These Gaming Mechanics Suck! AGAIN!

6. Energy Mechanics - Various Free To Play Games

So here we are fresh out of the gate and already I feel like I'm running out of energy, and I mean that quite literally as talking about how Free To Play video games use "energy" as a resource saps my very soul.

You see in the F2P genre, time is most definitely money, and it's this mindset that sees F2P titles abuse what little free time you have in your personal life in a desperate attempt to make you pay to remove the waiting period. As you try to build bases or muster forces for battle, that little energy bar (whatever guise it's under) will drain and drain until WHOOPS LOOKS LIKE YOU GOTTA PAY FOR SOME OF THAT NOSE POWDER BUDDY!

I understand that F2P titles have to recoup their costs and turn a profit but adding in such levels of bloat that Mr. Creosote got heartburn just by looking at it is an utterly gross mechanic indeed.

There used to be a time when titles would shy around the subject, offering players elongated but not offensive periods of downtime, and at least offered you other distractions in order to make the wait seem less arduous. Nowadays you're almost hit with paywalls right from the off, and are basically left to hang unless you pony up the dough like a good little piggy.

There are much less insidious ways to make money from F2P titles, such as cosmetic skins and non-gameplay affecting perks, but for a title to use time itself against you while clearly having no respect for your own, well that my friends is a mentality that we should all be kicking in the tip of its clock.