Hi Escapists,
I've cobbled together my notes from another Critical Hit video (this time about micro transactions) and arranged them in some form of comprehensible language below.
I've skipped the discussion about what MTs are and got to the nitty gritty: which games do it badly and what are the commandments that devs should follow:
There are several games that utilise MTs in a seriously bad way, three such games are The War Z, Star Conflict and Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. These games offend in entirely different ways:
In Star Conflict, the only way to obtain the best ships, weapons and equipment in the game is to purchase them with real world currency. In some instances the premium weaponry causes as much as 50% extra damage than its nearest non-paid counterpart. This is known as pay to win. That is a phrase that gets banded around a lot on the internet and more often than not it is used incorrectly. In this instance however it is absolutely spot on: No matter how skilful you are, no matter how many hours of practice you put in, you will never have as good a ship as the guy that just drops £10 in his account and fits out his ship with all manner of bad-assery.
This is wrong. Horrifically wrong , and this practice should be avoided at all costs. Developers are cheapening their own work by doing this, and also cheapening the experiences of their player base.
Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, is not only a game I cannot pronounce the name of, it is another major abuser of a micro-transactional store. This game is marketed as free to play, however most of the content is ring-fenced away from players until purchased real world currency. The costs of these content packs are not insignificant. In fact they cost substantially more than Torchlight 2, a game in the same genre as Akeneiro, but with far more depth, content and value for money.
This is also wrong. Do not prevent your players from accessing your content. If people are playing your content they are having a good time, and people who are having a good time are more likely to spend money to keep your game alive.
And now we come to The War Z. The War Z is a paid game with a brutal micro transaction model, you pay to revive your character, you pay for character classes, you pay for weapons and equipment that disappears when you die. The War Z is little more than a digital mugging and is a good example of micro transactions done badly.
But it?s not all doom and gloom, there are also several games that are successful without ripping off and tricking their players. Planetside 2, Guild Wars 2 and Warframe are three games which spring to mind who run MT stores that, while not perfect, are much more virtuous that the games I mentioned earlier.
Taking pointers from these games, and others, I believe thee are some commandments which all games that use a micro transactional store should adhere to:
1) Thou Shalt Not Use Bullshit In Game Currency
You should not have to convert money into gems, credits, platinum or whatever and use that to buy items in the store. For the most part this is done to lull the customer into a false sense of security. "How much is 50 gems worth again? Oh I don?t know but that gun looks nice!"
Banner Saga: Factions lists the actual real world cost price of all it?s items in the MT store, and I wish more games would do this. This way the player knows exactly what he or she is getting for their money.
2) Thou Shalt Not Ring Fence Content
With the exception of expansion packs or content created after launch, you should not charge your players for the pleasure of playing the game if you are advertising as Free To Play. All areas and maps should be accessible to all players. If people like your game they will pay money towards it anyway as, believe it or not, they?ll want to keep playing it.
3) Thou Shalt Not Pay To Win: All Items Are Created Equal
All items that directly affect gameplay such as weapons, abilities and equipment etc should also be accessible to all players. Either through crafting, loot or currency earned through gameplay. This maintains the balance of PVE and PVP and also encourages your players to invest time in your game world, which can only lead to future financial input.
4) Thou Shall Have An Abundance of Cosmetic Items
If you?re not going to charge for levels and guns what can you charge for? Skins, outfits, decals and other cosmetic items. Players love to customise their characters and vehicles, and a wide range of moderately priced cosmetic items will earn you the money you desire. Players who love the game will want it to last, and if they can get a bad ass looking skin for their plate mail whilst doing so then everybody is a winner.
Let me know what you think. How do you feel about micro transactions? What experiences have you had with games like this?
I've cobbled together my notes from another Critical Hit video (this time about micro transactions) and arranged them in some form of comprehensible language below.
I've skipped the discussion about what MTs are and got to the nitty gritty: which games do it badly and what are the commandments that devs should follow:
There are several games that utilise MTs in a seriously bad way, three such games are The War Z, Star Conflict and Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. These games offend in entirely different ways:
In Star Conflict, the only way to obtain the best ships, weapons and equipment in the game is to purchase them with real world currency. In some instances the premium weaponry causes as much as 50% extra damage than its nearest non-paid counterpart. This is known as pay to win. That is a phrase that gets banded around a lot on the internet and more often than not it is used incorrectly. In this instance however it is absolutely spot on: No matter how skilful you are, no matter how many hours of practice you put in, you will never have as good a ship as the guy that just drops £10 in his account and fits out his ship with all manner of bad-assery.
This is wrong. Horrifically wrong , and this practice should be avoided at all costs. Developers are cheapening their own work by doing this, and also cheapening the experiences of their player base.
Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, is not only a game I cannot pronounce the name of, it is another major abuser of a micro-transactional store. This game is marketed as free to play, however most of the content is ring-fenced away from players until purchased real world currency. The costs of these content packs are not insignificant. In fact they cost substantially more than Torchlight 2, a game in the same genre as Akeneiro, but with far more depth, content and value for money.
This is also wrong. Do not prevent your players from accessing your content. If people are playing your content they are having a good time, and people who are having a good time are more likely to spend money to keep your game alive.
And now we come to The War Z. The War Z is a paid game with a brutal micro transaction model, you pay to revive your character, you pay for character classes, you pay for weapons and equipment that disappears when you die. The War Z is little more than a digital mugging and is a good example of micro transactions done badly.
But it?s not all doom and gloom, there are also several games that are successful without ripping off and tricking their players. Planetside 2, Guild Wars 2 and Warframe are three games which spring to mind who run MT stores that, while not perfect, are much more virtuous that the games I mentioned earlier.
Taking pointers from these games, and others, I believe thee are some commandments which all games that use a micro transactional store should adhere to:
1) Thou Shalt Not Use Bullshit In Game Currency
You should not have to convert money into gems, credits, platinum or whatever and use that to buy items in the store. For the most part this is done to lull the customer into a false sense of security. "How much is 50 gems worth again? Oh I don?t know but that gun looks nice!"
Banner Saga: Factions lists the actual real world cost price of all it?s items in the MT store, and I wish more games would do this. This way the player knows exactly what he or she is getting for their money.
2) Thou Shalt Not Ring Fence Content
With the exception of expansion packs or content created after launch, you should not charge your players for the pleasure of playing the game if you are advertising as Free To Play. All areas and maps should be accessible to all players. If people like your game they will pay money towards it anyway as, believe it or not, they?ll want to keep playing it.
3) Thou Shalt Not Pay To Win: All Items Are Created Equal
All items that directly affect gameplay such as weapons, abilities and equipment etc should also be accessible to all players. Either through crafting, loot or currency earned through gameplay. This maintains the balance of PVE and PVP and also encourages your players to invest time in your game world, which can only lead to future financial input.
4) Thou Shall Have An Abundance of Cosmetic Items
If you?re not going to charge for levels and guns what can you charge for? Skins, outfits, decals and other cosmetic items. Players love to customise their characters and vehicles, and a wide range of moderately priced cosmetic items will earn you the money you desire. Players who love the game will want it to last, and if they can get a bad ass looking skin for their plate mail whilst doing so then everybody is a winner.
Let me know what you think. How do you feel about micro transactions? What experiences have you had with games like this?
