So I'm having a discussion on another website about locked content in games. Meaning stuff that you need to complete a task and gain acess to. The context of the debate is racing games (GT7 specifically), but I'd like to hear thoughts about this sort of thing in any type of game.

One side of this debate is that players shouldn't have to wait to have access to everything. You've paid for the game and thus you should be able to drive and tune any car you want right off the bat.

The other side is that with everything available from the get go, the career mode loses it's value and thus you for all intents and purposes lose a big chunk of the game. On top of that you lose any sense of accomplishment you'd have from working to unlock content.

There is a third option on the table here aswell, That is to let the player choose when they first start the game if they want to unlock things or not.

The pro side to that is simply that it's the best of both worlds and the people who want everything right away can have it without hindering the game for anyone else.

The con side is that having the option to have everything right away still diminishes the value of progressing through the game because you need to actually choose to put a wall between you and the content.

But outside of this specific game how do you guys feel about this? Would a game like Halo or God of War be better or worse if you could choose to have everything unlocked?

For me personally, I prefer having to unlock stuff just for the sake of unlocking stuff. The satisfaction of finding it or completing whatever the objective is. Sure, in some games I'd like more options from the get-go, like how in Pokemon Black/White 2 you don't easy or hard mode until you beat the game, which is dumb, but generally, I find it fun having to get some of the stuff on my own. I remember my disappointment when I found out that Halo 4 had difficulty modifying skulls, but they were already unlocked as opposed to having to find them in the levels first. Hell, I was disappointed in Smash 3DS when all of the characters unlocks were easy as hell.

No u shouldn't have everything unlocked just cause you paid for it.  You know what your getting before you buy the game, if you don't like it then don't buy the game.

Unlocking releases endorphines.

hahaha this is just champion.

When I go to cinema, I want to watch the ending of the movie first. Why? cause I paid for it... Not really.

Having everything unlocked removes the purpose of story telling and leveling-up system. Role-playing games in general would lose any kind of meaning or sense of progress. you'll end up with mess nothing more.

Progressing is natural and feels right. Just like in life, if you want something to have to work for it. If you can't bother to progress in the game, then you have bought the wrong game.

The first argument makes no sense.

A business creates a product then they offer that product for sale. The consumer then has the choice of purchasing that product or not. There is no entitlement that the consumer can get whatever they want. Certainly, they can withhold purchasing anything that does not meet their standards or criteria but they have no inherent right to a tailored product.

I like some phone games you can either earn things to unlock or you can buy them. I save money and feel accomplished, lazy people can get what they want, and the developer gets extra cash. Everyone wins.

Technically having to complete levels in a pre-specified order means most levels are locked content... So yeah, locked content is perfectly acceptable.

Unlocking content is much more fun and that's a valid reason to even play the game or maybe play it differently than you normally would.