Social Platypus

Opinion Mods not microtransactions: How to keep players engaged. By Josiah Sapp     Players invest a lot of their time and money in games that they believe in. We want the best experience for the investment. Developers and publishers make a living because we spend money on their product and spend time in their creation. It’s a highly competitive market and the tactics are cut throat. If a studio isn’t on top of the gaming trends, they get shut down or reallocated elsewhere. That’s why we get stories like Visceral studios being disbanded and their projects getting canceled. What they were working on, in theory, wasn’t being developed in line with future trends of the marketplace. Studios want their customers to return to their game while spending money on extra content. The avenue in which developers have achieved this retention and spending is through paid DLC and microtransactions to varying degrees of success. It seems, however, that all games are doome...

Opinion Youtubers and Twitch streamers make the best video game advertisers. By Josiah Sapp     The best advertisements are the ones where you believe the people trying to sell you something. You can always tell something is off when someone doesn’t believe in the product that they’re selling. This is why I think old infomercials and door to door salesmen are so easy to dismiss. They lack passion and belief in a product or service. Video game commercials have typically been very vivid and over the top. Created by older generations trying to appeal to what they think kids like. You can see this in the early ads for systems like the Playstation and Nintendo 64 . Today’s advertisers are more subvert and more entertaining to watch. You’re probably already subscribed to them.     Gaming on YouTube and Twitch has taken off in the past few years. People have made a full time living off of making videos about games and playi...

Opinion Destiny 2 will be awesome because it’s already been made. By Josiah Sapp     Let me set the stage for you. I’m going to list off a set of attributes then I’m going to give you two different games that best fits the attributes that I describe. Sound good? Here we go: Imagine a game with endless amounts of guns. A vast array of armaments that busts open the sandbox of the game completely changing how you play. You’ve got several classes to choose from once you start the game and within each class, is a set of subclasses that will dictate what kind of role you will play throughout. Gameplay is sharp and precise but the story is vague. It lacks characters you care about and a general sense of confusion as you complete the story missions. The loot system is great as you are constantly chasing after that one piece of loot you don’t have and always wanted. Cooperative play is not necessary but encouraged. It definitely adds a layer of fun to the ...