when you play competitive games you’re expressing your skill as a player in front of an audience of people.
The first part of your post makes sense, even if I don’t agree with it. But this part stands out- buying a skin isn’t a skill question. It’s just a wallet question.
Some games have stuff you can only earn via achievements or whatever. I could see being proud of, like, a skin you only get if you get 100 perfect whatevers in a row. But, like, just buying it? But I guess the audience has enough people who are impressed by that sort of thing.
spending some money on a skin isnt a big deal you’re just paying devs for the game you love.
Also not to be a negative nerd, but unless the company is very tiny the developers aren’t getting much, maybe zero, of that money. Developers get a salary. Stock options, maybe. It’s not like a tip jar. Profits typically go to the owners under capitalism, not the labor. “Buy skins to support the developers” might be indirectly true, in a limited sense, but it mostly feels like capitalist propaganda.
Im not saying buying a skin is skill expression. When a player is playing they are preforming in front of an audience, everything is part of how they express themselves. From how they move to how they shoot to the skins on their gun its all player expression. Not everything has to be an achievement to be proud of some stuff you just like because it makes YOUR character look the way you like. I dont know how to convey this idea properly.
If its a f2p game where cosmetics cost nothing people still choose cosmetics over the default character. This is because your ingame character kind of represents you when you play online.
For your second part about spending money on games I feel like you are being intentionally obtuse. I dont only care about money going to devs. The game isnt made by just devs. I want it to go to the entire company that produced the game I’m playing. If investors get paid thats good I’m glad they are getting a return on investing in the creation of a game I like. If the game made no money there wouldnt be people getting hired to work on it. A f2p game is exactly like a tip jar no one has to buy anything and if no one buys anything the game shutsdown.
The first part of your post makes sense, even if I don’t agree with it. But this part stands out- buying a skin isn’t a skill question. It’s just a wallet question.
Some games have stuff you can only earn via achievements or whatever. I could see being proud of, like, a skin you only get if you get 100 perfect whatevers in a row. But, like, just buying it? But I guess the audience has enough people who are impressed by that sort of thing.
Also not to be a negative nerd, but unless the company is very tiny the developers aren’t getting much, maybe zero, of that money. Developers get a salary. Stock options, maybe. It’s not like a tip jar. Profits typically go to the owners under capitalism, not the labor. “Buy skins to support the developers” might be indirectly true, in a limited sense, but it mostly feels like capitalist propaganda.
Im not saying buying a skin is skill expression. When a player is playing they are preforming in front of an audience, everything is part of how they express themselves. From how they move to how they shoot to the skins on their gun its all player expression. Not everything has to be an achievement to be proud of some stuff you just like because it makes YOUR character look the way you like. I dont know how to convey this idea properly.
If its a f2p game where cosmetics cost nothing people still choose cosmetics over the default character. This is because your ingame character kind of represents you when you play online.
For your second part about spending money on games I feel like you are being intentionally obtuse. I dont only care about money going to devs. The game isnt made by just devs. I want it to go to the entire company that produced the game I’m playing. If investors get paid thats good I’m glad they are getting a return on investing in the creation of a game I like. If the game made no money there wouldnt be people getting hired to work on it. A f2p game is exactly like a tip jar no one has to buy anything and if no one buys anything the game shutsdown.