I was thinking about this yesterday when I clicked on the Strife page to see the pre-order exclusive offer.

We all know that pre-order bonuses (especially DLC) are a gimmick to get people to purchase a game before reviews are out.

This is basically a kick in the nuts to anyone who buys the game afterward, and (in my opinion) can result in legitimate customers pirating the game just to get the exclusive content.

I remember buying Shadowrun some time ago and digging through internet forums for those "backer" codes that unlock the extra costumes. Paying customers shouldn't have to do that.

I can understand a physical copy of a game including a soundtrack disc, cloth map, hardbound booklet, chromium cover etc., but when it comes to digital downloads the business model for pre-orders needs to be different. Holding back day-1 game content, let alone "exclusive" goodies such as MP3s or PDF booklets makes absolutely no sense and I'm personally less likely to buy a game at all when a company does that, and the same goes for those "Royal" editions of games that cost $30 more for that bonus content.

This is an anti-consumer business model, and actually lessens the overall value of those games because of these gimmicks.

Why not allow the pre-order customers to have access to a beta-program or something that doesn't affect future customers of the game?

There has to be a better way than this.

Because then the pre-orderers can't afterwards gloat about it and say "haha, we've got this thing you can't get". And because they are in the exclusive group that have said thing, they are automatically better people, which is what they want to prove.

Or something.

If you don't want the DLC, don't buy it.
But don't keep those who do want if from being able to buy it.
I am amazed by the number of people who want to impose their own likes and dislikes on everybody.

So you would eliminate Kickstarter?
A lot of games would just plain not be made.

Kickstarter and pre-order are not the same thing. At all. Pre-ordering has nothing to do with helping a game be made. It only helps release buggy, broken, bad games, as proven many times, because why bother to make a solid game, when people will buy and pay for it way before anyone gets to check if the thing even works?

never preordered anything in my life

Common sense:

1. Wait for the game to be released.

2. Watch the reviews

3. Buy the game based on numerous reviews.

4. Rinse and repeat.

Can you build a Wordpress site with all your good in-depth long-ass answers archived? ;) I'm rather serious about that, because it's great stuff.

EDIT: Or your own personal thread here with links to your answers.

When i look at the GOG wishlist for features, i see: on the fourth place with currently 26294 votes.

Preorder exclusive DLC make that impossible because the DLC is only available within a short time.

I wish GOG would spearhead a movement for customer friendlyness and condemn such shady industry practices that abuse psychology (loss aversion).

I hate preorder DLC just as the next guy. Imho GOG should force the devs/publishers to at least sell the preorder dlc for $1-2 after the game is released.

I said preoder.
crowdfunding is a different thing.

when you crowdfund a game you believe in that game, and you are not sure it will be made.

when you preorder you just buy the game before it's release.

Pre-order bonuses seem to me a lot like deleted scenes from a movie included on the DVD; a novelty but obviously not important enough to be a part of the final result.

I mean, if something was worthwhile having in the game, then it would be in the game. If something is an extra that won't be available later, then obviously that wasn't thought of as adding value to the game (t.i. doesn't make it worth more). Otherwise, the pre-order price would be more to account for the bonuses.

Admittedly, I often equate "free" with "not worth anything", and it does seem like that is the case with those who give something away for free. It's obviously not worth anything to them.

If they believed it actually made the game better, then they definitely would not leave it out. They might be wrong about that, and then later offer it as an update or sell it as an extra. If anything, by being free it just means no loss if it doesn't seem worth anything because it was declared up front it wasn't worth anything.

I used to be like you, then one day I stopped giving a shit because it stressed me out and I hated missing out on games for such a stupid (in my mind) reason. Usually when I did get any of the exclusive items the game didn't feel any more "special" anyways, and some devs even release the pre-order content later down the line to everyone.

To me most of these pre-order DLCs are rarely interesting nor useful enough to warrant a pre-order: a few skins here, some extra gear there ... things that don't really matter.

A pre-order DLC is rarely the reason for me pre-ordering a game. In the case of the Full Throttle revamp for example, I decided to pre-order it simply because I was going to buy it anyway. It was about mentally securing a copy so I wouldn't have to think about it later, an act that does carry a value.

When you help Kickstart a game, which is also a way of pre-ordering, you usually get some exclusive stuff, which can be seen as being DLC content. Yet, I have no issues with this since it helps fund the core game itself.

In other cases, the dividing issue for me is when the exclusive DLC is something that has a significant impact on the core game: an exclusive class, map, or interactive character, for example. Things that the developers/publishers seem to have taken out of the core game in order to make DLC content. This is a rare occurence though, as most pre-order DLCs only contain superficial stuff.

No, I will not boycott preorder DLC. I do not like preorder DLC and will very likely be a bit more careful on preordering if a company feel the need to resort to such morally low endeavors but if I am convinced that I will like a certain game enough to preorder it a DLC will not stop me from doing that.