Game Design 101 - The Good, The Bad and the Microtransactions

[Zazubat]

So since people seemed to like the first, I'll make an other Game Design 101. A few things before we start, I want to say that if you havn't checked out "Extra Credits", "The Game Overthinker" and "Jimquisition" you probably should. Also, these are about opinion on what I think is good game design, if you disagree, be sure to add your own opinion. As well as anything that I have misses that I should have talked about. Alright so let's begin.

 

So if you don't know what microtransations is, I'll explain it quickly. Basicly, it's when games (mostly free-to-play games) put in extra little things for you to buy with real life money. It's either something that can help you, or is just something fancy to show off your avatar; think of hats in Team Fortress 2. While it has been around for years, it's mostly come up recently because of games like Dead Space 3. In that game, you can purchase some sort of scrap metal or something like that, I havn't played it so I don't really know what it is, but what it does for is make it so you can create better weapons and equipment. Normally this would be fine, but it's not a free-to-play game. Well that's okay, it's for the multiplayer right? Oh wait it's for the main story? WHAT THE F.... So you see why people got upset. People don't want "Pay2Win" in their games, and while this is something a lot of MMOs and other free-to-play online games do, many don't think about it since they are simply paying for a better experience, either to show off that they got way too much money to spend, or to make it easier on themselves. If you make an online game for free, then it's fine to have this, it generates both a lot more people who want to play your game. Most people will simply think "I want more out of my game, I'll pay some to get this thing for my avatar, why not? While I'm at it, I'll grab the Super Blaster to help me out in the next dungeon." This is where the game developers do the worst thing they possibly could. They make the items horribly unbalanced, and give liberties to players who can play more to simply win the whole game. In a non-competitive game, this is fine, but this is when most people go "What's the reason? I am doing this to finish the story? Then what? I want to play this game forever, if I pay and then have nothing to use it for later, then what?" And this is something game devolopers know, and is why they don't care about balancing. It makes them less money if the actually did it, but the business doesn't work like this it seems. I hate when games do this, and it's why I don't play many MMOs anymore, and while I havn't played in years, I'm sure it's no different now considering the amount of hate Dead Space 3 is getting from microtransactions. And it's well worth the hate, the game shouldn't force you to pay for things you can simply earn by... waiting. Yes that's right, you can simply wait for your scrap metal (or what ever it is) for a while, and this little robot or something will come and give you some of that scrap metal. But isn't there a right way to make Pay2Win work? And I'll say, yes there is. I recently watched Nintendo Direct, where they talked about the new DLC (a topic I'll also touch apon at some point) for the 3DS Fire Emblem game, and it gave you an extra map or something (I know nothing about Fire Emblem, so it's probably horribly wrong what I'm about to say) that gave you both a side story and a lot of gold you could then spend in the main game. And then it sparked, Pay2Play2Win. It works, it totaly works. Giving the player an actually challange to EARN their easy win is what all games should do. And while it takes more time for both the player and devoloper, it also means that you can get away with having an "easy win button" for your game. It's something I'm sure a lot of games has done, but really it never showed it so obviously as that, it's a perfect win win. Overall, microtransactions and Pay2Win is something devolopers can easily implement, it's both beneficial for the player and the devoloper since it generates money for the devolopers, and you get to play more game. And to end off, of course share your thoughts as well, this is the whole reason for this topic.

[Zazubat]

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