Quoting: The_Aquabatthere are several reasons for accumulating free games at least on steam one of them is that you get better booster pack rate drop and I think you increase your chance of getting foil cards. (Because accumulating games can increase your steam badge level thus improving your card rate drop)

That's... not high in my priority list :P

This is just me personally, and what I prefer. I think it is very understandable to want to hoard games given for free, and I sometimes do it; I used to do it more often.

But I also think it is important to think about it a bit more, and consider value beyond... for the lack of a better word, beyond "consumerism". Understand that this kind of effort is a cost, that taking a more chill approach (not caring so much about saving those few dollars) also has real value in terms of life quality. When looking at money savings, we tend to try to maximize the quantifiable (money, time) and ignore things like the psychological effects or the loss of privacy.

Which doesn't mean obsessing about free games is a problem for for everyone, but it was for me. Now I think about it not as "neat, I can participate in this marketing campaign and get a game worth 10 bucks" but as "I'm not jumping through these hoops for a game I don't really care about".

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Quoting: GuestIt's not really free if you have to do a bunch of digital gymnastics, is it?

That's like saying "I'll give you $20 for free* for every hour you perform this task for me."

It's like work, only instead of getting paid, you're getting...a...DLC? I would honestly rather just buy it, but since I'm not that interested in the first place, I won't bother jumping through all those hoops for something I'll probably never use anyway.

I get it, it'll appeal to some people. And good, they should take advantage of this. But I've always been leery of linking my Steam account with others. Call me paranoid; 99.8% of the time it probably is.

I very much agree with the sentiment, though in this case in particular it is not a bother to me (I already had met most of the requirements, as I am quite deep in the Paradox rabbit hole, and it's a game I like).

But in general... yeah, I'm not jumping through hoops to get random games I wasn't already very interested in. If it isn't something I am looking to buy, chances are I just don't care enough to play it even for free. (Not that I have a lot of money to spend on games, quite the opposite; but I already have a decent backlog of games I like and often have played too little).

Some people that I know keep getting every free game deal they find as if that was a big benefit, but I personally would be more annoyed by having a bunch of trash on my accounts than happy for having those games. Creating an account or subscribing to a newsletter? Nope. (Unless I was already interested in doing that, of course...)

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: eldaking*In fact, some games just don't count, and might even mark you as "not a real gamer"... gamer culture is just horrible in pretty much every way. The leds are silly but probably the least toxic thing.

Don't let those people take away the word gamer from you. I'm playing games, so I'm a gamer.
(Well, I'm mostly a parent at the moment, but I would...! ;) )

On the contrary, I prefer to avoid any association with "gamer culture". I play games; "gamer" is not an identity for me that I just "am a gamer".

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Republic of Gamers? What a stupid name. I'd be ashamed to use something with that name.

Quoting: jordicoma

Quoting: LinasI really don't get this RGB trend. All the blinking lights is a distraction and totally breaks the immersion. But better support is always welcome, because it means that I can turn the blinking lights off. :D

I think the same. RGB lights are anti-gaming. It distracts from the action, it makes you worse, it's more expensive, and sometimes it decrises the performance.
I saw a video a sdd drive with lights that were so hot, that made the drive unusable (the chips has a minimum and maximum temperature).

Being a gamer is not about playing games. It is about a culture and a community, and you can play games a lot without being part of it* or be part of it and barely play anything. One element is of course the aesthetic: RGB leds, ugly overpriced chairs with random neon colored patches, big monitors and custom rigs, styles of clothing, etc. There is also the general toxicity and politics, the internal jokes and memes, and etc. So, considering all that: products targeted at "gamers" aren't necessarily better for gaming, they just appeal to many people from a particular community.

*In fact, some games just don't count, and might even mark you as "not a real gamer"... gamer culture is just horrible in pretty much every way. The leds are silly but probably the least toxic thing.

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Quoting: PatolaI am eager to buy this game as soon it gets into a sale...

Speaking of XCOM-Like, couldn't help but mention the incoming X-COM: Chimera Squad [External Link] which apparently will not support linux. It came out of the blue and it's scheduled to be live in the 24th. Hope it at least works under proton.

Damn, is Firaxis letting us down after all this time? I hope it gets Linux support some time after launch (Some of their games got delayed Linux releases). It's not like I would be able to play it on release anyway, even XCOM2 is already way too heavy.

As for Fort Triumph, I'm really looking forward to it (not now either, but sooner than XCOM2). Interactive terrain (in a meaningful way) is a personal favorite of mine, and while tactical games are a dime a dozen good tactical games are hard to find.

(I don't love that every turn-based, squad-based tactical game gets immediately referred to as "like XCOM but X", it is an entire genre... but I have to accept that we simply have a gold standard for this kind of game, XCOM is just too good).

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Wow, it does look really pretty. Interesting proposal too.

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This looks... extremely not good. This isn't a game that really needs online multiplayer, much less on a competitive ladder style. It is a huge departure from almost everything that makes the game good. Frankly, I'm bummed.

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The way steam handles auto-updates is quite bad. Auto-updating is a pretty important thing: I surely don't want to go online and check for updates for each game, or manually apply patches (or reinstall), and I surely don't want each individual game to handle its own updates (this gives me Windows flashbacks). Leaving games out of date is either not ideal or downright dangerous/incompatible.

But then, it takes control entirely and doesn't even ask for authorization, doesn't allow us to disable updates entirely, or set a time, or play a game without updating it first, and has very little control about which games are updated and how. It barely has the minimum of "don't update while I play" or "never update this one game", and does nothing about updates that break compatibility (with saves or mods, for example)... it requires workarounds to even offer access to older builds (using beta channels).

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Exciting, this game really looks cool. But... the description is confusing. "Tactical shooter" for me is an entirely different thing, and this game doesn't look at all like a "shooter" - just a regular tactical game.

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Quoting: deibuI have not actually played this game much even though I have owned the game for years now as I did not have a computer capable enough to run this game until this year. Looking through the list of DLCs they've made is honestly a little overwhelming as there are so many. I always liked the idea of Snowfall but not its implementation as your map would never actually change seasons, it's either just winter all the time or never. As most (except this new one) are 50% off, what would be the absolute "must-haves" for me to consider getting? Other than Sunset Harbor, of course :).

I played a bunch right after the release (well, kind of), even got the first few DLC, but eventually the balance between novelty and slowness shifted (as my laptop is quite weak as well). So now I'm waiting until my current computer dies and I buy something more powerful before playing more.

From what I have followed, no DLC is truly a must-have; they are all nice, but it's more about your interests than anything. I'd probably prioritize Mass Transit, as transportation and traffic are some of the most important things in the game. Park Life had some nice improvements in how you place decorations and stuff, so it might also be a high priority for some people. Industries, Campus and Concerts add more detail to particular areas in the city, so it depends on how interested you are in creating those zones (concerts is smaller, but also cheaper); Snowfall is a separate mode, which is interesting but has little impact on the "main game" (I think only trams?); Natural Disasters is for the particular niche of people that want to see their cities being destroyed (and/or build shelters). After Dark I'd say is the weakest, it mostly added the day/night cycle (and... taxis?) but it barely changes the game.

The other DLC is either cosmetic or music, so no real priority. I usually rate music DLC quite highly, but for this game I don't care for it; and I have the impression that the cosmetics for this game are quite low impact in general.

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