Battle passes have ruined multiplayer gaming for me – Reader’s Feature

metro.co.uk:

A reader complains about the increasing prevalence of battle passes in online games and how playing a game for fun is no longer enough.

I’m sure there are lots of different reasons that people play video games, but I think for the majority it’s to relax. Or if not relax exactly then to do something that is completely unconnected to the real world: explored a strange virtual location, battle with friends in wars where no one is hurt, or solve a good puzzle or experience an engrossing story. Games can be difficult and challenging (hello Elden Ring!) but the one thing they shouldn’t feel like is hard work… which is why I don’t get battle passes.

Actually, one of the things that’s great about Elden Ring is that it doesn’t require level grinding, as many role-playing games do. It is beneficial to grind – that is, purposefully fight mid-level enemies that are no real threat in order to get experience points – but it’s never really required and even when you could argue it is, breaking away to scour the open world is usually a welcome relief from whatever you’re stuck on.

Battle passes though are all about the grind. They started off with Fortnite (I think) and have become one of the number one tools for publishers to temp you to play often – not only every day but several hours a day. Rather than just playing for the sake of it, because it’s fun, you’re constantly cajoled to earn a certain amount of experience or in-game currency, while completing time-limited missions and challenges.

It’s not enough anymore that you play all the time, you’ve got to play in a specific way and before a timer runs out. Battle passes last a couple of months and unless you’re playing very regularly it’s very hard to unlock everything before the end.