hats

One of the more interesting and apparently controversial ideas implemented in Portal 2 is that of TF2-style customization for the co-op robots P-Body and Atlas. Players can equip hats, custom skins and “gestures” (cinematic gestures they do with each other, such as high fiving, though that one is free in the game.). You are automatically given certain hats from TF2 if you already own them in said game, and receive special items for unlocking certain achievements.

The real uproar seems to be around the various things you can buy in the store, and the fact we’ll be able to eventually trade items with fellow test subjects. These minor inclusions have resulted in so-called fans calling Valve “evil” and likening the company to Hitler and Activision.
My mistake was I didn’t realize that such a large portion of Valve’s fan base were greedy retards. You see:

1. The store is not only optional, but out of the way. To access it, you click on the button that says Robot Enrichment. That button is separate to the main menu, which is what attracts your attention. SO unless you seek it out, you can ignore it. Additionally, the button only takes you to your loadouts, where you can apply items you already own to the player models. In order to actually go to the store, you need to click on another button afterwards that is clearly labelled ‘Store’. It is not in your face, directing your attention. If you ignore the store, your game will still function completely as normal. You won’t lose anything.
2. Multiple items are given for free through achievement related drops, and possible through random drops. As I said above, if you own certain hats in TF2, you’ll get them in Portal 2 to equip to P-Body and Atlas. Additionally, there are a few items rewarded for unlocking certain achievements. So if you want to customize, you have more options than just the store.
   It is early days so we do not know if they have, or will have, a drop system similar to TF2 in which you will get new items randomly as you play. Only time will tell, but it would make sense.
3. All the items in the store are cosmetic. You are not paying for a portal gun, or being able to move faster, or the ability to fly. You are offered the chance to pay to look different through skins, hats, and other items. Nothing will change the game, and as such, refer to point one.
4. Trading will not be the pain that it is in TF2. In Team Fortress 2, people spam trades everywhere. There are servers dedicated to it, an the whole thing is treated like a massive economy, where everything has an inherit worth and that is all that matters to a lot of players. Trade-spam can spoil a perfectly good game for some people.
   However, in Portal 2 there are two key factors that differ; first up, the people you play with are most likely your friends. As such, you won’t be likely at all to be spammed with requests to trade. Secondly, there is no rareness in items in Portal 2. There are no vintage items, genuine, unusual, or any other such tags. There are just items.
   These two things combined with how the game works should mean that the concept of trading might actually work in this game.
5. This gives Valve more of an incentive to continue producing content. We all want more Portal, correct? We want Valve to update the game in the future with more maps, maybe advanced challenges and the like, correct? Well if there is money coming in from “return players”, then they have more of a reason to make maps to make people return.
   According to Steam Stats at the time of writing, roughly 100,000 gamers played the game today. Now, we know that the total number of people who actually play the game will probably be much, much more. But for the sake of this we’ll work with that as the final number. Over time you’d expect that number to dwindle a little we can expect maybe 40,000 people to still be playing after a while, keeping in mind the SDK should come out, allowing people to create and share custom maps. If only one in a hundred users bought a single item for a dollar every so often, that is still $4000 coming in. This is of course with this small number of total players.
   The final number is probably much greater, but even with such a small example like that, you can see that there is definitely reason for Valve to keep us playing.

Other games have worse and get away with it.

This point is the most important to me, so instead of a number, it gets it’s own subtitle. What bothers me most about people’s reaction to both stores that Valve have included is that other companies do these things and people seem okay with it. As an example, Blizzard offered a horse called the “Celestial Steed” that players could own and ride, as long as they coughed up a whopping $25. What did it do? Nothing. How much did Blizzard make? Millions of dollars in the first day. Why do they get a free pass for charging so much for so little, while Valve offer up items that cost 99 cents and people instantly hate everything about the company?
I’m sorry, but I’m seeing a double standard here.

I love the game, and the store takes nothing away from that love. If Valve decide to create new content, or allow us to easily make and share content, I will gladly give them money for some extra customization. As for all you haters, suck my dick¹.

1. I am implementing a store soon, that will allow you to buy custom skins (Including a racing stripe) for my penis, so you can suck it in style!

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