N4G Contest - Day 6: That Hated Thing

For information on the "20 Days of..." contest, please see https://n4g.com/user/blogpo...

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Congratulations to GameBoyColor, our fifth day winner!

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On the sixth day, the question we have for you is "What is something from this generation that you absolutely hate and wish didn't exist in the industry?"

Even though my mother would say hate is too strong a word to ever use to describe how you feel about something, I'm going to go ahead and break that rule as what I hate isn't someone, just a concept that seems to be prevalent in video games today in general. So I don't feel bad about hating it. The thing I'm going to say I actually hate to see this generation is the increasing reliance in RNG to determine rewards.

It's not just mobile games, but seems to be pervasive in almost everything as if having to do the same thing over and over is something gamers should have to do to earn the best gear, even in offline games. It defies the whole concept of rewarding effort because RNG is not fair or just. It's not equal. And, in many cases, it's abused on purpose to inflate playtime rather than making playtime more meaningful, though this one is the world we live in now.

Now, I'm not going to leave without saying how I think it should be replaced. With the understanding that people want us to continue to play, to grind things away, why is so much emphasis put on obtaining the best gear rather than leveling up the best gear and customizing it along the way? RNG was used, IMHO, to encourage gambling tendencies and to not evolve equipment and customization to a point that we should be at already, which is giving players that power to explore and test out various ways to use it through customizations. It's till grinding, only it treats people equally and gives them choices on how to use the equipment they earn.

[Lore]

1st party studios that don't have a consistent stream of AAA games. If it is going to take 4-7 years to make the games then they need to utilize the billions they have in opening or acquiring more studios.

[The 10th Rider]

Gotta be lootboxes.

[RizBiz]

This should have 100 upvotes by now.

[GameBoyColor]

Yeah lootboxes should have never happened and I can say that everyone hates them

[kneon]

I don't hate them, I don't really have any problem with them. You don't actually pay for them do you?

[Palitera]

They mess with the game design and you get a f***** up progression design just because of its mere existence.

If you didn't understand it yet, take a look at Red Dead Online. Or GTA Online. Or Shadow of War economy. Or SWBF2. Or basically any AAA game with F2P schemes or loot boxes.

Design 101, buddy. Nothing is there by mere chance.

[kneon]

If it's just cosmetic items then they don't matter at all.

Even if it's game progression items, I still don't have a problem with them, just play the game and collect them, don't get fooled into actually paying money for them. I've never bought one, never paid anything for a F2P game, never bought pokeballs etc. Just say no.

[Palitera]

You would still be playing a game designed to milk microtransactions, not a game designed to be balanced or fun progression-wise.

[thepatientgamer]

Loot boxes. It falls under the whole rng thing as well. And I don’t mind it for cosmetic goodies; however, if loot boxes are implemented into gameplay and progression then that’s a problem in my opinion. Look at the whole battlefront 2 scandal. That destroyed any excitement I had for the game and any excitement I may have for future battlefront titles. I think it’s a cheap and lazy way to extend gameplay time, and it’s an insulting way to ask for more money from the consumer.

[phoenixwing]

Microtransactions specefically in assassins creed for materials. The game plays ok but I know they made it harder just to get stuff just because they want you to buy their x amount of crystal iron

[opc]

I'm so glad they left some of the gear designs in the store. The only problem I have with that game is there is too much damn gear. If I'm not changing gear every 15 minutes it pops up a message telling me that I have items in my inventory that are better than what I have equipped.

I don't want to be in the menus every three minutes, I want to play the friggin story.

[TheGoodestBoi]

Games that come out with massive patches. It might not be a big deal to many, but I don't have fast internet so games could take hours, even a day to update for me

[franwex]

It’s been getting worse and worse every year, and the patches bigger and bigger.

[TheGoodestBoi]

Yeah I could deal with a GB or so but anything over 5 is overkill. Avoided black ops 4, Fallout 76, and Spyro because of their day 1 download sizes

[bigmalky]

The patches are mainly bigger due to games not fitting on one disc on release now.

There's also the merging from a patch that replaces big files within these huge games, needing the download size to patch over it.

It's a pain, but until devs start using the bigger blu-rays, or ship physical games with double discs, it wont change.

[Elwenil]

Microtransactions. I don't think I really need to say anymore.

[SNACK_SHARK_TROLL]

Besides microtransactions, I'll say "Padding" or "stretching" where the devs have you do a certain amount of side missions, or build up a certain meter, or whatever in order to do the main missions. Like for an example the game would be only like 7hrs - 9(Just main missions), but they add mandatory side missions to stretch it to 14hrs - 15hrs.

[opc]

worth noting that if the side missions are good than it's fine. Arkham Asylum and The Witcher 3 had padding that was enjoyable and memorable.

[SNACK_SHARK_TROLL]

Yes of course, maybe I should of clarify the type of side missions. If side missions are repetitive like take over 8 enemy bases, ease drop on 15 enemies, do a certain amount of destruction, etc.

[stefd75]

DLC and Season Passes. Just release everything all at once. I would not mind paying a little more for the game.

[opc]

things have to be finished before they are released

[stefd75]

so true

[Garethvk]

That is a very easy one for me. Micro-transactions. It used to be that additional content was free for people who bought the games and DLC was to add new maps and campaigns. Now it seems as if games are shoved out the door missing things that should have been included at release but now require additional charges.

[Platformgamer]

this is easy: microtransactions on non-f2p games and incomplete fighting games at D1, both equally hated by myself

[cl1983]

The need for single player games or a games single player components still requiring you to be connected to the internet to play them.

[Christopher]

But, cl1983, these chests really need the Internet to access in game because they have such sweet loot that you need cloud servers to process them spawning.

[cl1983]

Yes because Halo 5 and solo terrorist hunt for R6 siege don't even offer loot chests.

[P_Bomb]

Oh man, OnRush does this. Goes so far as to kick you out of a SP race if the connection to server is lost. Which happens all...the...time! Unplayable. Watched my son get booted out of 6 straight offline races. Right at the finish line too.

[darthv72]

Its a tie between incomplete games (where part is on disc and the rest is downloadable) and mandatory installs.

I understand the benefit of installs but they should be optional like last gen. The drives are capable of playing the games from the disc.

[bluefox755]

Games as a service. Shouldn't be the primary focus, but it seems like the industry wants to head in that direction regardless. I hope gamers continue to push back.

[franwex]

Unskippable cut scenes. Like how?? HOW IS THAT STILL A THING?? HOW???

But more recently is unfinished games. I guess with every single console being online it comes to no surprise that patches will be released in the future to fine tune games. At least that is what it was before. Now large day one patches are the norm, including games without online components like Spyro the dragon REQUIRING a day one patch to play single player OFFLINE.

I understand balancing online multiplayer to make it more fun, or fair, but requiring to download a patch half the size of the game-and in this year’s case-the WHOLE game is asking too much.

[NecrumOddBoy]

Games Entertainment Media and social media. I miss real journalism in video games and real reporting. Everything is 30 second videos, Snapchats, tweets and Instagram posts and nothing has any substance anymore. I also miss reading new game news in print and hate constant spoilers. I think social media and technology is unthreading a lot of our intelligent fabrics.

[-Ghost]

Microtransactions. It's a disease in the gaming industry.

The NBA 2K series is a prime example of it. I mean, it's a smart business for the publisher and they knew they would cash in since the NBA is globally popular. The people who spend huge amounts on the VC (Virtual Currency) will always have the upper hand in MyCAREER and MyTEAM.

[Fist4achin]

In this generation, the corporate pigheadedness. Sony not allowing cross MP and killing off their mobile gaming, Xbox and their weak exclusive lineup and refusal to realize what started them of as great, Nintendo's prices for consoles and games rarely ever budging. Then moving on to the larger developers EA, Ubisoft, Valve, Blizzard, Activision, etc... thinking they know what gamers want and trying to shove it done our throats. I could go on, but enough already!

[knickstr]

Lootboxes and microtransactions. I miss the gaming days where cosmetics were unlocked by completing challenges and now it seems you have to unlock them with in game currency that can also be obtained with real world money or lootboxes. Microtransactions have also led to the shady pay to win that we have seen in BF2 initially and sports games are now built around them. Metal gear survive even tried to charge for extra save slots. There are many more examples too.

Lootboxes are even worse. With only about a .1% chance to get a really rare item and a small chance of getting anything valuable. Most of the time you only get useless items and then have to grind to get more lootboxes or just pay to get them. This has led many that are vulnerable to gambling addiction to rack up huge amounts of debt. It's also a really terrible way of rewarding players. I do not feel a sense of pride and accomplishment from them. Only frustration.

[septemberindecember]

Every game having an install. That and massive patches.

[bigmalky]

The standard of games journalism.

Clickbait, skewed review scores, the word "leak", people who don't play games bitching about them and poking the real gamers for a chance to be a professional victim while making money from people's backlash, paid for articles that make bad practices look good...

I'm sick to the back teeth of it.

[DarkOcelet]

Microtransactions and Lootboxes. nuff said

[ISHU]

Lootboxes, Microtransactions and unfinished ports are the stuff i hate about this gen. Wish gaming community didn't had those things. Completely ruining the industry.

[Bourne414]

Pay to win, and the lack of whatever currency it takes to earn those same items. You could spend $10 for X amount of in game currency, or earn it by simply playing the game for 30 hours. It sucks when you hop on a game and are immediately out gunned by a person who purchased a "Shortcut Pack" to unlock all items before they were earned. I'm fine with cosmetic purchases, so long as they're like Sea of Thieves where you can buy the item you want, not like overwatch where you may get something you want, but with thousands of items for 20+ characters, its unlikely.

[Segata]

Microtransactions in games and esp AAA games & that 60FPS in AAA games is not the standard.

[luckytrouble]

Gonna join the chorus here and say microtransactions fueled by the topic post complaint of RNG. First you say a player can just earn everything in game, but then you load that promise down with pure RNG top to bottom while stacking the odds to either require insane playtime or hefty financial investment if you don't have your entire life to burn on one game. Like Overwatch. I have folded in the past and bought lootboxes. In retrospect, it was a dumb decision, but at the time I was tempted by seasonal items that ultimately did nothing to truly improve my experience. Developers bank on games and lootbox systems having addictive qualities, layering it all with limited time offers to encourage spending stupid amounts of money.

I miss the days of truly being able to just earn the content you wanted in a game. Now there are so many contingencies, you basically have to choose whether you want to climb a huge hours wall, or go for the shorter but expensive to climb paywall. I hate it and have really started to gravitate away from any games that employ microtransaction models. Let them rot in their greed ridden ways.

[Hardiman]

Egregious use of loot boxes, micro transactions, releasing games unfinished etc.

[salmonade]

Pay-to-win practices

[TheOnlyMastrx]

Microtransactions and landing in a battle royale game and there are no weapons in the first few buildings you enter *coughblackoutcough*.

[PoopsMcGee]

GaaS

[Tross]

GaaS, and everything that entails, especially loot boxes.

[viperman240]

To keep it short and simple, pre-order culture. As well as companies caving in and catering to the minority (ex. censorship)

[RizBiz]

Can we group lootboxes and microtransactions together into one? Both are cancer.

[aleccherkov]

two things microtransactions and battle royale, another pet hate of course is when a game studio ruins the game franchise because they want to make more $$$$

[ninsigma]

Designing games around loot boxes and microtransactions. Especially to the point where the experience is hindered for players who want no part in either of those things. That practice needs to die.

[Jorjk]

Broken games on release and huge day 1 patches

[JRPGsAreTheBest]

As said by everyone, microtransaction and lootboxes. The worst way to exploit the consumers while spending nothing to make. The most frustrating part of it all is how theres no consequences to these companies as all it takes is small fraction of the consumers spending a large sum to make it worth it for them. They don't have a reason to stop and it doesn't seem like they will anytime soon.

[blackblades]

Incomplete games

[DarXyde]

Honestly? I cannot say I'm a fan of iterative hardware. I feel like a bit of a sucker for investing in hardware early. A slim model is fine and anticipated because it always happens. But the idea that there's another version of your hardware out there that runs games better? Had I known this would happen, I would gladly have waited to jump into the current generation because a wealth of great software would be available by the time I did. Now I'm wondering if I need to approach next generation with caution.

...........That being said, if I were to obtain this hardware at no cost to me, I would not be against that.

[opc]

Stop wondering. You know you should be cautious

[BlackDoomAx]

Pay to win. Seriously, games needs to be fun, entertaining, competitive. If you pay to win, it's basically like cheating, useless other than for the ego of the one who uses it. And these whales aren't even to blame, because they are addicted.

[Artemidorus]

The Kinect, didn't like it, didn't want it then forced it on customers at the start.

Soon became a voice box then nothing more, I hope it doesn't return.

[Plyzz]

Locking game content behind a paywall even after initially paying full price for the game. Something a lot of games do but especially Destiny did in a way that seemed highly immoral.

[Necron]

All these leveling up and RPG mechanics in FPS games now a days. Can't things become simpler again?

[P_Bomb]

True. Not everything needs RPG mechanics, crafting, collectibles, open world padding to make it 30hrs long.

[THC CELL]

My most hated thing was probably doing very well on halo 2 online to have my level taken away people freezing and modding the game with rapid br and pulling flags thru walls

[BioDead]

Games that comes out half done and then in two years they'll have many updates and patches until the game is finally playable. I literally hate it and that's why me Pre-ordering games is non-existent nowdays.

[oasdada]

This is pretty easy..loot boxes, microtransactions and devs shipping out incomplete early acces type games for 60 bucks then primising to fix it post launch with patches.. And what blows my mind is most websites and outlets completely ignore to mention these fault except for a few like angry joe and jimquisition

[mkis007]

Multiplayer has started to threaten the viability of single player games. Why should a studio create a single player game when they can make more money with little effort on a game with lootboxes and new maps.

[Zeke68]

Apart from lootboxes mentioned above, I would say MP-trophies in single-player games. I hate when I buy a game solely for singleplayer and I get like 85% towards platinum trophy but I need to do some crappy tacked on MP just for the few last trophies. Even worse is when the online portion is dead so you can't get those anyhow. That must be the worst thing I know, I hate it even more than lootboxes because those I just ignore.

[pabadamus1]

I really hope the timed exclusive goes away. It doesn't benefit the consumer. PUBG, Tomb Raider, Destiny, COD and even RDR2 all have something in common. They are all third party, multi platform games that have locked content or the entire game to one platform for some predetermined amount of time in an effort to attract consumers to the offending platform. This was solely a MSFT tactic last generation but Sony is now the king of the timed exclusive. From a corporate standpoint this may be beneficial but this strategy neither adds any value nor enriches the experience of the consumer. I would rather each company invest their money in something wholly new instead of buying temporary exclusivity. Compete with your own software...not someone else's.

[coolbeans]

I understand the sentiment but...

"This was solely a MSFT tactic last generation but Sony is now the king of the timed exclusive."

^this is not accurate.

[pabadamus1]

How so?

[coolbeans]

MS wasn't the sole handler of the tactic. Sony utilized timed exclusivity for the PS2/PS3 versions of Ghostbusters to coincide with the movie's Blu-Ray release (this only applied in EU/PAL territories) and Virtua Fighter 5.

[pabadamus1]

Maybe not solely but predominately. MSFT was the king of the 3rd party timed exclusive last gen. PS2 was indeed the biggest offender in its era. PS4 is now continuing a trend that just doesn't benefit anyone except the platform holder. Only zealots can perceive some benefit where there is none.

[coolbeans]

-"Maybe not solely but predominately. MSFT was the king of the 3rd party timed exclusive last gen."

Now that is indeed the case.

-"PS4 is now continuing a trend that just doesn't benefit anyone except the platform holder. Only zealots can perceive some benefit where there is none."

It's important to consider nuances though. I do take 3rd party exclusivity cases (timed or otherwise) on a case-by-case basis. For indies in particular, it's an auxiliary fund that can help in keeping things afloat. The moneyhatting for AAA DLC timed exclusivity though? That's a testier subject to discuss.

[pabadamus1]

My disdain falls squarely on the money hatting issue. Supporting indies is both laudable and necessary. Imagine a world without Cuphead or Journey...I wouldn't want to. I reserve my ire for anti competitive deals like Rise of The Tomb Raider and Street Fighter 5 (the latter being the most egregious of the 2). I just cannot see how these types of deals have benefited gamers or gaming as a whole. Those monies would have been better spent elsewhere. I also want to make it clear that I hold no bias on this issue. Every entity involved is an @$$hat! lol

[Daeloki]

I hate microtransactions, and even those where it's claimed to be "only cosmetic". Because even in those cases it usually ends up with making the included content to look boring and plain, while the ones that cost extra are the cool ones that everyone eventually wants.

[william_cade]

I hate live service games. The term is coined to sound like it is there to help us, but it really means: full price for a 1/4 of a game and a ton of MTs, not to mention if it fails people get stuck with code they can't even play.

[anonymousfan]

Well microtransactions ... Specifically in full price AAA games. If I pay 60 USD for a game why should it need to be monetized?!

[TheGamez100]

Microtransactions period.....and the root of it all, mobile f2p games with all the lootbox/gachas that inspired all these AAA devs to push for such a thing. Im sure 90% of these answers will be the same lol.

[iamsorakh]

AAA games are not designed for ultimate fun anymore, they rather try to focus on a larger audience to increase sales. Gameplay, at a large, is a large imalgamation of general gameplay and features rather than a larger focus on specific genre and atmosphere. It's hard to enjoy a game that's rushed for money rather than made for joy

[noxeven]

I hate with a burning passion the meta, to break it down even further those people that will sit there in chat when your having a bad game and go uninstall you suck at this game. Back in the day you used to just get insulted with swearing but you could shrug it off but now its like make one mistake one bad game cause its outside the meta in a casual game nope. I need my kda to perfect you suck and everything. The toxic may be worse but I just can't stand how everyone things they are going to be pro and stream perfect and make money from playing games. Look you aren't and everyone has bad games and not everyone is gonna be the best at everything. Its especially worse when people ask if you are new or have you done this before and you tell them and they proceed to be little you. Yes lets insult the other person whom is a paying customer who supports your game cause they aren't mid maxing . But if we change it and make the meta nonexist then how we gonna be pro. Just cause a streamer or pro does it one way doesn't mean a. has to be done that way all the time and b. you have to do it yourself. People just need to remember its just a game. Its fine and dandy to talk to strategy but when you are pugging something don't expect the pugs to do what you want 100% of the time and yelling at them over the net only makes you look like you need some major help.

[milohighclub]

Loot boxes

[Chris092]

Games thats released full priced with barely any content that feels like an early access.

[Smokey55511799]

Loot crates and micro transactions. Developers and publishers are getting to greedy, but we allow it with how many actually purchase these things. Its ludacris! What happened to paying 50-60$ for a game and that was it. Now there is more cost over the next year of owning a game than at the origional purchase point.

[mockzer0]

I hate that my collection of PlayStation classics don't work on my PS4. 😫

[Relientk77]

Microtransactions, loot boxes, season passes,vand pay 2 win

Wow that was an easy question.

[Blobfish69]

AAA games companies treating long serving fans like mugs and thinking they can get away with it

[Emilio_Estevez]

Broken games - the rise of the internet has allow companies to release games that aren't completely finished with the expectation they can be fixed later.

[Blackwalt]

Pay to win on full price games.

[johndoe11211]

Microtransactions, the bane of the gaming industry. that includes lootboxes.

[Jakens]

This generation, I hate not having my difficulty options. I mean to say, I need more choices perhaps five or six for level of skill. I'm not too great at my hobby games and I rarely can beat the first levels. I don't need achievements or trophies or any even extrasgiven to me when I'm playing at this skill level. I just want to play at my current skill without taking away from others. (Any game here as example)

I think the solution would be one of two things. One, learning AI, that sees my struggles and adapts their strengths to me.

Two, After fours tries failing at a level or boss, the game would offer me to pass that boss, in exchange for a character curse. Ms. Splosion man did this in the game and I loved it.

I feel so strongly about this issues that I would forgive every other misstep for this.

[Fullmetalevolust]

Nickle and diming for DLC that may continue a story or open a path to the story. Paid DLC for costumers, characters for a fighting game. It used to be that you played the game and you unlocked the characters.
Kudos to studios who offer free DLC to enhance the game they originally created.
And to your point Christopher, grinding for best gear , best story ending, or just loot hunting can be tedious but on the other side of that issue, I also don't want to pay for it and would rather grind toward it.

[opc]

gotta hold out for goty and complete editions, and massive price drops so that you can buy all the dlc on sale for $1.39

[xHeavYx]

Obvious answer, lootboxes

[coolbeans]

Congrats to GameBoyColor!

These contest titles are getting too creative. :P

I'm going to draw from your answer and expand to: questionably-earned loot in a game. By that I mean expanding to Pay-to-Win elements coursing through a lot of games like Battlefront 2. I'm pretty easygoing in respect to aesthetic stuff locked behind RNG or paywall (to an extent) but please stop touch the game mechanics with these insane damage or defense boosts. Incorporating that hurts the game for everyone.

[darklaw]

I hate how games get released unfinished, the player has to find the glitches and a patch comes out a month later. Or instant day 1 update, after purchasing a hardcopy of a game and putting it into your machine to play, you find out that you have to wait for the damn thing to update.

[Newmanator]

Political correctness spilling into the industry. BFV is a perfect example. I want to play a game to have fun at the end of the day. Censoring the swastika and over-representing women in WW2 are just 2 examples.

[opc]

If their were aliens you'd accept that it's fiction or an alternate reality. Since there are women you complain that it's not accurate.

[Newmanator]

Well BFV claims to not be fiction, so yes I'd be pissed if aliens were in BFV.

[opc]

https://www.quora.com/Is-Ba...

[FullmetalRoyale]

Games being set up in a predatory way, to get you to spend more money(on top of the retail price), to enjoy the game in a reasonable fashion.

[Palitera]

AAA games with F2P schemes, whatever they are.

[SegaGamer]

Microtransactions, overpriced season passes and DLC. Content that is held back from release and sold to us separately. Unfinished games and games that need so many patches to fix things. AAA game companies treating their consumers like idiots. All of these annoy me equally.

But the saddest part of it all is how toxic gaming has become, and I think all of the problems I listed above has contributed massively towards it.

[P_Bomb]

Season passes have definitely become too expensive. Last gen I bought a few. Never saw it go past $14.99 really, save for Stranglehold which asked way too much for far too little given its lack of clout. Now they’ve doubled in price and in the case of COD, tripled! My wage hasn’t tripled.

Arkham and RE7 have had a few good season pass sales going down to $9 and $14. But other games like Nioh, almost never. Or nothing significant. I’ve waited for Telltale Games’ passes to go 50-60% off if not more. Good thing or I’d have lost money buying the pass for TWD: Final Season. Cancelled two eps in.

[status404]

Lootboxes and microtransactions. Not the first time this has been brought up in this thread and I'm sure it won't be the last.

[Stanjara]

Loot boxes, unfinished games, patches that are large as a whole games, and now premium launch where you pay more for having a game early. Also premium beta access. So glad that God of war won the game of the year award being as complete and polished title.

[monkey602]

I was even going to answer today because every single comment above is for the same grievance I have but I'm determined to answer each question each day throughout the course of this event. Microtransactions have destroyed some games. Even some entries in series that I absolutely adore.

[ThePsychoGamer]

Live service single player games, I generally don't mind grinding in games, but it really annoys me when the grinding is really only there to try and get you to spend money so there will be less grind.

[ThiagoMysterio]

Lack of Local Multiplayer

It seems that in the current decade, it’s now often impossible to play a game with someone in the same room and on the same console. Some devs still recognize the popularity of local multiplayer and offer split-screen or the ability for multiple people to control characters on the same screen. It’s just mind-boggling when some games don’t offer that option, at all. It’s almost as if social gaming is far from the minds of certain devs. It’s great that I don’t have to be in the same room with someone to play a game with them, but it’s less great when I don’t even have the option to be in the same room as them, unless we have some kind of multi-tv and console setup.

[Arty84]

Lootboxes, Mts, etc

[Razzer]

For me it is the increasing flippant corporate idiots who are running once great development and publisher houses into the ground. EA and Activision has long been in that category, but Bethesda and Blizzard are increasingly moving in that direction. I remember when these companies were actually run by gamers.

[Shadowtaster33]

Hate to repeat but not when its worth repeating

Lootboxes.

[BABI-PANGPANG]

The 'f*ck you' additude companies have these days.

Bought Black Ops 4 a few days ago but it's totally unplayable. Got in contact with Blizzard for a refund but they told me Activision was to blame and I should take it up with them. Been contacting Activision and basically what they said was 'suck it'.

Same goes for other companies, like EA for instance..

[opc]

Unskippable cutscenes, and cutscenes that can't be paused.

[No Way]

1. Fanboys.
2. The audacity of the developers/publishers to releases games knowing it needs a 50gb first day download.
Some people don't have internet - and some have data caps.

[DemonChicken]

my vote also goes to the loot boxes and microtransactions that are predatory in nature

[Yi-Long]

Well, the thing I hate is a result of something I love.

Storage space.

Games are getting bigger and bigger, and because of resolution now being often being 1080p minimum, but PS4 Pro and XBO X consoles being able to go even higher, up to 4K, we've seen a huge increase in file-sizes, because of higher resolution textures being added.

So while gorgeous looking games is obviously a great thing, it also means many AAA-releases these days will eat up quite a large chunk of your HDD space, not to mention the time it costs to download updates/patches/DLC/whatever.

Meanwhile, many base-consoles are still being sold with a relatively tiny 500GB HDD, some of them 1TB. This means that you will have filled up your built-in HDD in no time.

Sure, you say, but you can simply add an external drive. What's the big deal!?

Well, my deal is that being the rationalist I am, I figure I'd rather see me paying 20-30 bucks more a base-console with a much bigger HDD included inside the console, because let's face it, the difference between buying a 500GB HDD and a 2/3TB HDD is going to minor difference to Microsoft or Sony (who bulk-buy), as opposed to me having to pay 100+ bucks extra on a new external drive.

So that's something I hate. Of course, I have an external HDD connected to my 500GB PS5, or else I could barely enjoy that machine, but right now my XBO X is also filling up quite quickly, and already I'm forced to make choices between the games I want to have installed or not. Let's not even mention the ridiculous 32GB storage inside the Switch.

To me, it also doesn't make a lot of business sense to sell consoles with such limited storage space. Sony/MS aren't making money from me buying an extra HDD, so they have no real long-term reason to skimp on that part of their machines, with the intention of selling be an expensive add-on. However, they do make money from me buying their games. Fact is, when I have very little storage, and I don't want to delete my installed games, and I don't want to buy an extra HDD, that's will result in me buying less games.

Case in point, Sony's PS Vita, which had ridiculously expensive memory cards, so when my 8GB card was filled up, with games I loved and didn't want to delete, I didn't go out and buy a new memory card: I simply stopped buying Vita games. (I did buy a 64GB card eventually when I was in HK btw, because it was less than half the price it would have cost me in The Netherlands...).

I truly hope when next-gen arrives, the storage problem will be solved, either with easily replaceable internal storage options, or (better yet) simply a base-console that already has a proper amount of HDD storage inside it.

[-Foxtrot]

Microtranscations, Lootboxes, obvious cut content, early DLC

[SaveFerris]

Microtransactions. Lootboxes. Games that lock endings behind a paywall.

[Tzuno]

DLC!

[voidviper]

Microtransactions season passes and just bad dlc that wouldn't qualify as an expansion

[DuckOnQuack35]

Id have to say loot boxes. They absolutely killed eso for me and I'll never play another game that locks content unless you buy 100 boxes to not even get the item you want. It's a disgusting practice and people should not tolerate it.

[blawren4]

4K. Games don't really need to be better than 1080P at this point. Developers trying to making things 4K is making games too big for current media, budgets too large, without the payoff that is worth the cost.

[UNCHARTED2FANATIC]

Microstransactions/pay2win

[ziggurcat]

Most hated thing right now is that games will often implement a tired, old mechanic that was only really relevant in the OG Xbox/PS2 era - those dumb challenges. Spider-Man had them, Knack/Knack 2 had them, inFamous First Light had them, Wolfenstein 2/Old Blood had them...

I hate them almost as much as racing in games that aren't primarily racing games.

[robtion]

Wow easiest question ever. Microtransactions, paywalls, lootboxes, exploitative dlc, and 'season passes'.

So basically all the dodgy practices that have become commonplace. Unfortunately these issues have already ruined one genre.

Fighting games like Injustice, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, and DOA have all been marred by these issues to an extent that even though I love fighters I will no longer by them until they hit the bargain bin on principal.

[annoyedgamer]

Microtransactions. The microtransactions are destroying gaming. Something that was once confined to free games is now common in full priced games. Titles are designed around it. To make metters worse, sleazier companies like EA are using political arguments to shield themselves from criticism as they nickel and dime gamers.

[Fragger2k8]

I know it's just temporary, but I really can't stand this Battle Royale craze. I've played some, I've watched some gameplays, and It doesn't matter which one it is, the games are, a best, bleh. I really can't understand how they are so popular when there are way better things out there. These arena hero shooters aren't anything special, either, but at least they can still be some fun.

Another thing that I hate is what games are the focus of Esports. Personally, I don't watch this stuff because I've never cared about watching others play games (nor do I care about watching "real" sports like football, baseball, basketball, etc..). But, where is the huge Esports scene for iRacing? Dirt Rally? MX Bikes? (or maybe even aerial combat sims and plenty of other stuff). Simulators require real dedication and talent and aren't just "twitch your mouse or press 1 faster than the other guy". The ability to react quickly is only just a part of what is required. These things, to me, are way more exciting than watching someone sneak around and hide during a match of Fortnite. Yea, it comes down to things being popular, but I just don't see the appeal of almost any of these Esports-ready games, especially not for watching. At least Rocket League has some sort of audience, but it deserves a much bigger one as well as a larger player base. I guess that's something, though.

Maybe it's a thing where people are feeling like they could easily be just as good as "insert Esport person here" in "insert fast-pased arcade Esports game here" if they just played enough, so they get some sort of attachment that way, where, if something is a sim they're put off by it because it's not something they find achievable for themselves?

I guess what my answer comes down to being is that I hate that people flock to and praise what is most popular when there are other things that are far more deserving. But, I suppose that would also be my answer about any generation. =P

[capjacksparrow]

The expectation that every game should be an open world explorable game, causing more restrictive story based games to be shunned (The Order, for instance).

[Dirtnapstor]

The divisiveness of in-game currency.

As far as shooters go, I totally prefer the older progression system like “50 kills with weapon X unlocks the next weapon”.
Not a fan of disseminating points in an attempt to unlock multiple options in a game.

[ichizon]

Day 0 patches.

A game that was available to pre-order along with a bunch of useless stuff for your dust-ridden shelf, possibly full of bugs deriving from messy and rushed code, or missing essential parts of the game at launch, not living up to expectations or being less than promised, having terrible controls or other technical "oversights", etc. You got the physical version for posterity, but you have to download half the game through a Day 0 patch.

[Geobros]

Micro-transactions for sure and....the better version consoles.

[thorstein]

It's gotta be hate. I hate hate. The unmitigated hate aimed at a game or publisher. It's weird. There were plenty of games that were hated and most of the hate was so misplaced or the haters were so misinformed that it was comical.

Worst of all, was the journalistic hate that followed (not just because journalists lack integrity) but because they just want to fan the flames.

Second to that was/ is that these same hatefilled creatures still reiterate the falsehoods that were present at launch even in the face of video evidence to the contrary!!!!!

[MasterofMagnetism]

Microtransactions and lootboxes.

[Theknightofnights]

Physical games that force you to download a portion of the game in order to play (looking at you Spyro)

[death83x]

Lootboxes and microtransactions the cancer of this industry and the one thing might bring it down. The full price game implementing p2w framework. I hope the industry will leave this practice behind next generation like how they abandoned access passes from last generation.

[TheLastHoorah]

Loot boxes and preorder bonuses. I understand preorder bonuses as they get an idea of the demand to adjust their supply and help save money on overproduction. Skins don’t really matter to me. If I really like a series I might drop extra money for skin or such options. But ultimate editions that add some unfair advantages are .... annoying. And loot boxes/micro transactions... must I say more?

[SpaceRanger]

Microtransactions! I know people had brought this up and some could argue that most times they’re not forced on you. But I honestly see them as the few inches gamers have given developers. And unfortunately some developers in the industry will take those inches and go a mile if it fits their agenda.

In the end it hurts our wallet as gamers if the direction for them becomes piecemeal game experiences. While they are one thing I hate about this gen, I’m so glad it’s happening now with the huge rise of social media connections that have brought gamers and industry leads closer than ever. Hoping this only gets better and either goes away or dies down.

[darksied]

Lootboxes. Does anything think there was a worse new "feature"?