I love Microtransaction Games - Am I Mad?

And are you? As more and more games move towards have in-app purchases and other ways of getting you to buy bits of it, do you love or hate Microtransactions, and why? Does it improve Team Fortress 2, Eve Online etc. and make them available to more people, or is it a pain in the ass? Have you played anything on the iPhone 'cos it was free and have you then gone onto pay for stuff later?

Speaking for myself, I do like this model and play games like Smurfs Village, Temple Run etc. all the time - as long as the game doesn't too demanding and constantly moaning at you to feed it money (like a lot of Zynga titles do). But even then, I wonder if a game that's fiercely capitalistic (eg. Monopoly-like games) would actually have an enhanced atmosphere by being moneygrabbing? Hmmm...

edited 2nd Apr '12 11:05:32 PM by betaalpha

Cheers for resolving my incorrect title issue Best Of!

edited 3rd Apr '12 12:21:20 PM by betaalpha

To be fair, the microtransaction model does have the potential to draw more people in, especially when they can pay for little things and still get a nice permanent bonus for buying something (Team Fortress 2 has the Mann Co. Hat and the Proof Of Purchase that you get for buying stuff for the first time, along with free items with every X items bought, apparently. And Tribes: Ascend offers a permanent VIP status that grants a 50% XP boost that you attain for buying just one thing from the store).

edited 2nd Apr '12 10:58:21 PM by RocketDude

^^Ask mods to change it. With holster button.

"Holster"?

^I have flu and I was tired when I wrote that, shoot me

But how?

Figuratively speaking

you must obviously shoot him with the holster.

But in all seriousness, I've only ever stayed free with free games. Free Sudoku, free Air Traffic control, etc.

I avoid multiplayer games as much as I can, too.

Thread title changed. You're welcome.

Also I think I got confused because send message to mods button has "javascript:object('holler10').submit();" as text in lower right corner when mouse is over it

Eh, as soon as the game gives a huge and otherwise unattainable boost via transactions, I'm out. I don't mind something like the ME 3 multiplayer model where if you can't be bothered grinding RNG for the best equipment you can take your chances by buying a few packs instead.

It looks like it has potential, but a lot of games get it wrong by punishing players who don't constantly purchase new stuff or making the game's economy entirely reliant upon purchasing the better stuff through real cash (Chinese MM Os easily the worst offenders of that style).

They should be trying to follow models closer to TF 2, where it usually just gives you fun, but ultimately secondary items or aesthetic items, or making the starting equipment the strongest/most well rounded.

Not a fan. I stopped playing TF 2 because of the cash shop bullshit. It was a fine game at release, all the additions felt very unnessecary. Adding to something good does not always constitute improvement.

Thing is, it's all optional - you don't need any of that stuff to survive online because the basic gear they give you is plenty enough to get the job done. All the DLC stuff does is give you extra options to play with online, and doesn't exclude anything critical.

That would have been fine.

If not for the fact that you are not guaranteed to get the weapons/items you want in normal gameplay.

Want the Fists of Steel? You gotta hope to get lucky.

All they needed to do was to tie the weapons into achievements, but nooo...

Microtransactions are a solid payment model. Assuming the game is free. I'm not paying sixty bucks for a game or fifteen bucks a month for a game and then wasting money at the cash shop.

I like'em cause you can safely ignore what you don't want.

edited 3rd Apr '12 7:20:46 AM by ShirowShirow

The microtransaction system isn't bad in theory, if the game is free. When the game forcefully makes you pay for crap every two minutes, even though it's free, that's when we have a problem.

That is, unless is one of those Face Book games like Farm Ville or anything like that. In that case, it's absolutely evil.

I really prefer microtransactions to the subscription based model.

Considering that it's possible to get everything I need for free.

No you're not mad. I love the F 2 P (with micro-transactions) business model due to the more flexibility involved. Plus, with extra time and effort, I can get more items :) Though, the developers have to be careful not to make it Pay-to-win. I would say that DDO, LOTRO, and STO do a good job of implementing the F 2 P-model.

Though, be careful where you announce it. The debates raging on the merits and evils of F 2 P versus P 2 P can get very volatile. Just look at the comments of Massively for instance.

edited 3rd Apr '12 11:10:01 AM by Delvarian

I have ~75% of TF2 weapons purely from drops after ~60 hours of gameplay, and I still mostly use the defaults (because I don't allow myself to use unlocks until I stop sucking with defaults). I don't really understand the allegations toward having to get "lucky". Just play the game; unlike a little less than all F2P games, TF2 doesn't feel like a chore. Worst case scenario, you'd have to find someone to trade with for what you need - one man's junk is another man's treasure.

edited 3rd Apr '12 12:07:43 PM by Litis

I'm of the opinion that it's a perfectly fine business model, but Sturgeon's Law applies very strongly.

The yardstick I use is this: If I still have fun playing your game even without spending a single penny, then your microtransaction implementation is perfectly fine, and usually better than a typical subscription model. For MMOs, I thought Kingdom Of Loathing and Puzzle Pirates were both great examples of microtransaction systems done well. Even though I eventually got bored of both, it was for reasons completely unrelated to the microtransaction systems.

But the problem is that too many developers turn this model into (as Aasif Mandvi said on The Daily Show) "These games are free... until you want them to not suck." Those games I will avoid like the plague. And they're everywhere. For the most part, digital distribution making games dirt cheap to publish is a gigantic blessing, but here it allows incompetent developers to not go bankrupt and continue diluting places like Facebook and the iOS App Store with crappy games.

Yes you are.  Unique opinions are not allowed: you must conform to the nerd hive-mind.  Please report to your nearest facility for re-education.

I like "free to play, pay if you want bonus stuff". Because they're free. And generally of better quality than free stuff with no source of income at all. Basically, other people with more disposable income are subsidizing my enjoyment?