Redefining MMOs: The massive money of microtransactions
by Krystalle Voecks 
Sep 11th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Economy, MMO industry, Opinion, Redefining MMOs
The honest truth is that we've been shifting more and more towards the idea of microtransactions as a culture, not just as a genre. Sure, we've always been about getting more bang for our buck - who isn't! But the fact is that there were no structures to distribute entertainment as effortlessly and cheaply as we can get it now even just a few decades ago. The proliferation of personal computers, the Internet, and other advances in technology have turned us into a society that loves to consume only what it wants, when it wants, from almost wherever we want it. Considering the overall societal shifts, it only makes sense that our favorite type of games are now going where the money is.
What are they all about?
Ultimately, there are two primary types of MMO microtransactions. There are the ones that are fluffy, extraneous, unnecessary items. These are the vanity costumes, pets, armor dyes, and things like that. Nothing in your game is really affected by these items, save perhaps for your personal visual gratification and an ever-expanding bag. Alternately, we have the stuff transactions, which are items that actually affect your game. These are mounts to get to and from, experience potions to help you level faster, on down the road to armor, weapons and more. In some games you have no option but to buy these items if you want to progress whereas in others, you are able to grind and achieve items similar to the ones you see in the cash shops
The idea is, in these types of games, to get you to part with your dollar in the name of making your experience faster, easier and more fun. Whether or not this is acceptable to you is entirely based on just where you come from, and just how used to microtransactions you've become.
Microtransactions everywhere!If you look around, you'll realize that the concept of microtransactions is actually nothing new at all - it's just new to our games. Truthfully, we see microtransactions in our daily lives, and we never stop to think about them. Want to use an ATM that isn't run by your bank? You'll spend a buck or two to save yourself a trip. Standing in line at a store and want something sweet? You're not going to buy a whole bag to satisfy a small craving. Instead, you'll drop a buck and get one candy bar. Don't agree? Let's look at some online options to illustrate the shift.
You're surfing around the Internet and someone plays a particularly catchy song. It gets wedged in your head. After spending a few days of just hitting repeat on the YouTube video with that song in it, you finally break down and decide you have to have it. So what do you do? Load up iTunes or the equivalent and buy that one song. Gone are the days when people went to the music store and bought a whole CD which was 95% crap and 5% music they actually cared about. Now we purchase content we want, or we skip it.
The same goes for Xbox, PS3, and Wii. Want a new map to play in multiplayer? Looking for a new game? Need some new tracks for Rock Band? How about a Big Daddy doll for your NXE avatar? Drop some money and you can have it right now. For a few bucks more a month, many local cable companies will let you get a DVR as opposed to just a cable box. Bang - TV on demand for just a small fee. Have an iPhone? Grab an app to help you figure out anything from dinner reservations to the detailed fonts on magazines - some free, some not.
Microtransaction vs Macrotransaction
We hear a lot about microtransactions in the market, (and a nearly equal amount of nerdrage about them) but there's also a gateway drug at work here - the macrotransaction. This is the way microtransactions are slowly becoming more palatable to the traditionalists who absolutely cannot stand the idea of RMT. (Primarily your Western markets.) Macrotransactions are the costume pack at $10, the $25 server transfers, the $30 faction changes. We drop as much on some of these transactions as we would to purchase a brand new copy of the game and simply (using World of Warcraft as the example) drag-level a new opposite faction character to level 60 by using refer-a-friend triple experience, while scoring a free month of game time for the primary account.
Of course, as it is faster to just pay the $30 and switch over, many will opt for it without batting an eyelash. Even working at a minimum wage job, $30 is what - shy of 4 hours of work? You could even argue that leveling to 60 could take longer and be infinitely less fun, depending on your point of view. That said, we'd bet that if you were to break down a $10 costume pack into .99 increments and offer it piece-by-piece, many MMO forums would light up like wildfire with outrage at the idea of microtransactions coming into their games - especially anyone who had already purchased the full pack at $10.
Generationally speaking
So really, what does it come down to? How do these ideals divide? This is still a new spin on our beloved industry, but I've got an idea based on talking to people coupled with my own nerd-on for cultural anthropology:
- Boomers & Beyond - Many are elder geeks who have played on networks where you paid for your online gaming by the hour, so a subscription is a pretty solid deal. They're not sold on microtransactions, preferring the flat-fee. None of them are really interested in rushing back into expensive bills for paying by the hour access, so they eye microtransactions warily.
- Gen-X - Gen-X was raised on Cable TV and cartoons based on merchandise. Sure, you could get free network content, but let's be honest - the subscription stuff on cable was cooler. Gen-X grew up with rental storage, rental furniture, and rental movie stores. Subscriptions are in this generation's blood, so it's not a surprise that many of this generation feel that subs are the best way to go.
- Gen-Y - There was life before the Internets?! This generation has grown up with more and more information becoming available daily - and in bite-sized easy chunks. With that said, just about everything they know has been touched by advertising. Split between worlds, they accept that free content can range from "meh" to top-notch but know they'll generally have to watch commercials to get the good stuff. That's OK with them - the commercials have always been there anyway. When they get tired of it, they just buy a subscription to something and enjoy the ad-free silence.
- Millennials - Still young, the Millennials are getting more and more top-notch content for free. How this will change the genre remains to be seen, but with games like Free Realms and services like Hulu in their entertainment space, and being raised on iTunes and Nexon Cash cards at 7-11, I've got a sneaking suspicion this next generation will expect more for less - and get it.
In the end, it all comes down to what makes that game fun for the end user. As more and more companies figure this out, more and more companies will segue into models that offer more bang for less buck. From fluff to stuff, sooner or later, every MMO you know and love will have some form of extra value-added service. Whether it remains something larger (and perhaps thereby more acceptable to you) like a server transfer, or something smaller and easier to pick up without buyer's remorse like a potion or armor dye, these transactions - both micro and macro - are here to stay.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Averice said on 9:07PM 9-11-2009
I think your last paragraph hits it spot on, it's about what people find fun.
On the opposite side of micro transactions, we constantly hear advertisements from banks or other businesses that rally against micro transactions. "Stop paying for hidden fees" is the major one I can recall at the moment. I feel that this is a stigma microtransactions are going to have to overcome before becoming completely acceptable.
Yes, people pay for iPhone apps, or small things like that. But as you know, nobody pays more money for ketchup at McDonalds. Sure, chick-fil-a has managed to charge people extra money for their sauces, 25 cents a sauce packet, but there's a breaking point where you just don't pay anymore. You don't buy a burger one slice of bread or piece of pickle at a time. And that, in my opinion, is the problem with some of the companies that are attempting to use micro transaction. You don't charge piece meal for the product, where it's unfinished without, but you can charge for frivolities.
It's about the game world as well. When some people playing your MMO can just buy the end game whatever with outside money, then it trivializes all of the rewards players are supposed to be working towards. Take gold selling companies for example. Gamers hate them for more reasons then just the spam, as do game companies, because they trivialize parts of the game itself. If you can just buy the end product with real life cash, then what's the point of the game. Micro transactions in games are a different beast then they are IRL. Macro transactions such as server transfers are different then spending money on something within the game world such as a more powerful weapon than anyone else has access to.
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Dblade said on 4:36PM 9-12-2009
Honestly, I think you should try one. I have heard so much, and believed it myself along the lines you mentioned, but when I took someone up on a dare and played one, I found it really wasn't the case. Its too indepth an argument to do in a comment box, but try a good one, and you'll see you still need a lot of effort and skill to succeed. All convience MTs do is enable people to make grinds a little easier.
Matt Mihaly said on 9:34PM 9-11-2009
Just a note: Runescape doesn't do microtransactions. They are subscription-based.
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Krystalle Voecks said on 9:54PM 9-11-2009
Ah. I was under the impression that there were some elements that were additional on top of the subscription option. Thanks for the note. I've corrected the opening to reflect something a bit more relevant to the discussion at hand.
Bob said on 7:28AM 9-12-2009
Low cost airliners with hidden fees comes to mind, and their doing great!
Noone is cheaper than Ryanair, and in the end, it will benefit the smart customers.
This article really made me reconsider this form of payment in mmo's. Just as long as it has nothing to do with gear...
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Kdolo said on 11:56PM 9-11-2009
Fuck you, Massively. Just because MMO designers are preying on impulse buyers the way CVS does with a candy bar at checkout doesn't make it some noble endeavor to save the consumer money. Since when is paying for the game, then the sub, then whatever non-gamealtering aftermarket bullshit they decide to release somehow some enlightened way of saving the consumer money? Shit, that is worse than the macrotransactions that WoW is doing, which is somehow justification for everything else. At least with WoW you're getting replayability with a character and you don't have to start from scratch. Want some new wings? Fuck you, pay me. Want a new cape? Fuck you, pay me. That's what you defend in this article, and that;s why I say fuck you, massively.
I am not pissed off, mind you, the incongruous logic just makes me insane.
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Hub said on 2:43AM 9-12-2009
A little harshly put :)) but I feel your pain in general, especially over the poor attempts at logic/sanity, but in the case of games like Second life they make good sense, but when it comes to the old questing and PvPing for levels and items games, yeah, they are beyond a bad joke.
We get into trouble when people don't define 'type' of MMO. If you buy stuff in second life all day it probably does feel natural, but when you grind all day in AoC or LotR then ... no, Kdolo summed it well :)) when it comes to item shops at least. And no one gives a toss about server change chargers and so on, no one.
It's because games are never taken seriously as a hobby I guess that this sort of crap is thinkable. I used to pay a sub to play in local amateur sports league run by a pro team, and although in no one way ever one of the serious players (although we mostly turned up each week and were even occasionally sober before the game) if we had found out that other crap teams had been able to pay to boost themselves in anyway... well.. everyone would realize in seconds that there would just be no point.
Imagine: the stadium we played in needed cash to develop so we are letting teams 'buy points' for small amounts each week if they are too busy to come play. They'd just be laughed as 99% of players walked away for good.
The subs players will keep playing subs games, live and let live, but please keep that crap away from respectable games.
Shogun said on 4:19AM 9-12-2009
@Hub
"if we had found out that other crap teams had been able to pay to boost themselves in anyway... well.. everyone would realize in seconds that there would just be no point."
Yet this happens, all the time, a team with more money can afford better kit, better coaches, and even take it to the extreme of hiring profesionals to play for them. They aren't buying points, but they can still use money to gain an advantage over other teams.
Rich said on 5:07AM 9-12-2009
Like it or not, its the way of the future for MMO's.
Hub said on 10:10AM 9-12-2009
@Shogun
I respect what you're saying, but all that money is spent within the context of the games rules. Sure you can cherry pick what players and the best coaches, but you still got to turn up on the day with a level playing field Most big league sports for the good of the game cap spending on players in various ways for the over all long term good of the game. But I guess there will never be an MMO league to stop the short termers jumping in :)
And sure it will be the future, lots of these games currently being released don't stand a hope in hell with the subs model. I doubt the market could support them all anyway. You know most players don't want this to put it mildly but then we need some other way to let people keep churning out the crap huh, no one wants to change the way they work. Doesn't mean you have to condem them ALL to f2p death do you :)).
In exchange for p*****ng off your core customers it'll keep people in jobs for a while and I guess that's what counts, we all have to make a living ;) Shame it's spoiling the very product that's meant to pay the bills. Some metaphor about laying golden eggs goes here.
The games 'industry' has always been a weird one - I never went down that road buy I went to school with people who did. The worst pay, the worst conditions, the kind of good planning that puts manufacturing to shame in it's sheer lunacy. The once well known software house that once spent money on developing a game based on... a well known sixities band, only to discover that it costs a hell of a lot to use bands IP is a good example Who would of ever thought that hey :)
It's a shame as an industry it will never get chance to grow up though, even though it has it's share of grown up players. Kind of sad but there's other hobbies I guess. It's just the blatant ... well.. Kdolo expressed it badly but very honestly there up there :) Those guys are the people who want to play an honest game for a fair fee. Is that so bad ? :)
Myria said on 12:50AM 9-12-2009
When you have to bugger the definition of "microtransaction" to mean, well, pretty much anything you need it to mean in any given paragraph, it's pretty clear you've got no point worth pursuing.
Frankly I don't get why this blog pushes "freemium" and microtransactions every chance it gets, neither shows any sign whatsoever of getting any traction at all in the west.
Well, unless you redefine "microtransaction" to mean anything and "freemium" to mean every MMO, which seems to be the general, if bizarre, tact here.
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Dblade said on 4:38AM 9-12-2009
Uh, Myria it is probably having more traction than the sub model. I don't think people realize how many F2P micro games there are out there. Massively tends to not give consistent press to them, except for a few like runes of magic. We are talking hundreds, some very good.
torak said on 1:07AM 9-12-2009
It's already a done deal. The fight against microtransactions was lost years and years ago.
We had our chance as a customer base and this is what the market picked.
The only people still arguing / disagreeing / writing about this are people who were blind to it for the last few years.
Sad but true. You can thank all your gold buying buddies (which is a large portion of the player base) for this and the success of the boat load of F2P games over the last 5 or 6 years.
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Random said on 1:24AM 9-12-2009
I do not mind microtransactions. But I hate how SOE does it. Instead of going to a online store and dropping a couple dollars on a item, you instead drop a couple dollars on a "pack of cards, with a chance at a random item".
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Krystalle Voecks said on 7:18AM 9-12-2009
That depends on the game. Free Realms is under SOE's wing and is designed to work properly with a cash shop, IMO.
mrglmrglmrgl said on 2:53AM 9-12-2009
the fun term in microtransaction games is free to play, pay to win
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CCon99 said on 5:51AM 9-12-2009
But the problem is "companies" like SOE and Cryptic think they can do both charge a monthly subscription, then on top of that sell those subscribers items that don't physically exist.
tafuub said on 6:24AM 9-12-2009
I just got two points, one doesn't SOE do this MT with a dieing MMO EQ namely? Meaning they don't care if you leave. Also didn't Cryptic get bought by another company? So ... isn't the point of it being large or in charge meaningless?
I find this article dense mentally as it's long swiping irrelevances are thrown around as if there were some connection to the genre.
MT isn't becoming more prevalent, it's only becoming a tactic of weaker SMALLER companies or initial ventures (ATARI/CYPTIC) or a penny slot machine tactic (SOE) you know the slot machines they put next to the door on your way out of the casino.
When SW:TOR and Blizzards new mmo is announced it will again be the last desperate tactic of weaker smaller companies.
Generally no one takes a PC game with MT seriously except a minority few. For instance in your many rambling of irrelevancies you fail to realize or mention that many things that tend to come for PC tend to come for free relative to many other forms of media. For instance Live! for Windows is free, compared to it's console counter part. DLC or MT products tend to also come for free for instance Mass Effect content that was at cost for again console player yet for free for PC players. It's because PC players have choices we move on to what makes sense and not what robs us.
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Krystalle Voecks said on 7:34AM 9-12-2009
SOE has a brand new game that is built entirely around microtransactions and F2P - Free Realms. It is also, by all reports, doing smashingly well for them.
That said, I did point out a larger company - Blizzard offers a macrotransaction structure here in the West, which is still part of the same general concept. The idea is to get you to continue to purchase intangibles for the game you already bought on top of the money you're already paying. This is why I also pointed out DLC. Western markets don't bat an eyelash at the larger sums, but they'll go postal (witness commentary here) when you suggest that smaller sums for only the content you want might actually be something that the market is working towards.
Also, are you aware that World of Warcraft has a completely different pay-as-you-go model in the Eastern markets? For that matter, there are more players in the Eastern markets than there are subscribers in the US or the EU? (Or, I believe at last breakdown we heard, potentially both combined?)
Also, DLC on PC is not universally free. The additional DLC for Fallout 3, as an example.
Hub said on 10:35AM 9-12-2009
Yeah, the eastern markets one is a good arguments, but then as a few Asian people (I've known in real life) have explained to me, that's more of a cultural thing, and this is not the place for that kind of thing.
And hasn't hurt Aion much. Isn't that a pay per hour thing in China. They seem to be holding up OK :) If western companies can't find investors in their games maybe we should be looking East. It's by no means all f2p, just the light weights and failures ;) (Mostly)