I’m doing the initial analysis on how to best to include micro transactions as part of the core game design, and I’m curious if anyone has played a game in which they feel micro transactions were done well?
So far I’ve seen the following examples of them included in games:
Accelerators and Boosters - Essentially players pay in game currency to speed up the game experience. Level faster, teleport to locations, get better item drops, reduce elapsed time.
Premium Gear - The best gear/items/and abilities are only available to player who purchase them.
Dehandicap - Essentially the free experience is so limited that the player feels handicapped and the only way to get a decent experience is pay to unlock features.
The only game I can think did micro transactions well would be back in the day when I used to play magic the gathering. In that case you bought booster packs to get more cards which gave you more choices when it came to deck design and hopefully access to better cards. Which is the same approach I’m looking to take.
So, what are peoples thoughts how have you seen micro transactions done well in the past?
Micro Transactions
I think that there're two kind of people who are willing to pay money. The first group is the speeding/cheating group, they want to invest money to have a faster progress or to overpower others. The second group is the prestige group, they are willing to pay money to gain prestige items without none or really low game impact (I want the bigger car than my neighbor concept).
Satisfying the first group is really difficult, because game balance depends on money spent. This could lead to the death of a game project really quickly:
You are better when you spend money
=> players who do not spend money will loose frequently
=> player base will weaken
=> only players who spent money are left
=> after victims left the playerbase you can't gain an advantage with money
=> player base is destroyed
=> game over
Most MMORPG try to avoid this pitfall, but gold sellers will eventually do it and you need to fight gold sellers too.
The second group could be satisfied without sacrifying the game. Players want to be distinguished from other players. When you are the cool RPG rogue or FPS uber-killer ,it would be cool to invest some $ to get a cool looking black suite or black desert eagle.
Satisfying the first group is really difficult, because game balance depends on money spent. This could lead to the death of a game project really quickly:
You are better when you spend money
=> players who do not spend money will loose frequently
=> player base will weaken
=> only players who spent money are left
=> after victims left the playerbase you can't gain an advantage with money
=> player base is destroyed
=> game over
Most MMORPG try to avoid this pitfall, but gold sellers will eventually do it and you need to fight gold sellers too.
The second group could be satisfied without sacrifying the game. Players want to be distinguished from other players. When you are the cool RPG rogue or FPS uber-killer ,it would be cool to invest some $ to get a cool looking black suite or black desert eagle.
Team Fortress 2 -- now this game has become a micro-transaction heaven as of late. No idea how many people actually buy stuff from there, but the shop doesn't actually give any advantage -- it just supplies players with payed shotcuts, allowing customization the way they want it, without having to wait for certain gear to pop up or mold it from heaps of junk. This is a good shop.
Champions Online -- another game where there is a sach shop as well as a subscription option. I find this worthy of mentioning because, as a player, I do not feel bad about not paying and/or subscribing. The game's shop is set around buying new customization options and vanity powers, such as cool effect travel powers, sidekicks or exp/hp boost items. Given this game is primarily PvE, it doesn't ruin gameplay for anyone, and PvP is divided between the subcribers and non-subscribers (non-subscribers may choose to fight the subscribers). Subscribers on the other hand won't bore with the game due to the ability to create their own custom classes -- they can tune in the character to the best of their ability and either engage in PvP (to check which build is better) or continue with PvE.
Allods Online (pre-Chapter 1 (? I think it was chapter 1)) -- a great game that got totally devasted by "ballancing" and cash shop. In the early beta days, the game was just awesome -- the cash shop was a barelly visible (gameplay wise) feature that contained bigger backpacks, vanity items and potions. It was a bliss where PvP was interesting and intense, death wasn't much of an issue (you could cash shop out of it or just loose in-game gold) and the ballancing made each combat a wild display of skill, tactics and Lady Luck b*tch slapping both sides as she found fit. Then came the Chapter 1 update and the Curse mechanics, forcing people into buying cash shop. And so, the game died. Despite the efforts to fix this and bring players back, the game never regrew to the state it was in, and cash shop bullies still roam the lands.
Private servers of some popular MMOs -- They mostly supply people with vanity items otherwise unavailable (or hard to get) or stuffs you can usually get with lots of effort. I think game designers/developers should look upon the private sector to see how a cash shop HAS to be ballanced, as otherwise the servers would go down due to debt and players would leave due to cash shop bullies.
Champions Online -- another game where there is a sach shop as well as a subscription option. I find this worthy of mentioning because, as a player, I do not feel bad about not paying and/or subscribing. The game's shop is set around buying new customization options and vanity powers, such as cool effect travel powers, sidekicks or exp/hp boost items. Given this game is primarily PvE, it doesn't ruin gameplay for anyone, and PvP is divided between the subcribers and non-subscribers (non-subscribers may choose to fight the subscribers). Subscribers on the other hand won't bore with the game due to the ability to create their own custom classes -- they can tune in the character to the best of their ability and either engage in PvP (to check which build is better) or continue with PvE.
Allods Online (pre-Chapter 1 (? I think it was chapter 1)) -- a great game that got totally devasted by "ballancing" and cash shop. In the early beta days, the game was just awesome -- the cash shop was a barelly visible (gameplay wise) feature that contained bigger backpacks, vanity items and potions. It was a bliss where PvP was interesting and intense, death wasn't much of an issue (you could cash shop out of it or just loose in-game gold) and the ballancing made each combat a wild display of skill, tactics and Lady Luck b*tch slapping both sides as she found fit. Then came the Chapter 1 update and the Curse mechanics, forcing people into buying cash shop. And so, the game died. Despite the efforts to fix this and bring players back, the game never regrew to the state it was in, and cash shop bullies still roam the lands.
Private servers of some popular MMOs -- They mostly supply people with vanity items otherwise unavailable (or hard to get) or stuffs you can usually get with lots of effort. I think game designers/developers should look upon the private sector to see how a cash shop HAS to be ballanced, as otherwise the servers would go down due to debt and players would leave due to cash shop bullies.
I think it depends on what sort of game your using the micro transactions on.
For MMORPGs I think the best rout I have seen is the DDO system where you can sub monthly or use the micro-transactions rout where the "suber" gets everything the micro-transaction guy can get.
Spiral Knights seems to do a good system although if you don't buy from the cash-shop you cant play for more than a hour or two a day. This seems annoying at first but for the type of drop in and play game it is it works relatively well.
The two rules I personally would stick to 9 times out of 10 are that a player shouldn't have to pay just to play the game and that a player should not be able to "pay to win".
Here's a link to a talk from one of the devs of Battlefield Hero's. Personally i find him a tad bias and I would argue that its a very specific kind of game he's talking about it working in but none the less its a interesting watch.
For MMORPGs I think the best rout I have seen is the DDO system where you can sub monthly or use the micro-transactions rout where the "suber" gets everything the micro-transaction guy can get.
Spiral Knights seems to do a good system although if you don't buy from the cash-shop you cant play for more than a hour or two a day. This seems annoying at first but for the type of drop in and play game it is it works relatively well.
The two rules I personally would stick to 9 times out of 10 are that a player shouldn't have to pay just to play the game and that a player should not be able to "pay to win".
Here's a link to a talk from one of the devs of Battlefield Hero's. Personally i find him a tad bias and I would argue that its a very specific kind of game he's talking about it working in but none the less its a interesting watch.
Spiral Knights seems to do a good system although if you don't buy from the cash-shop you cant play for more than a hour or two a day. This seems annoying at first but for the type of drop in and play game it is it works relatively well.This does not make sense to me, if you have money it means you work so you don't have much time to play... Shouldn't shop system be made for those who work and not play a lot so they have a chance to catch up with free players who play all day?
Author
This does not make sense to me, if you have money it means you work so you don't have much time to play... Shouldn't shop system be made for those who work and not play a lot so they have a chance to catch up with free players who play all day?
[quote name='Bigdeadbug' timestamp='1309970996' post='4831863']Spiral Knights seems to do a good system although if you don't buy from the cash-shop you cant play for more than a hour or two a day. This seems annoying at first but for the type of drop in and play game it is it works relatively well.
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I have noticed this in few free to play games they seem to artificially limit the amount of time a person can play the game each day without spending money. Which seems counterintuitive to me as it means people with the most free time and desire to the play the game get the least benefit out of the free to play model. As they either have to spend money to extend their daily play experience which is unlikely or they just create additional characters on other servers, split their time between them.
How do people feel about micro transactions in single player games? Do they have a place there? After all Zynga has proved without a doubt that micro transactions is very successfully business model based on the 600 million they made last year from their 232 million monthly users.
This does not make sense to me, if you have money it means you work so you don't have much time to play... Shouldn't shop system be made for those who work and not play a lot so they have a chance to catch up with free players who play all day?
[quote name='Bigdeadbug' timestamp='1309970996' post='4831863']Spiral Knights seems to do a good system although if you don't buy from the cash-shop you cant play for more than a hour or two a day. This seems annoying at first but for the type of drop in and play game it is it works relatively well.
[/quote]
Look at it this way -- the paying, and thus working, people may catch up to the free people due to their time limits. It makes sense to me. And if you have a tight schedule at a job and want to play more, you just buy additional time. I also see it as a way of saying "go outside people, it's a beautifull day!". Wishfull thinking huh?
Micro-txns are a good investment if you like the game. If you don't invest, you won't like the game, as everyone who pays will be superior (talking about the games that employ such a system). This is deadly loop IMO, one that can only be broken by a leap of faith from the customer's side. You can't possibly know if you'll regret buying anything or paying in the future. That is why cash shop should not be the sole mechanic on which the game is based. Or at least try and divide the playfield between paid and free, as did Champions Online.
Spiral Knights is a bit of a conundrum but i think it works purely because the game is so simple. There is an option to buy the energy needed via in game currency, it seems to be regulated via the players themselves as well in a auction house style setup, it would take a few days to be able to buy any of it at when you first start playing but for dedicated players i assume it would be a day or two (the equivalent of 4ish hours of game-play). I honestly didn't even know this feature was in the game nor did anyone i play with until today so sorry about that. It does seem to solve the puzzle Acharis raised somewhat.
From my own personal experience though this self regulating aspect of the game seems to work wonders. It stops me overplaying the game (which is possible with how simple/action orientated the game is) but gives me enough of a taste for me to want to come back every day or two to play a bit more. For example if i had a lot of time on my hands i may well have burnt out on such a shallow game after a few days. Instead I'm limited on the amount of time i can play for each day which means a few weeks may pass before i get tired of the game mechanics, at this point i will probably have friends within the game, a guild and a character i have some attachment to. Not to mention new content seems to come out every week or two. All this stops me from just giving up on the game which i might well have done under other circumstances. At this point i may even decide to invest in a microtransaction or two simply because I'm not invested in the game, as far as i could tell the average cost of energy isn't that high and would thus allow the majority of players to afford it.
As for single-player games i would put DLC under the banner of microtransactions. So ye i would say they have a place in single-player games the issue i have with that is when a game is released with DLC readily available (at a price ofc). That just makes me feel like I'm buying a product with chunks missing from it no matter how much content the game has by itself, e.g. Dragon Age.
From my own personal experience though this self regulating aspect of the game seems to work wonders. It stops me overplaying the game (which is possible with how simple/action orientated the game is) but gives me enough of a taste for me to want to come back every day or two to play a bit more. For example if i had a lot of time on my hands i may well have burnt out on such a shallow game after a few days. Instead I'm limited on the amount of time i can play for each day which means a few weeks may pass before i get tired of the game mechanics, at this point i will probably have friends within the game, a guild and a character i have some attachment to. Not to mention new content seems to come out every week or two. All this stops me from just giving up on the game which i might well have done under other circumstances. At this point i may even decide to invest in a microtransaction or two simply because I'm not invested in the game, as far as i could tell the average cost of energy isn't that high and would thus allow the majority of players to afford it.
As for single-player games i would put DLC under the banner of microtransactions. So ye i would say they have a place in single-player games the issue i have with that is when a game is released with DLC readily available (at a price ofc). That just makes me feel like I'm buying a product with chunks missing from it no matter how much content the game has by itself, e.g. Dragon Age.
Anyone saying "don't add items that give cash shop players an advantage over non cash shop players" is not looking out for your company's best interest.
It's been proven that the majority of people want to be able to buy an advantage. Even if the 2% of the vocal forum communities say that it ruins the game.
People want:
- advantages over non cash spenders (weapons that do more damage, armor that protects more, etc)
- faster progression (experience boost/game currency boost)
- cool looking stuff to wear or other vanity items such as special colored chat text, having their name stand out more, etc
- access to more maps/content/whatever
Pretty much in that order.
Now, the items that give advantages need to be small advantages and not to the point where it's totally gamebreaking... You may even get away with just selling high end items that can be earned in game as well. But I'm positive that powerful items that can't be obtained in game will sell the best.
Yes, you will have a vocal minority that complains *A LOT* but the end result will be a huge increase in profit. People have misunderstandings when it comes to what "free to play with cash shop" actually means. It means "if you want to play this game seriously or on any sort of competitive level, you're going to have to pay to get there". For most people who just want to play for free, they are fine with knowing that they are at a slight disadvantage to those who pay. You get what you pay for. Too often people just assume "free to play" means "I should never have to pay for this game and should be able to get everything I want/need without paying".
It's been proven that the majority of people want to be able to buy an advantage. Even if the 2% of the vocal forum communities say that it ruins the game.
People want:
- advantages over non cash spenders (weapons that do more damage, armor that protects more, etc)
- faster progression (experience boost/game currency boost)
- cool looking stuff to wear or other vanity items such as special colored chat text, having their name stand out more, etc
- access to more maps/content/whatever
Pretty much in that order.
Now, the items that give advantages need to be small advantages and not to the point where it's totally gamebreaking... You may even get away with just selling high end items that can be earned in game as well. But I'm positive that powerful items that can't be obtained in game will sell the best.
Yes, you will have a vocal minority that complains *A LOT* but the end result will be a huge increase in profit. People have misunderstandings when it comes to what "free to play with cash shop" actually means. It means "if you want to play this game seriously or on any sort of competitive level, you're going to have to pay to get there". For most people who just want to play for free, they are fine with knowing that they are at a slight disadvantage to those who pay. You get what you pay for. Too often people just assume "free to play" means "I should never have to pay for this game and should be able to get everything I want/need without paying".
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