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Why We Wanna Sample the Goodies Before We Buy

Why We Wanna Sample the Goodies Before We Buy

We have to accept that DLC is here and isn’t going anywhere. It’s a part of our gaming society now. When complete rosters and games come around, we’re ridiculously lucky to have them. Yet, there’s a light shining in this darkness. Some companies have decided that they must also adapt to this “new normal” to make things a little more fair for us. Which has led to a recent, wonderful trend of trying before buying with add-ons.

League of Legends really helped pave the way on this, as it has been doing something like this as well. Champions are on a rotation. Instead of being able to use everyone for free at once, you’ll have to check in each week to see who will or won’t be up for offer. Riot even makes a big deal of announcing who is free each week, so you can be on top of things. Like someone you’ve tried? Guess what? You buy him or her. But you still have that chance to sample and see if he or she works well with your existing strategies.

More recent releases have been picking up on it as well. Street Fighter V is another example. Its cinematic story mode allows people to play as every character, even the ones that are normally DLC. While this isn’t an opportunity to engage in full-blown fights online, you’re getting a chance to use characters like Guile, Ibuki, and Juri without actually buying them. It’s a test, in a way, which lets you see if that person is someone you’d like to unlock (via real cash or fight cash) in the game. It’s an opportunity Capcom hasn’t afforded us before, and a welcome one at that.

Evolve is another fantastic example. This is a game that bombarded us with DLC with its original release. It was a ludicrous amount. Now that it’s free-to-play, there’s a more relaxed approach. There are still walls limiting what you can and can’t do and who is available to use without paying, but you can go into Practice Mode to try out every hunter and monster. You don’t own it? Not a problem. See what he/she/it is like, make a decision, then determine if that character is worth your money.

Why We Wanna Sample the Goodies Before We Buy

It’s refreshing and open-minded. We have demos for games all of the time. Games like first-person shooters, MOBAs, and fighters often lock away extras and force us to pay extra for them. Letting us sample people before we buy them is a good business practice. In each of these situations, we could end up finding a character we could use for hours on end. You don’t invest money in something that could become so integral halfheartedly. You deserve a chance to see if its worth it.

Hopefully, it’s a practice we’ll see continue and expand to other games. I’m not saying every extra game mode or add-on should offer such an opportunity. But maybe give us more free chances to try paid maps and characters from time to time. It can only benefit the developer, publisher, player, and community.

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