The Many Faces of Microtransactions

The Many Faces of Microtransactions By Allan Though a grizzled, old veteran donning war-torn robes and a gnarled staff in the MMOG scene, Allan is more like a level 5 squire in a simple tunic wielding a tin blade when it comes to the realm of writing articles. Nevertheless, he is here to train his typing fingers and bring you news and interesting perspectives on things you might not have known you even cared about.

Scamming, cheating, pay-to-win (P2W), E-bay'ers, companies favoring the rich – we've all heard it before. For some reason there has always been this negative stigma tied to microtransactions and sometimes carries over to effect the reputation of the company doing them. And for good reason. But first up, a definition.

A microtransaction is an object, status, or an experience increase mechanism that is offered to players for a small monetary amount. In other words, it's something in the game that a player can pay for to obtain, excluding the initial retail price or subscription fees.

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There's a very good chance a game that you're playing now (especially if it's an MMOG) includes these sorts of deals. With that sprouts a group of groaners that typically express their apprehension for it openly. When you think about it they do have a point; microtransactions are small amounts of money but they quickly add up - sometimes unbeknownst to the buyer.

But most of all, microtransactions can easily be abused on items otherwise believed should be accessible and free to players. Even if companies skirt around this misuse by nickel and diming cosmetic features in their game, inevitably they gradually reach the point where the best gear from dungeon X can also be obtained through your credit card number. This has happened almost always with past MMOG's, and players fear that it's a common trend subsequent ones are doomed to follow.

Not all aspects of microtransactions are bad, though. It may come as a surprise, but there is a good and bad separation to this ordeal, almost as plain as black and white.

Good Microtransactions

Contrary to popular belief, microtransactions aren't always a sign of the greedy side to a company. They're not always intended to peddle money out of their loyal players. So what exactly is a good example of a microtransaction?

One is the more obvious cosmetic approach. These are items or statuses within the game that merely serve an aesthetic purpose. They can be anything from an awesome-looking fiery steed to a little puppy that follows you around wherever you go, or heck, even a new color scheme for your robe that tailor crafted you the other day. In case you're missing the trend here, most of the items really do nothing to upgrade your character. Well, I suppose the only stats these things would carry are +1 to in-game coolness.

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Another more subtle form of microtransactions almost acts as a sort of "sin tax." You know how the government realizes people know drinking is fun, but they don't want it to get out of hand? The same thing applies to MMOGs charging for their various utilities. The best example can be summarized with Blizzard charging for server transfers, sex changes, and even name changes in World of Warcraft. Many people have wanted such options at their disposal, but Blizzard doesn't want to let that get out of hand. Just imagine how many ninjas that would spawn, or having to deal with your good friend changing their character's sex faster than a forty-year-old ex-model reaches for their bottle of Botox. You see, the fee actually is supposed to act as a deterrent. Changing servers shouldn't be available on demand except for those rare occasions you deem necessary (such as trying to relocate to some friends). And sure, someone with a lot of money could still abuse this system. But the price is reasonable enough to ensure the phrase – well, you know how it goes with a fool and their money.

Mini-expansions could also be thrown into this category. Additional yet significant content that is added into the game could be reasonably charged to players wishing to explore them. The popular term for this, "DLC" (or downloadable content), typically falls under that category. One has to pay 10-15 USD to open up a new set of dungeons or quests but of course this is purely optional. And that's not some map pack that offers 10-15 levels, some of them rehashed from a previous installment of the series (but we'll get to that in a little).

All three of these (and yes, I may have missed some other good examples) forms of microtransactions are actually rather fair to the gamer. So what do I mean exactly by good? Well, to sum it all up: the player can indefinitely enjoy the game without touching a single one of these aforementioned microtransactions and without feeling undermined by the players that do, to a certain extent. That means they don't feel disparaged by players around them that may partake in such offers by the company. Whew! Now after that mouthful, let's take a look at the trouble with this here bad types.