The Psychology of Steam Wallet & Microsoft Points

Hugh Pickens writes "Ever bought something from Xbox Live Arcade? The first time, you may have been a bit bamboozled by the process because Microsoft doesn't just let you put $15 on your credit card to buy a new game; purchases are done in 'Microsoft Points' that you deposit into a virtual wallet and you use the points to buy stuff. 'Gamers possessed of equal parts suspicion and curiosity may wonder why our gaming overlords adopted such a strange system instead of just letting us pay real money for our purchases,' writes game psychologist James Madigan. He says the real reason for Microsoft Points is that sometimes you are going to have some points left over in your account. Leaving money on the table or in your Xbox Live account makes most of us a bit uncomfortable (PDF) because it feels wasteful. 'It's similar to overeating at a buffet or doubling your paper towel use after buying the 124 roll jumbo pack,' says Madigan. 'Even though you could just let those paper towels or Nintendo Points sit there until you have a good reason to use them, spending real money on something else seems wasteful.' And Microsoft isn't the only one – Sony and Nintendo have similar systems, and Valve has even rolled out a 'Steam Wallet' for in-game microtransactions."

Not to mention

[Hermanas]

The extra money lying around in their bank accounts, while not spent by the customer, could earn them millions in interest.

Err, hello America, rest of the world here

[Anonymous Coward]

The psychology is great, but a more simple explanation is that you have to pick a currency to price things in. Why not a virtual one rather than a real one? I can't imagine Americans tolerating Euro prices or vice versa. This way, everything's priced in points and we're happy.

I hate any system where you can buy "points"

[Chrisq]

I hate any system where you can buy "points" but have no way of changing points back to money. Thye know that they are on to a good thing - either you spend it, which often means adding more, or you leave it as a zero-interest loan to them (which also falls outside any financial regulations or compensation schemes should they go bust).

Taking advantage of the undisciplined minds

[erroneus]

Gift cards are the same game. It's an older game than we know I'm sure. (Tickets at a carnival come to mind as an even older example.) Once money is turned into "not money" there is also a certain disconnect that enables people to spend it more easily in addition to people not wanting to waste the leftovers. (I always give away my left over tickets when leaving a carnival...)

That game no longer works on me. The reality is that the money is already spent -- you don't get it back. I think this is a better mentality to follow as it disables this "uncomfortable" feeling of waste and things left over. The first thing a person must accept is that when you lend someone money, never expect to see it again and at the same time, not be bitter about it. You gave money. It's gone. Once you get past that obstacle of selfishness, the rest is easy.

Learning self discipline and control is difficult. Our parents were supposed to teach us those things but over the past generations, those ideals were forgotten along with the lessons learned from the great depression. (You know, ideas like being is debt is a sin and on and on...) My mother hadn't quite forgotten what her mother taught her and shared a bit of that with me. I still had to learn a lot on my own but not so much as everyone else it seems. The lemmings out there are just eating whatever is being fed to them aren't they...