10 Annoying Things That Are Ruining Video Games

9. Paying Money To Boost Stats

At their best, micro-transactions are inoffensive - if you want to spend their money on silly virtual outfits, gun paint, or jockstraps for their avatar, go for it. It's when micro-transactions start affecting the online game experience that things turn ugly.

In Black Ops III, you can spend real money on in-game currency, which you can then use to buy more powerful weapons. In the Star Wars Battlefront DLC meanwhile, you can buy new weapons to give yourself the edge over enemies. Such features create imbalances between players, giving those willing to spend more money an advantage over those looking to succeed by skill alone - and isn't honing a skill part of what gaming's all about?

Even Overkill, the makers of Payday 2 who were previously lauded for their loyalty to the community, got infected with the dollar-eye disease, recently started allowing you pay money to gain more XP and better weapons.

Since Payday 2 is a co-op game, this means that those who pay will inevitably be more effective and get more XP in missions at the expense of those who don't. It's a perfect demonstration of elitism, and it undermines a medium that's always thrived on rewarding skill and encouraging competition.