Back in simpler times, when you bought a game you were just buying that game. Sometimes that’s still true, but more often the content is dependent on things you can’t control. With a game like MAG you know you are paying for just the online mode, but you don’t control the servers. I’ve always been cautious of games like this because if the servers are shut down or malfunction, I don’t get to enjoy the experience that I paid for. It’s like buying the tickets to an amusement park, but when you get inside all the rides are closed.

This analogy also explain the feeling you get when games like Black Ops suffer from online inadequacies.You get into the amusement park, but only three rides are running, there’s a huge line and when you get on the ride, it’s going way slower than it should and actually, it just isn’t fun at all. So even though the concession stand and the merry-go-round are doing everything they are supposed to, you didn’t pay $60 for a merry-go-round. That’s only worth about $20. In this scenario, the merry-go-round is the story mode for Call of Duty. I avoid buying a game based on it’s online content because I don’t want to be stuck with the merry-go-round instead of the roller coaster.