And thats why i dont play F2P

[Matrix]

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaminSho ... Tricks.php

A coercive monetization model depends on the ability to “trick” a person into making a purchase with incomplete information, or by hiding that information such that while it is technically available, the brain of the consumer does not access that information. Hiding a purchase can be as simple as disguising the relationship between the action and the cost as I describe in my Systems of Control in F2P paper.

Research has shown that putting even one intermediate currency between the consumer and real money, such as a “game gem” (premium currency), makes the consumer much less adept at assessing the value of the transaction. Additional intermediary objects, what I call “layering”, makes it even harder for the brain to accurately assess the situation, especially if there is some additional stress applied.

I have always been against free to play model, mainly because of psychological hooks they can sink into the user. This post goes really into indepth on what kind of hooks , eye opening. (and also relevant to almost all other fields of sale)

[wonderpug]

Yeah, I saw this by way of PA Report. Really great article. Thank goodness there are still some developers who follow that crazy old "make fun games" business model.

[Pyperkub]

I do wonder at the f2p mmo's tho .... It'd be nice to see if there are different approaches there

tapatalk4in'

[RMC]

Good points, but really you still have to buy the middleman currency. And it's not like you don't know how much you are spending when you buy the 'premium' in game money. <shrug>

I can see how once you buy it with real money you are more apt to spend haphazardly, as it is not 'real' money anymore. But I have never just spent money on other money without a purpose for it. IE - Buying DLC for a bioware game, you have to buy bioware points or whatever. <shrug>

[LordMortis]

I went overboard with goal line blitz. I think they got about $100 out of me before I said "WTF am I doing and why?" Aside from that I've either opted out of paying for F2P games or given the token amount I think a game is worth.

I've done advertising clicking for games like the entrepreneur/stock exchange game we played last year. I've paid $5 a month subscriptions to Old West and Nile Online. I just paid $10 for pizza in the Card Hunter game. I've never felt bad about any of those costs.

Middle man currency etc doesn't bother me (though I did let it get out of hand for GLB) but I'd imagine for a child it'd be pretty easy to divorce the price of playing a game when it's paid for in "micro" transactions.

[Matrix]

Psychologically, the more layering is done , the more people will spend. It doesn't apply just to games, in coaching i found same thing. It is done differently and the amount of money is different, but core of it is same. Reason why match makers can charge so much, is usually because they can layer emotions between the logical decisions. Where our logical mind becomes so confused, that it can no longer asses proper value. In coaching its harder to do unless you use multiple advisers ( which it took me number of years to find it out, and the another few to really polish it). In many other business this tactic is used daily. What surprised me more is how sophisticated methods are, tracking all that data and being able to use real hard facts to get max monetization is far more precise than guesstimate that i had to deal in my business. I don't get access to the amount of data, and iteration that this company get on daily business. They can truly polish formula until very few people who play a lot can resist. This a tremendous article for anyone who does sales. Since a lot of concepts that games use to sell, can be applied in most sales in different ways.

[El Guapo]

Is this a moral objection to the whole scheme, or are you concerned that you yourself will fall prey to their F2P wiles?

[Daehawk]

Also a big gripe of mine. I also tend to avoid F2P a lot..in fact mostly. But Im glad I tried Rift. we still play it. It has the best F2P model I've seen. Ive not spent a thing on it but may spend a little soon. Waiting on the Steam sale to see what they have before spending money elsewhere.

But damnit Steam better hurry the F up.

[Matrix]

Is this a moral objection to the whole scheme, or are you concerned that you yourself will fall prey to their F2P wiles?

Neither, its more off, i know nothing is free, making a game is heck of not free. Selling it as free 2 play, means money will have to come from somewhere. I guess its psychological apprehension. Its mostly not wanting to waste time. I have no problem spending money on a game i like, just dont call it f2p and i will be happily paying.

[Blackhawk]

I read somewhere that ~80% of all players in F2P games never spend a dime. The money comes from the 20%. The games really are free, if you choose to play them that way. I've played probably a dozen free games over the last few years. I've only spent money on a few (Tribes, World of Tanks, and a couple of free MMOs that had a subscription option for full access - LotRO stands out.)

The way I see it is that a game is worth ~$60 new. If I can play a game and spend less than $60 over its lifetime, I'm ahead of the curve.

If it is an MMO, the traditional pricing is $60 for the game, and $15/month. If I can play it for less than that, I'm ahead of the curve. If I'm playing a 'f2p' MMO and spending less than $15 per month, I'm saving money relative to the same experience a couple of years ago.

[wonderpug]

The conversion rate for free-to-play games is actually more like 1-5%

[Blackhawk]

The conversion rate for free-to-play games is actually more like 1-5%

WTF? Don't interfere with my badly remembered facts, even if they better support the points I am attempting to make!

Geeze.

[Madmarcus]

I think of games as closer to $20-30 now because of sales but I still find f2p annoying because its not complete. I much prefer to buy a thing and be done with it.

Sent from phone

[LordMortis]

I think of games as closer to $20-30 now because of sales but I still find f2p annoying because its not complete. I much prefer to buy a thing and be done with it.

Sent from phone

Aye. F2p doesn't bother me so much but DLC and games with built in expansions that you have to pay to unlock don't make me happy. But they do make me into cheap complete game steam shopper.

I'm all about picking up six year old x game complete pack everyone raved about way back when for $2.99.

I'm not the gamer at large that companies appeal to but I would feel more inclined to scratch the "gotta have it" itch for $40 or $50 a pop at a game's release if I felt that I was getting a complete game that I really wanted to play.