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THE TOP F2P MONETIZATION TRICKS
Posts
kentona
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Closehttp://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaminShokrizade/20130626/194933/
"The above mechanics are not meant to be exhaustive, but give a basic overview of key techniques used in coercive monetization model based games to defeat a customer's ability to make informed choices about the costs and values in these products."
this is it this is what gaming has come to. An informative if demoralizing read on some of the common monetization strategies for games.
Make yourself an educated gamer, or use this to educate those you know who are not "seasoned" gamers like yourself (wives, kids, girlfriends, noobs)
tl;dr lesson learned - never ever buy in-game microtransactions - it is never worth it. turn off that game and play a different one instead. (there are always other games to play)
"The above mechanics are not meant to be exhaustive, but give a basic overview of key techniques used in coercive monetization model based games to defeat a customer's ability to make informed choices about the costs and values in these products."
this is it this is what gaming has come to. An informative if demoralizing read on some of the common monetization strategies for games.
Make yourself an educated gamer, or use this to educate those you know who are not "seasoned" gamers like yourself (wives, kids, girlfriends, noobs)
tl;dr lesson learned - never ever buy in-game microtransactions - it is never worth it. turn off that game and play a different one instead. (there are always other games to play)
"This kind of thing makes a total mockery of the economic rationalist assumption that market actors dispose of their resources rationally in accordance with their own best interests. Instead what we see quite clearly is that entities with large sums of money can afford access to psychological, communications, and iterative systems design expertise to gain an unfair market advantage by manipulating the process of decision-making and intentionally subverting rationality, with a degree of precision and power that is simply inaccessible to the average person."
Reading that article, I know so many "free" to play games that use these tactics it's not even funny.
This is part of the reason why I'm often reluctant to play MMOs... Unless it's League of Legends.
This is part of the reason why I'm often reluctant to play MMOs... Unless it's League of Legends.
The list is missing "Add a microtransaction worth $100 and hope some poor kid accidentally hits yes" (or asks their parent for the ipad password and they put it in without thinking which happened to my sister but thankfully just for cheap shit) as seen in Super Monster Bros.
Horrible anecdotes: I started playing Diablo 3 again which has a regular in-game gold auction house and a real money auction house. You can buy end game gear for 40k-1M gold apiece (end-end game gear can go for hundreds of millions). In the RMAH you can buy 10M gold for about a quarter, minimum purchase of $1 so 40M gold p.much. Equipment on the RMAH is a minimum of $1.25, $1 goes to Blizz as transaction fees (even if it isn't from paypal or anything) and the rest to the seller. So equipment on the RMAH is worth 50M gold to the buyer, 10M to the seller. I've taken gear I've bought for 100k-1M gold, used for a bit, found something better, and flipped on the RMAH at the minimum $1.25 which basically translates to obscene markups. Each item wasn't worth the 50M gold somebody effectively paid for it nor the 10M I got out of it.
This isn't even half as bad as the tales I heard of people making hundreds of dollars off of the RMAH in the earlier days of Diablo 3 either. I sell maybe one item a week of all the crap I throw up seeing if anybody bites.
e: oh god double post. Mod abuse powers, activate!
e2: On the note of MMORPGs, I've never paid a monthly subscription for one because that sounds like a horrible use of money with my schedule. I'm a fan of paying for a game, turning it on, and having it 100% available without having to pay another dime. Having to constantly pay to play or pay to unlock shit even if the initial game is free isn't my style. I just wanna play games and not have it ask me to feed it money to continue.
Horrible anecdotes: I started playing Diablo 3 again which has a regular in-game gold auction house and a real money auction house. You can buy end game gear for 40k-1M gold apiece (end-end game gear can go for hundreds of millions). In the RMAH you can buy 10M gold for about a quarter, minimum purchase of $1 so 40M gold p.much. Equipment on the RMAH is a minimum of $1.25, $1 goes to Blizz as transaction fees (even if it isn't from paypal or anything) and the rest to the seller. So equipment on the RMAH is worth 50M gold to the buyer, 10M to the seller. I've taken gear I've bought for 100k-1M gold, used for a bit, found something better, and flipped on the RMAH at the minimum $1.25 which basically translates to obscene markups. Each item wasn't worth the 50M gold somebody effectively paid for it nor the 10M I got out of it.
This isn't even half as bad as the tales I heard of people making hundreds of dollars off of the RMAH in the earlier days of Diablo 3 either. I sell maybe one item a week of all the crap I throw up seeing if anybody bites.
e: oh god double post. Mod abuse powers, activate!
e2: On the note of MMORPGs, I've never paid a monthly subscription for one because that sounds like a horrible use of money with my schedule. I'm a fan of paying for a game, turning it on, and having it 100% available without having to pay another dime. Having to constantly pay to play or pay to unlock shit even if the initial game is free isn't my style. I just wanna play games and not have it ask me to feed it money to continue.
Avee
5794
This profit motive virus makes me want to puke, but what can we do about it...
Boycott all games that ask for extra money after the initial purchase?
Spend your money smartly. Don't spend cash on a game that isn't at least as good or better than the best free game you've ever played.
Boycott all games that ask for extra money after the initial purchase?
Spend your money smartly. Don't spend cash on a game that isn't at least as good or better than the best free game you've ever played.
I was thinking about it... aren't Arcades basically built of this model?
*YOU HAVE DIED. CONTINUE? INSERT COINS*
*10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. ...*
*YOU HAVE DIED. CONTINUE? INSERT COINS*
*10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. ...*
author=kentona
I was thinking about it... aren't Arcades basically built of this model?
*YOU HAVE DIED. CONTINUE? INSERT COINS*
*10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. ...*
Yeah, I remember those. At least you expected that. Also, shareware or trial games are also honest about their limitations. Those "Freemium" games advertise themselves as "Free to Play" (but not to beat, "*" omitted on purpose).
Avee
5794
Good observation kentona but I think Arcades are quite different from today's money games.
Arcades were the bulk of the first era of video games, modeled after pinball machines. Home consoles didn't exist at the time and paying for credits (= extra lives, chances to play) was the only way they would make any money.
Arcades don't ask you to pay to unlock levels or upgrades.
Arcades were the bulk of the first era of video games, modeled after pinball machines. Home consoles didn't exist at the time and paying for credits (= extra lives, chances to play) was the only way they would make any money.
Arcades don't ask you to pay to unlock levels or upgrades.
TheNecromancer
3160
There's nothing wrong with free games. Some of them are quite good. Just don't buy anything.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=kentona
tl;dr lesson learned - never ever buy in-game microtransactions - it is never worth it. turn off that game and play a different one instead. (there are always other games to play)
Eh, that is not the point of the article. The author makes F2P games and admits at several points in the article that it is possible to have non-coercive payment models - this is just a description of the ones that are designed to trick people. No one is gonna claim League of Legends is designed around tricking people into spending money, I don't think. And certainly the expansion packs to games like Dragon Age and Skyrim are nowhere close.
The idea of letting you try something before you buy it, and to choose how much of it you want to buy, is not inherently deceitful or manipulative. Quite the opposite, really.
author=LockeZ
No one is gonna claim League of Legends is designed around tricking people into spending money, I don't think.
They do it only to an extent. Especially when you are just starting out, the game pretty much gives you two options in terms of getting the champs/rune pages you want: Either don't pay anything and you'll have to accumulate massive loads of IP to make free purchases, which takes way more time than even getting to the max summoner level as the prices are ridiculous and the IP reward isn't that high. Or, you could break out your wallet and buy a lot of RP, which is quick and gives you high amounts to spend as you please. Also champ skins, which are your best bet for having any customization experience in the game, only cost RP.
The game still remains skill-based, however, and it really doesn't force you to buy anything, but it's still there.
Dyhalto
7536
meh.
I learned my lesson with Adventure Quest when it first came out. Fortunately I was too poor to open my wallet for it, but I did quickly pick up on the fact that if you aren't spending money, you aren't getting anywhere. The same applies to all F2P games, hence why I don't give them a second glance.
Yet another reason I <3 RMN.
I learned my lesson with Adventure Quest when it first came out. Fortunately I was too poor to open my wallet for it, but I did quickly pick up on the fact that if you aren't spending money, you aren't getting anywhere. The same applies to all F2P games, hence why I don't give them a second glance.
Yet another reason I <3 RMN.
Milennin
2060
author=Link_2112
There's nothing wrong with free games. Some of them are quite good. Just don't buy anything.
Those kind of games would be good if they weren't free, but sold at a set price that would just include everything.
I remember playing a free MMO some years ago which was pretty fun actually, but at higher levels it just became too much of a pain to do anything without paying. Instead of constantly having to buy boosters or what have you I'd much rather pay a 1-time purchase... Hell, I'd even prefer a monthly subscription over a game that balances its gameplay around micro-transactions. Because "free games" get way more expensive than any 1-time purchase, or even monthly fee, if you want to be able to enjoy them on a regular basis.
author=Milennin
Because "free games" get way more expensive than any 1-time purchase, or even monthly fee, if you want to be able to enjoy them on a regular basis.
That's exactly what they are counting on people to do. Basically, they make you pay to win.
