The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So I managed to play a bit more Killing Floor. It’s still not a bad game. But man, some of the choices still bother the crap out of me.

I mean, okay, here’s Left 4 Dead. Casual is set up for people who have never played an FPS, which is fine. That’s why it’s called casual. If you’re a gamer and you want a “casual” experience, you can play Left 4 Dead on Normal and have a fun, very casual play experience with your friends. You can’t completely zone out, and are challenged sometimes, but are never completely crushed or anything. It’s good times. If you would like to be challenged, Advanced is a decent jump up, and Expert is really damn hard. You have options for how much skill you want involved in your game.
Now here is Killing Floor. The easiest mode is a complete joke. If you can fire a gun in an FPS, you can complete it, no problem. Now, you jump up to Normal. The game is incredibly difficult. Certainly harder than Advanced in Left 4 Dead. You’re lucky if the same team who passed through Easy half asleep could do much of anything on Normal. It’s just kind of ridiculous. I really dislike that about it. Maybe it’s because I’m not playing with a full 6 players, but one of the touted game features was that it scaled based on the number of players, so I don’t really buy that as the reason.

But wait, you say! This is a mod-able game! You can install a mod to make it easier! Say, one that doesn’t take away your money when you die or gives you more HP or something!

Well, I would, but those mods would not be “white listed.”

See, one of the game’s features is a level-able set of Perks. These give you goals to go for, as you build them up, and give you various advantages based on the play styles you like to play. This is a very good thing.
But if you use any mod that isn’t on their approved list (Read: Any that would actually change how the game plays) then Perks are turned off. You can’t gain experience in them. You can’t even use them, I don’t believe.

What the fuck is the point of that?

People are going to grind for levels no matter what you do. People are stupid like that. Put any restrictions in place that you want, people will find away around it. They will sit for hours, boringly grinding away. Look at the Achievement servers on Team Fortress for just one example. There are Perk-grinding servers of Killing Floor set up.
So why, Tripwire, are you keeping me from enjoying the game the way I want? What are you gaining by keeping me from getting levels by playing the way I enjoy? If I want to make the game super stupid easy, or give myself tons of money every level, why do you care? Why do you keep that from being a fun option, or a diversion I can turn on every once and awhile? Why did you make this “whitelist” to keep what could have kept your game going from actually working?

In a single-player experience, I get locking away content. Well, to an extent, with certain kinds of games. Leveling up in an RPG unlocks new spells and abilities. It’s important to the design of the game that that happen, and is part of the fun. This is good. The single-player game can’t exist without it. I don’t mind the developers locking that away.
Now, if, in that same game where I had to slowly unlock things, I go into Multiplayer and I cannot just play the way I want? That’s kind of bullshit. Street Fighter IV unlocks? Bullshit. You’re ruining the fun me and my friends can have. We can’t play the way we want, and it’s your fault. Same with Smash Brothers unlocks. Basically, anything that keeps the fun away until I jump over hurdles is bullshit.
That’s exactly what this whitelist is. Instead of letting me make the game I want, and play it, I am forced to play their game, exactly their way, or they take the toys away. Seriously, why even allow mods if you’re going to do that. It’s like ordering a burger at Logan’s. When they ask me how I want it cooked, and then don’t give it to me that way, I am angry. If they just hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t care. If I didn’t think the game could be modded, I wouldn’t be angry. But it has those hooks all over the game. It can be. They encourage it. But then they give me my burger burnt to a crisp, and turn off my toys.

Bleh, fuck you, Tripwire. Let me play the game I paid for my way.

…apparently I am angrier about this that I thought. Huh.