The Hidden Evil of the Microtransaction

An anonymous reader tips an opinion piece at #AltDevBlogADay written by Claire Blackshaw, lead designer at Jagex Games Studio, about where companies go wrong with microtransactions. While microtransactions aren't inherently evil, she says, they're often misused by marketing folks to the detriment of everyone. She encourages game developers to fight back. Quoting: "The problem with all this is this it is an ambiguous, grey area. The real kicker is that grey areas are always green-lit by greed. In the interest of a 'little more,' so much wrong has been done. So many ideas ruined, communities broken, and teams overstretched by wanting that little bit more. The old sustainable farming arguments come into play here. The massive problem is that you as the Games Designer or other development members do not always have the final say, but you can still fight your corner. You can build your arguments and try to provide some strong research and data to help your money people see the long term view."

Wrong M-word.

[jthill]

they're often misused by marketing folks to the detriment of everyone

Bill Hicks, God rest your soul.

You mean the entirety of the concept?

[rebelwarlock]

I would argue that microtransactions are completely and utterly evil by their very definition. There is no "gone wrong" or "abuse" when it comes to microtransactions, because the sole purpose, the driving force behind them, is to deceitfully make large amounts of money. People are inherently bad at understanding how much money they're spending, particularly if it is done in small amounts. In fact, people will treat a five dollar bill differently than five one dollar bills. You buy an energy refill here and a potion there and all of a sudden you've spent $100 on that facebook game and have no idea what happened. That's exactly what they want.

Re:My only problem...

[Mad Merlin]

I think the bigger problem with microtransactions is that games that utilize them have a strong tendency of virtually everything revolving around microtransactions to the point where it's completely impossible to play without buying something every 5 seconds. I hate the concept of buying your way through a game, I mean, what's the point? Sure, I could actually try and enjoy this game, or I could dump $100 into it stretched over a few weeks so I can spend less time playing it. But aren't games supposed to be enjoyable? Spending less time playing them seems to defeat the purpose.

Personally, I think if a game offers something something in exchange for real money (aside from possibly the game itself), it should not affect gameplay itself. Maybe someone really wants a slightly different looking avatar, and if they want to pay a few dollars for it, so be it, it doesn't hinder anyone else's enjoyment of the game. Regardless, that's why you won't find any microtransactions (or macrotransactions, for that matter) in Game! [wittyrpg.com], as it focuses on being fun to play, apparently a novel concept these days.

Wait, what?

[quietwalker]

I like to think of myself as someone literate, but I couldn't parse everything in the linked article.

All I know is that it had nothing to do with microtransactions, appeared to contain PHB-style solutions to problems that are no help at all (note, heavy rephrasing to make it sensible):
          Problem: Someone wants the game to make money and it may impact core gameplay.
          Solution: innovate, engage mindshare, customer focus.

          Problem: Someone wants the the non-core gameplay elements to make money
          Solution: Long tail opportunity, self-leadership, consensus-building ... and so on.

(Buzzwords were chosen because their nebulous nature seems to exactly nail the writing style, as though the article may have been put together by an auto-generator.)

Those aren't answers. Those are just concepts, and not well defined or even directly relevant ones at that. It's like having a business plan that just says "succeed". How do you fix the evil of a game that's meant to make money? Have a CEO that will stand up for you. Oh, gee, that helps. I'll get right on that.

This article appears to be entirely without value.

If you as a developer want to influence anything in your product, you'll want to start by working on your communication skills, especially when targeting other developers. This wouldn't even pass muster with PHBs.

Re:You mean the entirety of the concept?

[mcvos]

I don't think microtransactions are inherently evil. They're often badly used, but in the end, it's just a tool. Like cash. Are cash transactions evil, because when you go out and spend the occasional $2 for a beer, at the end of the night it turns out you wasted $100 on stuff that just goes down the toilet?

Yes, people are foolish with money. Does that mean that more granular control over your expenses is a bad thing? It opens new opportunities. Some bad, some good.