Monetization in games has changed quite a bit over the years – and over time. The reasons are multi-fold – games changed a lot, game formats changed, the devices you consume these games on. Specifically on mobile devices, how long and often you play, changed, too. And clearly with the internet everywhere, paying and payment methods got more flexible, ubiquitous and mostly digital.
In the early days, I can only remember two ways of how games where sold. Either you paid for the game upfront, paid the full price and used it, or got the game in some form of shareware, which in general was a “limited” version of your game, free to be copied. If you liked the game, you either had to register and purchase the full version, to overcome the limitations. These limitations could be nagging messages and the game closing after 30 minutes, the game stopping entirely after 30 days, or you could only play certain levels (which would technically make it a trial) or the game didn’t have all of the features, limiting your joy.
Later, if the developers had additional content for you or the game was expanded with new gameplay, story and content, you could buy an expansion pack, to prolong your gameplay joy.
There’s one monetization model that I understand fairly well – it’s the subscription model, usually tied to an online game, and the payment you make is for the online experience of the game, to pay for server infrastructure, online experiences, and to a certain degree also the development of game, and further development of new gameplay. For as long as that’s transparent and there’s no additional, hidden in-game cost, that makes sense.
But there’s more ways of distributing, yet monetizing a game now. I am not a very big fan of most of them, to be honest. The problem I see with most of them is: the cost is not necessarily transparent, I am not sure what I am getting or it’s unclear how my joy I will gain from that payment, and I am not paying for the game any more, but either for smaller items or transactions that unlock small pieces or progress in the game, but it’s unclear how far that will take or last me.
Let’s take “freemium” games. The idea is that the game is basically free, but you will be stopped throughout your gameplay experience or hindered to make (good) progress, and there’s a paywall for an item, or make additional moves beyond a daily limit, or progress faster. You could theoretically play the game without paying, but the game itself, after a short while, will be painful and no longer enjoyable, or you have an absolute competitive disadvantage over other players online, if you choose to not pay. What angers me, is the fact that you don’t know the cost and how annoying the paywalls will be, upfront. Technically, it’s a “convenience” feature or competitive advantage you buy, but really, you pay for being able to progress sensibly, because the game is designed to make you miserable after a while without paying – at a time when you’re already invested. You’ll lose time and energy trying a game that shortly after, will annoy you.
A slight variant for “freemium” could also be: you get to play the game, but every x minutes or every time you perform action Y in the game, there’s a commercial or ad displayed that stops you from playing for 30 seconds, before you can click it away.
Another example, somewhat similar, are in-game micro purchases or DLCs. The danger in these is that the game is designed such a way that I – sooner or later – must make a purchase to continue to enjoy the game. Once that happened, a lot of times it’s not very transparent how long it takes until the next transaction is due – or if a different type of transaction is required, to make me continue. Some games require regular purchases for new weapons, as otherwise the end boss can’t be beaten. What bugs me is that there’s a price for me to continue the game, but it’s unclear what I am getting for that price, in terms of more joy, more gameplay.
It should be a fair transaction and I should be able to understand, know, and learn upfront and deterministically through multiple purchases, how much purchase X or transaction Y will give me, in terms of additional gameplay or additional joy. If you design a game that forces me to get stuck after a while, and the only real chance of letting me progress is buy an item for $5, let me at least understand how long that purchase will last me – don’t fool me by letting me progress, just to make my gameplay experience miserable in a different way (to force another purchase) or let me be stuck 10 minutes later. That’s just intransparent and unethical business methods.
So for me, still, the most honest forms of game monetization are:
- Let me purchase the game, full price, I get what I pay.
- If there’s an online component optionally, fine, charge me for that, too, if I choose to use it.
- If there’s additional content, new story, new gameplay, sell me that DLC or expansion pack for a full price.
- And let me get access to it, in full.
- And let me know what it is that DLC contains.
Be transparent in what I am getting. Let me understand how far the purchase I am about to make, will enrich my gameplay experience or prolong my joy with your game. There’s still a chance I will not like your last DLC, but at least you told me what its content was, and I may be able to find out from the internet that other players lasted 10 additional hours with it.
I have purchased a lot of games in the past. I have purchased a lot of expansion packs for games. I have purchased a number of DLCs for games in the past – where “DLC” was defined as: “hey, we have new content, new items, now gameplay for you, if you want to continue to story, you’ll get this, and that, and that, for that price.” Transparent.
I play games mostly to relax, and to have fun. Not to kill time – I have enough hobbies to NOT have to kill time. If I can’t trust your game, I can’t trust you. How would I be able to relax and enjoy a good time?
FRICKELSOFT 