136
votes
Accepted
Should I worry about Youtube Let's Plays when I'm creating a story-heavy game?
Yes, you should care about Let's Players. In fact, you should make your game as appealing to them as possible. Reach out to them and encourage them to play your game.
Let's Players have become one of ...
- 118k
91
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
This is my own personal opinon on the subject, and some other people may dislike microtransactions for other reasons, but hopefully this will give you a first element of answer.
I personally dislike ...
- 793
55
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Back in the day when apps were $1-$2 (or the occasional $5 or so for something above and beyond or very specialized) I bought quite a lot of apps. Buying an app and then having full control over the ...
- 541
44
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
People hate scams and price increases, and have been taught to associate micro-transactions with both.
In some cases, especially most of the early cases, micro-transactions were used for illegal ...
- 9,955
27
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I would go a bit further than what Eldy said (+1) and quote this additional bit from a Rolling Stone article on the matter:
A free-to-play game does not sell its in-game currency or items; it doesn’...
- 421
27
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Because it’s nickle-‘n-diming, nothing else.
Just imagine you go to Disney, and pay 20$ to get in the park, and while you walk along, every some yards there is a turnstyle, where you need to pay ...
- 349
22
votes
Should I worry about Youtube Let's Plays when I'm creating a story-heavy game?
I had a similar experience to the one you describe with some other game I will not mention, and ended up thinking about it in similar terms as you do.
As Bálint says, it is a double edged sword. Yet ...
- 25.2k
18
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Players don't care about the economics of game production cost. I spent all my Saturdays and some Sundays for 6 months to make one of my games. A friend, when presented with having to pay $3 for it, ...
Almo♦
- 6,678
14
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
As a hobby game designer, I have an especially deep hatred for microtransaction for a reason that I think many players also understand instinctively:
If your game has microtransactions as its ...
- 1,274
14
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
The cost is not entirely known up-front
Let's compare against two other monetization models;
Players are all too happy to shell out $60 for a triple-A title that has decent reviews - because they ...
- 271
12
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
It's not the microtransactions per se that are hated.
It's the hate-able game designs and the way the sale items are designed, which happen to use microtransactions.
For example:
Microtransactions ...
- 725
11
votes
Accepted
Revenue model for an open-source multiplayer game
How much do you believe in the open source idea? When you are not 100% committed to the free software philosophy, then there are some interesting variants:
Release the client under an open source ...
- 118k
10
votes
How can I implement a "disable ads" purchase in my game?
If you're not using Google Play's tools as in Josh's answer (although, I recommend you do use those tools). You'd have to manage this information yourself.
You would want to avoid storing something ...
- 73.2k
9
votes
What makes MMOs with real-money economies legal?
When you allow players to not just pay you money but also get out money, your game can easily fulfill the definitions of both banking and gambling which are both heavily regulated in many ...
- 118k
9
votes
What makes MMOs with real-money economies legal?
My question is why are there not more games which take this approach
of a game economy tied directly to real money?
I think the answer lies in what a game is. To most people, a game is something ...
- 9,955
9
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I think fundimentally it is because it is a business model which no longer emphasises making the best possible game (or even the best game with the limited available budget). Look at these businesses ...
- 634
9
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
Microtransactions are not universally hated
Having a game or aspects of an otherwise fun game altered invasively simply to sell more microtransactions is what is universally hated.
I think a list of ...
- 279
9
votes
Fair monetization of a MMO with a simulated economy
How can I monetize this game?
Traditionally, there are four methods to monetize an MMO:
Buy the game, play forever. In this model you will get a lot of capital on release, but then you won't have a ...
- 118k
6
votes
Should I worry about Youtube Let's Plays when I'm creating a story-heavy game?
Youtube let's plays are double edged swords. On one hand there's the probability, that you'll lose potential players, but there's also the probability, that you'll gain new ones, especially if you're ...
- 14.8k
5
votes
What makes MMOs with real-money economies legal?
Note that Diablo 3 had the real-money auction house. (before it was removed)
How it worked: Players could purchase in-game digital items from other players using real money. There was a similar, but ...
- 438
5
votes
Accepted
What are pros & cons of naming in game currency a standard name vs a gimmick?
One problem with using sheep or potatoes as your currency is that it is a bit unintuitive for the player. They might be unsure that this resource is really used only as a currency and doesn't fulfill ...
- 118k
4
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
The biggest problem with micro-transactions is that they are, in general but also in some very prominent examples (which people remember well), deceptive, fraudulent, abusive, and explicitly designed ...
- 1,374
4
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
We have to differentiate between micro-transactions which buy content, from those which buy consumables.
In the beginning, micro-transactions were not only cheap (around $1 or not much more), but ...
- 190
4
votes
Accepted
Is Patreon a viable way to implement a subscription-based monetization strategy?
After further digging into Patreon material, I found a blog post from them that answers my question. It puts subscription as one of the one of the business models one can use the platform for.
6. ...
4
votes
What are the alternative play to earn systems out there except NFT/Crypto?
Alternatives to "play to earn"
There are plenty of monetization systems. They include:
Selling licenses to the game (i.e. selling digital copies).
Selling time limited subscriptions (...
- 25.2k
3
votes
Accepted
Mobile Game: Google Play no supported dev country and capitalization alternatives (no policies violation or suspicious behavior)?
If your country is marked red crossed in merchant account then you are not allowed to do any kind of direct bank transaction. Example: In-app purchase of any kind, sell premium app, Ad remove purchase ...
- 2,043
2
votes
Is localisation important for a mobile game with little text?
It is not important if all the text is just standard video-game english words like 'Play', 'Levels', etc.
1) The stores themselves don't care at all, at least not Google Play which is the only one I ...
- 121
2
votes
Why are microtransactions more or less universally hated?
I can offer two reasons. One is that old style gamers such as myself just prefer to play the game without having to pay extra to get the content. I would prefer to unlock content by player.
The ...
- 1,407
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