Everything that exists can be argued that it’s not required for you to survive. And that’s true. But I want to bring to the table of discussion something that gets me more than annoyed at people: When they say something is optional when clearly it isn’t.

An Argument in Bad Faith

This argument is in bad faith because it tries to justify something is optional when it’s not, and they won’t hear otherwise. A big example is gacha mechanics.

I hate gacha mechanics in games. Simply put. I have not played any gacha-oriented games and I never will because I dislike it. But people have the sheer audacitythat you don’t need to play the gacha to get what you want, which is false. If it’s there, it’s for a reason. Games can and will lock upgrades through the gacha process, that you’ll have to do. Thankfully you can play it for free, but that will be limited, money willhave to be involved at some point.

Can you believe they have something called ‘pity roll’ which guarantee you to get what you want after a certain number of rolls that didn’t land on it? Insane. But it’s also there for a reason. If you didn’t get the character you wanted or upgrade you needed, you’d quit. But those pity rolls will make sure you can stay in the game, because after 30, 40, 50, whatever is the number, you’ll be able to get what you want. It’s terrible.

“You don’t have to do it”

That’s the next argument. “I don’t have to do it”. Sure, I don’t. Just like I don’t need to play the game with said thing. This pointless argument is the definition of strawman because yeah, I don’t need to play the gacha, but the issue is that the gacha isn’t optional thing in the game. You haveto use it. Team composition can be improved with upgrades in these games. What do you use to get upgrades? The gacha system. So yeah, I don’t have to do it, but if I don’t, I’m not gonna get anywhere.

If it’s there, it’s not optional

Which brings me to mypoint. If it’s there, it’s not optional, period. Counter-Strike 2 has a ‘Store’ tab in the main menu. Yes, it’s optional, but it’s still occupying space, and Valve has an economy behind it too (and skins are also gacha but I buy them directly from the Market). If it’s included, it’s not by a mistake. Stuff buried inside the game files but never used is what I call a mistake, but not something that has its own dedicated section.

You know what’s optional? Stuff outside the game, like mods. Sure, mods are fun and all but you don’t need them to enjoy the game (in theory). But they are optional, because they don’t occupy any space. I might make a proper post about modding being optional because it is in most cases, but properly made games don’t need mods, they are optional. And technically speaking, DLC is also optional if you have to pay for it. DLC that are added into the game as patches isn’t DLC, it’s just a patch, so not optional.

Closing Words

There’s a lot of things I dislike, and both gacha and this argument are what ticks me off greatly. I don’t hate things, it’s a strong word that shouldn’t last more than a day or so, which I use dislike. I prefer not having to deal with things I dislike, so…

But the argument is silly because it’s right there, and I can’t just hide it. I can ignore it, but that is active effort on my end, not on the developer. If it’s there, it’s not by mistake. If we can all agree that on this, then we can try to push back the devs from using said things, or at least let us hide it.