I hate to be that guy who doesn't post for months and then comes in here just to complain, but I really need to vent. I am so sick of these supposed 'free' games and apps that offer no paid option. They all turn into a nonstop pay-to-play if you want to get anywhere in them.
My latest (and biggest) beef is with Megapolis. I installed this sim after seeing so many raving reviews and to try something a little different, but quickly regretted it. The whole app is nothing more than an intricate series of teases that get you part way to accomplishing things with one type of internal fake money, only to require another type of fake money to complete that you can either acquire painfully slowly or buy with real money -- lots of real money. I put a few real $$$ into it just to get somewhere, only to find that you either have to wait forever for resources needed to advance or buy them with a lot more real $$$. I finally got totally fed up and deleted the app after giving it a good fair shot for about four weeks.
There are more and more of these in the app store, free to install but with loaded with in-app purchases to get anything more than a tease. Some games are a little more reasonable than others in that they just make you wait a few hours to accumulate coins or whatever in order to advance; others -- like Megapolis, and I'm sure hundreds of others -- make it impossible to do much of anything without either paying a LOT or watching hours of ads... or both. Not to mention how frequently they all like to crash, so it's not like we're getting any more quality for all that money. If anything they're worse, and the reviews confirm that it's not just me.
I've left plenty of negative reviews in the app store, and I've even contacted many of the devs directly. But it seems like it's a trend that's just getting worse, certainly not going away. I have no problem paying devs for their work -- ONCE. I'd even toss them a bit more for updates if their apps are worth it. But they don't even offer that option, which frosts my cookies even more. I am not a bottomless pit of cash. So I've decided to start speaking with my credit card; and though it means not enjoying my iPad as much as I could, I'm not going to support these overly greedy devs any longer. Give me a reduced-feature or ad-supported free demo, and a paid version that I will gladly support if I find it good enough to pay for. Otherwise you're not getting my business.
Again, sorry for the lengthy rant, but I needed to unload. And I'm a little curious to see how others feel about it.
Don't miss the next episode where I b*tch and moan about Geico commercials (in Off-topic, of course!).
My latest (and biggest) beef is with Megapolis. I installed this sim after seeing so many raving reviews and to try something a little different, but quickly regretted it. The whole app is nothing more than an intricate series of teases that get you part way to accomplishing things with one type of internal fake money, only to require another type of fake money to complete that you can either acquire painfully slowly or buy with real money -- lots of real money. I put a few real $$$ into it just to get somewhere, only to find that you either have to wait forever for resources needed to advance or buy them with a lot more real $$$. I finally got totally fed up and deleted the app after giving it a good fair shot for about four weeks.
There are more and more of these in the app store, free to install but with loaded with in-app purchases to get anything more than a tease. Some games are a little more reasonable than others in that they just make you wait a few hours to accumulate coins or whatever in order to advance; others -- like Megapolis, and I'm sure hundreds of others -- make it impossible to do much of anything without either paying a LOT or watching hours of ads... or both. Not to mention how frequently they all like to crash, so it's not like we're getting any more quality for all that money. If anything they're worse, and the reviews confirm that it's not just me.
I've left plenty of negative reviews in the app store, and I've even contacted many of the devs directly. But it seems like it's a trend that's just getting worse, certainly not going away. I have no problem paying devs for their work -- ONCE. I'd even toss them a bit more for updates if their apps are worth it. But they don't even offer that option, which frosts my cookies even more. I am not a bottomless pit of cash. So I've decided to start speaking with my credit card; and though it means not enjoying my iPad as much as I could, I'm not going to support these overly greedy devs any longer. Give me a reduced-feature or ad-supported free demo, and a paid version that I will gladly support if I find it good enough to pay for. Otherwise you're not getting my business.
Again, sorry for the lengthy rant, but I needed to unload. And I'm a little curious to see how others feel about it.
Don't miss the next episode where I b*tch and moan about Geico commercials (in Off-topic, of course!).