buy your games brand new then you can't say its a rip off.

I guess it's all in how u look at it. I buy used games from different places that just happen to be in good order with no scratches. When I got U3, the Online pass code was still good to use. I dont always have $$ to buy new games as soon as they come out, but It wouldn't hurt me to spend $20 on a PSN Card to get a pass or some DLC

[osubuckeye420]

Originally Posted by julesthegr8

Well technically he would be wasting it for a bronze AND a platinum trophy!!!! HAHAHA
Anyway, who cares? Developers are just trying to make some money that they lost because you and many others are playing their game used. Think about it....if you made a mix tape (ok Im a little older, so what) and you were selling them. How would you feel if after a while people werent buying what YOU created, instead they were just copying the tapes from their friends and you got nothing? Same concept. Just pay the $10 if you want the trophies, You didnt pay much for the game when you rented it right?

I agree with the first half (dev's are trying to make additional money that they would otherwise not see from the secondary market), completely disagree with the mix tape analogy.

Before I get started I'll preface this by saying that I completely understand that it is in Naughty Dog/Ubisoft/EA's right to charge an additional fee for online content. I also understand that I have a right as a consumer to not pay for that additional content (I'm not going to pay $10 just to unlock a stupid trophy).




Okay, onto why your analogy stinks

When you rent a game, you are renting a legally purchased copy of the game. Gamefly/Blockbuster/Redbox paid full price (or an agreed upon price worked out with the developer) for each title they ship out to their members.

When you make a mix tape, you are just burning songs from CD's you purchased onto blank discs and then selling those previously blank discs that are now full of content.

It is COMPLETELY different.


Gamefly doesn't buy one copy of the game and then burn disc's to ship out to people. Each disc that they ship is a fully paid copy of the title and the developer is getting paid full price for every disc that Gamefly loans out.

With a mix tape you're only purchasing the individual CD one time, and then you are burning a bunch of copies of that one tape and profiting.

If you can't see how that is different, I dont know what to tell you.



A more accurate example of what Gamefly is doing would be the following:

You realize that you have 10,000 CD's in your library... there is no way you can listen to 10,000 CD's, so most likely 99% of them will just sit on your shelf and collect dust. One of your friends has no CD's, but really likes music. You, being the good friend you are, tell your friend that if s/he pays you $2 a month, s/he can borrow one CD at a time from your library.

Loaning a fully purchased copy is completely different than burning a copy of material and giving it to someone (and keeping the original copy for yourself).

Completely apples and oranges.