browser games

[Harsha..]

This is a simple question, really - what promotes people to spend real cash on browser games? - the money goes into buying an object that exists digitally, which ought make it more worthless than a piece of paper.

Yet, i've seen people - big old people spend dozens of euros into buying game stuff. Some of them have two full-time jobs, but they don't come online to relax, rather to play seriously - acting like they are still in office. Why is this the case?

 

[DeletedUser]

Because human beings are naturally competitive. It's no different from spending $1,000 on a driver to add a couple yards to your drive or any other high end sporting goods which offer a very small improvement over their cheaper counterparts. Someone who spends that kind of money is probably also more likely to wrap that driver around a tree because they take their game more seriously than someone who just wants to have fun.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Well I play a certain tank based online game and have spent some RL money (around £5 I think?) on in game gold in order to buy certain items such as cam paint etc.
Now the way I see it is that I haven't paid any money to play/download this this game as its "Free to Play" and so by spending some RL money for in game money is no different than if i was to walk into a shop and buy it off of the shelf.
Admittedly I am only talking of a few quid here not several thousand for a magic sword in WoW.

 

[Harsha..]

yeah, humans are competitive - which one would you say will help the greater good of the species - the competitive kind or the fun loving variety?

btw, what's a driver?

Now the way I see it is that I haven't paid any money to play/download this this game as its "Free to Play" and so by spending some RL money for in game money is no different than if i was to walk into a shop and buy it off of the shelf.

your statement has some truth to it - but the fact is that the games were offered "free of cost" in the first place. Spending money was optional - it's like a line in the ground, once you cross it, you're over with no going back. Its inevitable that you'll spend more

 

[DeletedUser28032]

hmm some games yes other games not so much. The one I am in you could play without ever paying a penny and not be any worse off for it, Spending real money won't make you instantly unbeatable though it might give you a slight edge. its all down to choice really and as i said i've spent more money on games i've bought from the shops that i've played less than this free to play MMO.

btw, what's a driver?

It a type of golf club and thats as about as much as I know

 

[DeletedUser]

I see no difference in paying for premium on an online game and buying a game cd and playing it on the computer. You pay to play, pay for entertainment. People pay a lot of money on entertainment every day. This is just one way.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

btw, what's a driver?
your statement has some truth to it - but the fact is that the games were offered "free of cost" in the first place. Spending money was optional - it's like a line in the ground, once you cross it, you're over with no going back. Its inevitable that you'll spend more

Firstly, a driver is a type of golf club used to primarily hit the golf ball off the tee and down the green (it is called the driver as when you hit the ball really hard down the green that is known as driving it down the green (I think))

Secondly, Just because you spend a fiver to get a cool sword doesn't mean you're now going to spend all your money on that game. It was just once and anyone with any form of willpower and self restraint wouldn't do that.

Also, no games are offered as "Free of cost" They are offered as "Free to Play". The difference between the two statements is that "Free of cost" means that you can get everything and do everything and spend not a dime in the process, or you can't even spend a dime (unless you spend money on a botting program, but let's not go there.) whereas "Free to Play" should generally come with an add-on bit behind it "But you can pay to play better"

 

[DeletedUser]

You could also ask why people pay for music when they could just download it for free. You can download it for free and enjoy the music, or you can pay for it like you're supposed to and support the artist.

 

[nashy19]

I see no difference in paying for premium on an online game and buying a game cd and playing it on the computer. You pay to play, pay for entertainment. People pay a lot of money on entertainment every day. This is just one way.

I think the question should be why people find it entertaining. If you're not paying for the standard sort of package most serious players can afford, you're spending money to give yourself a competitive advantage over other players, you could already play the game before. I prefer playing games which aren't really affected by outside wealth, so it's based on skill, I wouldn't enjoy winning if I knew I'd paid for it.

Obviously there's other reasons, you could buy extra features which are genuinely entertaining, or spend it on aesthetics (I would spend money on aesthetics).

 

[DeletedUser31931]

You could also ask why people pay for music when they could just download it for free. You can download it for free and enjoy the music, or you can pay for it like you're supposed to and support the artist.

Yeah but that's different. In this case the artist has offered their product for free (with some ads before every song and at the side of it probably if it's in browser) but you can unlocked additional endings to the songs and a remix of them if you pay a bit more. In that case it's up to the consumer isn't it?

 

[DeletedUser]

Oh it's very different, because it's not a federal crime to not use premium for a free browser game and paying for music rarely gives any benefit besides avoiding costly fines, but it's still the consumer's choice to support or not support whoever created either of them.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

In this case the artist has offered their product for free (with some ads before every song and at the side of it probably if it's in browser)

You can its called Spotify, you can either sign up for free and listen to the music via a stream with adverts sprinkled in amongst the tracks or you can pay something like £10 a month which as well as getting rid of the adverts gives you a few other perks. In this case though the artist will get the money regardless of whether its via advertising or subscription where as your browser game is pretty much reliant on people buying "Gold" in short if nobody buys the gold then your game won't last very long

 

[nashy19]

There's business models like memberships that don't affect the fairness of the gameplay so much.

 

[DeletedUser]

And there are others in which everyone pays and no one gets any extra advantage, besides buying items or accounts on eBay or elsewhere. I don't think that one is really feasible for a browser game because there are many more free browser games than free client games.

 

[nashy19]

I don't think you could make people pay for a browsers game before at least giving a demo first, usually a limited part of the game that's free. I think not being a typical pay-to-win browser game can be a huge selling point, especially if it's a decent quality game. People do have to trust the game company not to sell-out though, taking a very popular game and monetising it like that can be very profitable in the short term for investors, but they kill the games.

 

[DeletedUser]

We spend money for entertainment. What form that entertainment takes is irrelevant, as long as we're entertained.

 

[DeletedUser]

I've been so ornery lately that people are starting to call me Hellstromm, so I decided it was time to come back to D&D to let off some steam. There just doesn't seem to be anything to argue with!

I'll just say that paying for premium here is like going to see a movie in a (non-budget) theater at night. You can wait for the movie to go to the cheap places, and/or go to a matinee, or you can pay more to see what you want to see as soon as it's available. Likewise, you can work your way up through all the levels over time, work constantly (in game) to buy all the things you want, etc., or you can pay for premium and reach your goals much sooner. I think it just depends on what's more important to you.

 

[Harsha..]

good point - so, does the fact that more people buy premium reflect on how impatient they are to reach their goals? - my feeling is that this reflects on the whole modern world. People are less willing to wait, they will do anything to get the rewards fast. The hard-working section - the working class, which works, with future rewards in mind is being replaced by rash, spectacle-seeking guys

My feeling is that premium can be counter-productive to a game, as people will get the rewards early, then are left with nothing else to do. For example, someone who already has the golden gun, done all quests, got all shinnies is more likely to quit from boredom than a guy who's half-way there

A good analogy, albert a fast-paced one lies in when we hack flash games. Say, you manage to get 100000000 coins on Subway surfers and buy everything you ever desired. Chances are that you'll quit within a few days