The Great DLC Debate

Me and me mate were talking online the other day. After quick pleasantries, we recap on the previous night’s gaming endeavours, which game... How long… progress… etc. then we normally pick a topic and we’re off in an hour long chat into the finer details. 

This particular day, I was discussing Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag on the PS4, and as a Dad, I struggle to get much time gaming. AC4BF has some very interesting DLC, namely, the time savers pack.

This DLC lets you cut out the laborious grinding to level up. Something which completely horrified my friend, who claims loves to grind, but I suspect he don’t like spending money… 

We talked about whether this was value for money or not. Which raises the question, how much is your time worth?

My nightly routine consists of refereeing the kids til bath and bed time around 7;30- 8 o’clock, then me and her indoors share the telly, she’ll have from around 8-9:30, cos that’s when she falls asleep on the sofa, then I’ll have the TV til around midnight. Apart from gaming, I do like films, so in this 2-3 hour window, I have a lot to squeeze in. I can’t play games while the kids are up for a couple o’ reasons, 1, they’re mostly 18 rated, and 2, I can’t concentrate when the kids are going crazy around the house. This brings me nicely back to “value for money”

I hate grinding, a well-known example I can refer to will be the Nirnroots from The Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion. If I could’ve paid a quid to collect 80 Nirnroots, I would’ve done it. As much as I loved Oblivion, collecting them Nirnroots was boring as hell… unfortunately, with a “time saver” DLC, this turns us into very sceptical beings indeed...

Is the grinding in AC4BF purposefully boring to warrant the Time Saver DLC? 

Grinding is in lots of games, Oblivion as my case, where developers have put in these laborious tasks, and not expected any additional payment via a DLC, but now you can skip that grinding with 80p, we immediately assume that the developers have implemented this grinding to coax more money from us pour saps... But there is also grinding in games where you don't pay... So which is it?!?

My mate said that any DLC you pay for should add to the game, i.e. more maps, more levels, more bosses, etc. but the main difference with that DLC is that extra maps, levels or bosses cannot be accessed without that payment. Time saver DLC is player choice, you can grind, spending hours completing an easy but boring journey or task, or you can cut to the chase with 80p…

So how much is your time worth?