Death to Added Gameplay DLCs With A Big, Barb-Wire Covered Billy Club

I've never liked DLCs. Ever. Even more so for the games that have downloadable content on the disc itself with no way to access the content without paying for it. I come from the oldschool way of thinnking: if I pay for it, I own it outright and it had better have everything I need to use it without coming back to the maker.

That said, I've only bought one DLC in my life--one for Fallout 3--and no more than 10 minutes into playing the expansion, I felt like a tool because it really didn't add anything to the experience. A couple new guns? Cool. A bit of new armor? Awesome. $10 worth? Not even close, and even if it was an added hour and a half of gameplay, why couldn't they just put that into the original game?

If it was too much to fit on the disc, why not make the game two discs? Or incorporate it into the follow up game? Why should we as gamers have to come even further out of pocket for something that in any other industry we wouldn't be ponying up for. Downloadable content is not to correct maintenance issues or anything else vital to completing the 'cycle of life'.

No, let's not B.S. here.

It's to part gamer from cash under the guise of 'added value'. Added value. ADDED VALUE?! You're not adding a thing; in reality you're subtracting from the total experience unnecessarily because when you break it all down, what you're really looking at is an instilling of 'incompleteness' into the gamer's head that makes them want to spend that extra coin for something they really don't need.

Back off, fanboys. DLCs are not collectible items. Tangible, collectible items are collectible items. Additional gameplay DLCs are in-game additions that should be in the same category as pre-purchase special edition items. Not if-you-don't-buy-this-you& amp; amp; #39;re-missing-out-on-somethin g -really-cool-that-may-or-may-n o t-be-worth-it-depending-on-you r -brand-loyalty items.

Finally, this, to me, is more acceptable for titles that have given me at least what I've paid in pleasure. (I'll go into the full scale later but it is essentially 1 hour of gameplay for every dollar I spend on it.) $60 = 60 hours. Anything less, I don't buy it. Stranglehold was the last game to get me, and after the 5 hours of abysmality that it was, I swore no other game would do me that way. If you aren't a first-person shooter, role-playing game, real time strategy, sports title or aloof-yet-artsy title with unique gameplay, what makes you think gamers will remember you next month, much less next year? And on top of that, want to buy what should've been theirs from the start?

Y'all reaching, for real. This goes to the big guys too. Can you imagine buying a second N64 cartridge to continue playing a game you already bought? A second Jaguar disc? An additional Sega Channel download? Sounds ridiculous, right? So does the thought of additional gameplay DLCs. If you can't put it in with the real game, save it for another real game.