Free to apply games are like you said, manipulative and generally whale chasing bastards. They don’t ask for donations, so they don’t fit the meme.
I think the meme is about free games, funded by donations through patreon or pay what you want pricing that are basically donations at the whim of the players. The ones that don’t have an in game shop and are actually free to play but not F2P.
There’s nothing wrong with an in-game shop if it isn’t predatory. For example, this made me think of Rift, where you could fully appreciate the game for free, but quality of life upgrades would cost a few dollars.
I hate how shit gets named.
Free to apply games are like you said, manipulative and generally whale chasing bastards. They don’t ask for donations, so they don’t fit the meme.
I think the meme is about free games, funded by donations through patreon or pay what you want pricing that are basically donations at the whim of the players. The ones that don’t have an in game shop and are actually free to play but not F2P.
There’s nothing wrong with an in-game shop if it isn’t predatory. For example, this made me think of Rift, where you could fully appreciate the game for free, but quality of life upgrades would cost a few dollars.
Back in my day, the line was cosmetics
And expansions would add novel content rather than gate content they chopped off of the main game