EDIT: Some are unclear on exactly what I mean. DLC is fine when you're adding to the game. Even if you plan for it before even releasing the game. New content is just new content. DLC is not fine when you intentionally remove something that was already there in the first place and sell later as an "addition," even though it was already part of the core experience. That's not new content. That's intentionally limiting the player experience to get more money. Also, tl;dr at the bottom [u][b]What DLC was, and no longer is, but SHOULD be:[/b][/u] NEW Content. An Afterthought. Something that the developers came up with after finishing the core game, to be released as downloadable content to ENHANCE the player experience. [u][b]What DLC is now, but once wasn't, and should NOT be:[/b][/u] Existing content that is removed, locked, or otherwise restricted from player access. pre-existing content part of the core game that is cut and repackaged for later sale. Something that the developers (or more likely in this case, the publisher, Activision) decided to remove from the finished product and resell to the consumer to COMPLETE the player experience. I remember a time where not every game had extra content, and the ones that did were neat, fresh new ideas (see: Bioshock Infinite burial at sea DLC). This is no longer the case. We no longer see fresh ideas that come as afterthoughts, additions to already significant and fulfilling games. We no longer see games released, feeling finished, feeling truly like the ART that video games are. No. Now, we see money. All we see is money. We're nothing but dollar signs to publishers. What we see in video games now are core, unpolished, naked, stripped versions of games that are ~fun~ but aren't fulfilling or persistent. We see these games released behind a veil of hype. We see that the content which felt like should have already existed is released later. Oh, but we have to pay for them. We have to pay more for a finished product than we did before. Why is it that we, gamers, have become so complacent, so easy to take money from, so........ dull? We're satisfied with unfinished products. The hype train carries us on its back. We tell ourselves that the game "just needs time" or the people who criticize it "should play something else" or "don't understand." The problem is, we do understand. We understand what video games once were to us: fulfilling adventures. What Destiny turned out to be, and many other games like it, is a small walk in the park, with pretty things to look at, and a bunch of extensions, but all of these extensions have been closed off. Video games should be like hiking a mountain, seeing beautiful things, feeling fulfilled, as if you've been on a, shall we say, a Great Journey. And then, after you've finished hiking the mountain, satisfied with your journey, you come down, only to realize that there is a beautiful forest which you had not seen before on your way home. You walk through the forest, amazed at how different it was compared to the mountain, but still a part of the geography, still a part of the journey. It was new, unprecedented. You were already satisfied, but this simply put the cherry on top. What happened to this industry? Where did the love go that went in to designing video games? Even with the best of intentions, developers still cannot overcome the leash that publishers put on them. Bungie signed a 10 year contract with Activision. That means, to Activision, that's 10 years of basically guaranteed revenue for their wallets from us. They don't give a damn about how good the game really is, that's the developer's job, right? Oh but they have to work around the leash we throw on them. They can't release all this content at once or we'll have nothing to sell later. This isn't how it used to be. I remember games like the Legend of Zelda. There was no DLC in that day, but the game felt finished by itself. It was a wonderful, exciting adventure. Then we had the first Halo, truly a marvel of the FPS genre. Fun action, beautiful graphics, and a heck of a story to boot. Another game, Oblivion. One of the best RPG's I've played. Fantastic storytelling and questing, with fun combat and mechanics as well. Further along the timeline, we have games like Mass Effect, one of my favorite scifi pieces. It undersells the game to call it a Space Opera. It's so massive that even half the game felt satisfying. Moving further along, however, and Call of Duty turns in to a cash cow. Why do so many people dislike it, yet so many people adore it? The gameplay struck a note with gamers. It was incredibly fun, especially for PvP mechanics. The Publisher then built an entire empire around just the gameplay. You have games now, like Destiny. Destiny tries to remind us of the huge adventure that videogames can be, but falls short because it can't escape the leash that business owners hold on it. Why release all of the content when we can release some of it and then sell the rest later? The consumers get their finished game and we get more money. That's the way the game is played now. My fellow gamers, I am appalled at our stagnation, our complacency, our acceptance of the cheap, money grabbing schemes going on in this industry. We're supposed to be one of the most revolutionary, innovative industries, and yet we can't even have the guts to tell developers or publishers what they did wrong. We have no desire to fix anything. If all it takes is a quick buck, sure, you'll buy whatever they sell you. Please, my fellow gamers. Disembark the hype train. Remove the veil. Think for awhile about what it is you think video games should be. Should they be a quick walk in the park with pretty sights and some areas that you have to pay for? Or should they be mountains of glorious magnitude, with satisfying adventures and the surprise of a beautiful forest at the end of your journey? You decide. I know where my heart lies. I won't sit by while games are reduced further and further from their beautiful, natural state into simple vehicles to transport money from our wallets to theirs. I'll scream and cry and write long essays about it until something changes. This is not the way it's supposed to be. Let's change the way games are made. Thanks for reading. I cherish your feedback, whether you agree, disagree, or simply don't care. EDIT: To add some clarification and so you see where I'm coming from: I fought for this game. I fought tooth and nail, telling the naysayers that it was all "part of the plan" and the full game, after the beta, would be much, much more. I fought for the idea that Destiny would live up to what they said it would be. I was disappointed. No. I was heartbroken. I was a fanboy. I was one of those fanboys many of you criticized for being blind. I thought you all didn't see it the way I did. I thought I was going to prove you wrong. In the end, you proved me wrong. I'm not a fanboy anymore. I'm a disheartened, aspiring game developer whose faith in the industry was shaken a bit. tl;dr: cutting out core content and selling it later is not how DLC should be and is a practice that is killing the essence of video games. DLC should be content that adds to the game, not content that completes the game. Plus some emotions and a bit of passion and stuff because I care too much about these things or something.