7 Deadly Video Game Sins - Gluttony

When it came to penning this series, Gluttony was always the Sin that I was least looking forward to, as figuring out how best to approach it within the confines of looking at the video game industry was more complicated that it might first appear.

The key part was distinguishing it from greed, which can be thought of as a purely selfish desire for more than is needed, as gluttony is nearly solely focused on the act of eating to excess. Within the scope of this series it'd be easy for me to just pull out examples from my dirty bag of tricks that point the finger at the times when video game publishers, developers and even outsider forces within the industry glut themselves on our hard earned money, and while that would be tempting, I've tried my best to focus on examples of excess in other areas within the industry to distinguish the two.

And trust me, video games thrives on excess. So let me indulge you as we once again travel into the very pits of hell, as this is 7 Deadly Sins - GLUTTONY.

When it comes to selling video games, publishers know they have to get their hooks in early. It used to be back in the day that promotional campaigns, TV ads, and maybe even a rare appearance on a demo disc would be enough to see the cash flying from our wallets on payday for the new releases. However, with markets being as crowded as they are, more and more focus has been put on paying for a game that not only doesn't exist right now, but might in the case of Early Access titles still be in the process of being put together.

Another way to score that pay dirt early is to offer an early bird special to all us worms in the form of special editions and pre-orders. By incentivizing spending before the game is even out, publishers make back some of their investment costs, yet as the cost of triple-A video games is ever spiraling out of control, this can force some developers to make rather questionable decisions when getting people to pre-order.

Obviously, we have the mountain of tat that I'm pretty sure makes up the Plastic Beach that Gorillaz were always singing about, from steel cases and collectors' coins, to bobbleheads and other junk that no one REALLY needs, but the more egregious example of excess comes in the form of overpowered pre-orders.

Some games award players who part with their cash early, weapons, and items that utterly break the early game experience, rewarding players for their overindulgence with yet more overindulgence. It could be weapons such as in State of Decay that doled out pretty high tier equipment which ruined the early difficulty curve, or fat stacks of in-game cash to purchase whatever you want. Either way, gluttony is rewarded on both sides of the coin here.

We line their pockets, and they line ours with "sweet loot".