GrogHeads Forum

Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: Jarhead0331 on October 30, 2018, 09:23:34 AM

Title: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Jarhead0331 on October 30, 2018, 09:23:34 AM
Call me grumpy, but seasonal game content has really started to irritate me. I have literally dozens of games that download patches, some small and some large, that are adding unwanted Halloween themed content. This might be cute for a little mobile game, but when my steam update list is filled with this crap it gets a bit irritating, and in game? Forget about it. i remember Sword in the Stars once had a halloween patch that turned planets into scary looking moons with smiley faces. After the holiday, something broke and it was damn near impossible to get the change out of the game. I had absolutely no interest in seeing this sort of thing in my game that has nothing to do with Halloween.

Am the only one that is getting annoyed by this? If so, I promise I'll try to lighten up....
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Yskonyn on October 30, 2018, 09:55:33 AM
 O0 Amen to that!

It started to irritate me a few ago as well! Netflix makes the creepy shrill when you login, dozens of games get the said patches with unwanted crap. Bah.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 10:16:59 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 30, 2018, 09:23:34 AM
Call me grumpy, but seasonal game content has really started to irritate me. I have literally dozens of games that download patches, some small and some large, that are adding unwanted Halloween themed content. This might be cute for a little mobile game, but when my steam update list is filled with this crap it gets a bit irritating, and in game? Forget about it. i remember Sword in the Stars once had a halloween patch that turned planets into scary looking moons with smiley faces. After the holiday, something broke and it was damn near impossible to get the change out of the game. I had absolutely no interest in seeing this sort of thing in my game that has nothing to do with Halloween.

Am the only one that is getting annoyed by this? If so, I promise I'll try to lighten up....

Nope, it is indeed annoying.
Fortunately, I do not have many games installed right now that have seasonal content.

Btw, if you think it annoys you, how do you think those of us outside the U.S, who do not even celebrate or care about Halloween, feel about such things :P
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 10:52:01 AM
Quote from: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 10:16:59 AM
Btw, if you think it annoys you, how do you think those of us outside the U.S, who do not even celebrate or care about Halloween, feel about such things :P

Oh GOD so much this.  In the UK Hallowe'en is one day.  One single day.  For the US it seems to be the whole month of October and it's everywhere, I'm sick of hearing about it.

Anyway, yes, I do agree with you Jarhead.  I enjoy the occasional seasonal event in an MMO especially if it's classy/different, but in offline games I can't stand it, although having a simple toggle would help enormously.  There's no justification in offline games without giving the player the choice, especially if your game is on Steam where patches are almost obligatory.

I'm playing Black Desert Online at the moment, started a couple of weeks ago, and so far I haven't seen the world without a Hallowe'en theme all over it.  I just want it to be over.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 11:00:43 AM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 10:52:01 AM
Quote from: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 10:16:59 AM
Btw, if you think it annoys you, how do you think those of us outside the U.S, who do not even celebrate or care about Halloween, feel about such things :P

Oh GOD so much this.  In the UK Hallowe'en is one day.  One single day.  For the US it seems to be the whole month of October and it's everywhere, I'm sick of hearing about it.

Anyway, yes, I do agree with you Jarhead.  I enjoy the occasional seasonal event in an MMO especially if it's classy/different, but in offline games I can't stand it, although having a simple toggle would help enormously.  There's no justification in offline games without giving the player the choice, especially if your game is on Steam where patches are almost obligatory.

I'm playing Black Desert Online at the moment, started a couple of weeks ago, and so far I haven't seen the world without a Hallowe'en theme all over it.  I just want it to be over.

Have to say I feel the same, it's more tolerable in online games.

BTW, I'd hate to drag this OT, but how is BDO?
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Dammit Carl! on October 30, 2018, 11:17:06 AM
Eh, owing to the games I usually play, a little holiday related content ain't too bad in my opinion.

Granted, most of the stuff I play involves either shooting "live," people or "animated dead," people so my POV is somewhat limited with regards to other games, I'd say.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: bbmike on October 30, 2018, 11:22:28 AM
Any examples of games doing this? I haven't seen it.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 11:58:31 AM
Quote from: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 11:00:43 AM
BTW, I'd hate to drag this OT, but how is BDO?

I'll start a thread at some point, but in a nutshell: it's beautiful, has the best character creator I've seen in any game offline or online, really good combat, absolutely tons of "lifeskills" (gathering, farming etc), has a kind of empire-builder, throws stuff at you in the early game like housing and mounts, and is sufficiently its own game to distinguish it from other MMOs.  The downside is it's buy-to-play (like Guild Wars 2) so while the pay-to-win aspect is not as bad as some would have you believe, it definitely does exist and your play will be more comfortable if you're spending money.  I do recommend it though; it's £8 on Steam (and I believe there's even a 50% discount on that in the current sale) and you absolutely get your money's worth before deciding whether you want to stick at it.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Gusington on October 30, 2018, 01:01:11 PM
I don't think I have one game that does this.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: jamus34 on October 30, 2018, 01:39:32 PM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 10:52:01 AM
Quote from: Tpek on October 30, 2018, 10:16:59 AM
Btw, if you think it annoys you, how do you think those of us outside the U.S, who do not even celebrate or care about Halloween, feel about such things :P

Oh GOD so much this.  In the UK Hallowe'en is one day.  One single day.  For the US it seems to be the whole month of October and it's everywhere, I'm sick of hearing about it.

Anyway, yes, I do agree with you Jarhead.  I enjoy the occasional seasonal event in an MMO especially if it's classy/different, but in offline games I can't stand it, although having a simple toggle would help enormously.  There's no justification in offline games without giving the player the choice, especially if your game is on Steam where patches are almost obligatory.

I'm playing Black Desert Online at the moment, started a couple of weeks ago, and so far I haven't seen the world without a Hallowe'en theme all over it.  I just want it to be over.

Don't feel bad. The commercialization of holidays here is sickening. The hardware stores have had their artificial christmas trees out since Labor Day. The day after Christmas you will see all stores immediately shift to Valentine's Day. We no longer have a holiday it's more like a holiquarter.

I hate it.

Only holiday that typically doesn't get this treatment is Thanksgiving mainly because everyone is force feeding Christmas down your throat.

I love this country even with its issues. But as a society god we suck.

Sorry for the soapbox. To the topic in hand i don't mind it if it fits the nature of the game.  If it's obviously a cash grab marketing stunt then I hate it.

I like it in monster hunter world mainly in that 1) it doesn't follow traditional holidays and 2) actually gives some life to what is an extremely static npc based game.

But in your example JH. Yeah it sucks.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 02:30:52 PM
Quote from: jamus34 on October 30, 2018, 01:39:32 PM
Only holiday that typically doesn't get this treatment is Thanksgiving mainly because everyone is force feeding Christmas down your throat.

(With apologies for the tangent)

This is interesting.  Whether through media or whatever, I've always had the impression that Thanksgiving was given more importance than Christmas.  Is that not so?
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Dammit Carl! on October 30, 2018, 02:58:41 PM
Quote from: bbmike on October 30, 2018, 11:22:28 AM
Any examples of games doing this? I haven't seen it.

If I'm reading and understanding the original post correctly, Killing Floor (either 1 or 2) was/is good for something like this in where the various zombie characters were "re-clothed," in a holiday themed skin.  Gameplay didn't change, but you'd have to wait for the skins to patch, new maps to download and so on.

Probably some similar stuff for World of Tanks/Planes/Warships and War Thunder is going on currently as well but I don't know for certain.  I have seen things like that in previous years, though.



Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: DoctorQuest on October 30, 2018, 03:41:21 PM
Boy, I was way off.

I thought the thread was about games accurately depicting seasonal terrain or something.

That being said, I am with the group that really doesn't have any games that "changes clothes" for the holidays. I don't play any online games and I do my own updating of games I do play.

I can see where it could be annoying, though.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: airboy on October 30, 2018, 03:59:08 PM
I've never had this happen, but RPGs and wargames seldom do this sort of thing.

Jarhead - you are probably a special case since you have so many games, use Steam heavily, and keep so many games loaded on your machine.  You also do a lot of shooters and other things that have multiplayer options/online play.  All of this makes the issue far worse for you than for most.  I usually only have 8 steam games loaded at a time - max.

Now if Slitherine/Matrix start doing this I'm really messed up. 
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: MetalDog on October 31, 2018, 07:23:00 PM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 30, 2018, 02:30:52 PM
Quote from: jamus34 on October 30, 2018, 01:39:32 PM
Only holiday that typically doesn't get this treatment is Thanksgiving mainly because everyone is force feeding Christmas down your throat.

(With apologies for the tangent)

This is interesting.  Whether through media or whatever, I've always had the impression that Thanksgiving was given more importance than Christmas.  Is that not so?

Thanksgiving is more about giving you holiday/family feelings.  It's Christmas's cousin.  The very next day after Thanksgiving is 'Black Friday.'  Where people go to kill one another over the latest gewgaw they can't afford to give to the people they care about.  Christmas is king.
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: sandman2575 on October 31, 2018, 08:15:44 PM
The only time I've found this amusing is some time ago, playing SOTS II around Xmas -- anyway, there I was, contentedly playing the game, and a space battle was going to take place, so game transitions to the tactical / solar system environment. I order my fleet to fly to some destination... and then I notice the planets -- are all wearing gigantic Santa hats.

I admit, it made me chuckle.

Otherwise, I fully agree with everyone who dislikes this and finds it overdone and annoying. This Halloween has been particularly insufferable with the unwanted holiday-themed updates.

>:( >:( >:(
Title: Re: Seasonal Game Content
Post by: Toonces on November 01, 2018, 08:10:18 PM
I do remember a really cool seasonal content in Aces High 2.  The way I remember it, on Xmas eve, the creator, Hi-Tech, would fly around the arena as Santa in his sleigh.  I never saw it live, although I did look one time.