Predatory microtransactions: Difference between revisions
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===Point 2: Manipulation=== | ===Point 2: Manipulation=== | ||
In cases where [[Games as a service|live service games]] provide free content, it often manipulates the consumer into paying into the system in some way to receive a better return on investment when playing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardy |first=Matt |date=2021 |title=PREDATORY MICROTRANSACTION REGULATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON |url=https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1242&context=scjilb |access-date=May 30, 2025 |website=South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business}}</ref> Features such as experience boosts often will hamper the default progression in order to encourage the purchase of these boosts. Battle passes often offer only poor-quality/unwanted content within the free tier,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kelley |first=Carson |date=May 6, 2025 |title=Why Some Battle Passes Offer Too Many Meaningless Items |url=https://battlepass.news/2025/05/06/why-some-battle-passes-offer-too-many-meaningless-items/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=Battle Pass News}}</ref> to encourage users to be constantly paying into the system.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Kelley |first=Carson |date=Apr 16, 2025 |title=Why Some Battle Passes Should Be Banned Under Consumer Protection Laws? |url=https://battlepass.news/2025/04/16/why-some-battle-passes-should-be-banned-under-consumer-protection-laws/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=BattlePass News}}</ref> Often, these battle passes will also encourage [[FOMO]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Hrnjicevic |first=Ismar |date=Nov 17, 2024 |title=How Battle Passes Are Ruining Multiplayer Games |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/how-battle-passes-are-ruining-multiplayer-games/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=How To Geek}}</ref> as content featured within these passes will often only be offered inside that limited time event, further encouraging the purchase of experience boosts if consumers wish to not miss out on content within the final days of the pass.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pass |first=JC |date=Nov 1, 2024 |title=Ethical Considerations and Concerns Surrounding Battle Passes |url=https://simplyputpsych.co.uk/gaming-psych/ethical-considerations-and-concerns-surrounding-battle-passes |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=Simply Put Psych}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><gallery> | In cases where [[Games as a service|live service games]] provide free content, it often manipulates the consumer into paying into the system in some way to receive a better return on investment when playing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardy |first=Matt |date=2021 |title=PREDATORY MICROTRANSACTION REGULATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON |url=https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1242&context=scjilb |access-date=May 30, 2025 |website=South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business}}</ref> Features such as experience boosts often will hamper the default progression in order to encourage the purchase of these boosts. Battle passes often offer only poor-quality/unwanted content within the free tier,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kelley |first=Carson |date=May 6, 2025 |title=Why Some Battle Passes Offer Too Many Meaningless Items |url=https://battlepass.news/2025/05/06/why-some-battle-passes-offer-too-many-meaningless-items/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=Battle Pass News}}</ref> to encourage users to be constantly paying into the system.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Kelley |first=Carson |date=Apr 16, 2025 |title=Why Some Battle Passes Should Be Banned Under Consumer Protection Laws? |url=https://battlepass.news/2025/04/16/why-some-battle-passes-should-be-banned-under-consumer-protection-laws/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=BattlePass News}}</ref> Often, these battle passes will also encourage [[FOMO]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Hrnjicevic |first=Ismar |date=Nov 17, 2024 |title=How Battle Passes Are Ruining Multiplayer Games |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/how-battle-passes-are-ruining-multiplayer-games/ |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=How To Geek}}</ref> as content featured within these passes will often only be offered inside that limited time event, further encouraging the purchase of experience boosts if consumers wish to not miss out on content within the final days of the pass.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pass |first=JC |date=Nov 1, 2024 |title=Ethical Considerations and Concerns Surrounding Battle Passes |url=https://simplyputpsych.co.uk/gaming-psych/ethical-considerations-and-concerns-surrounding-battle-passes |access-date=May 30, 2025 |work=Simply Put Psych}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> | ||
Manipulative behavior surrounding this can further be shown via services that do offer free content to be explicitly worse than anything that can be obtained financially.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=TheMisterEpic |date=May 31, 2025 |title=The Most Harmful Minecraft Server in EXISTENCE. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy04zE3t0Ow |access-date=Jun 1, 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><gallery> | |||
File:Candy Crush MTX.jpg|A Candy Crush shop screen trying to trick the consumer into buying the "better value" product | File:Candy Crush MTX.jpg|A Candy Crush shop screen trying to trick the consumer into buying the "better value" product | ||
File:Fortnite Vbucks MTX.jpg|Fortnite including "bonus" V-bucks with transactions | File:Fortnite Vbucks MTX.jpg|Fortnite including "bonus" V-bucks with transactions | ||
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===Point 3: Pay to win<!-- Include investigations into pay to win minecraft servers -->=== | ===Point 3: Pay to win<!-- Include investigations into pay to win minecraft servers -->=== | ||
In some scenarios, games will further encourage users to get an advantage over players, often leaving META-influencing content to be paywalled<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Flavio |date=Aug 2, 2023 |title=Price to pay: the damage caused by Pay to Win games. |url=https://flavio-lee.medium.com/price-to-pay-the-damage-caused-by-pay-to-win-games-74cc533bf9d8 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref> as a method to force consumers to either invest more into the product, or risk lacking an important edge within matches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why do people seem so hellbent against people using "pay to win" methods in games? |url=https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-seem-so-hellbent-against-people-using-pay-to-win-methods-in-games |access-date=May 19, 2025 |website=Quora}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lelonek-Kuleta PhD |first=Bernadeta |last2=Piotr Bartczuk PhD |first2=Rafał |last3=Wiechetek PhD |first3=Michał |date=Oct 13, 2020 |title=Pay for play – Behavioural patterns of pay-to-win gaming |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563220303393 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Science Direct}}</ref> P2W also has ties in manipulating resource progression in games,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=(Owner of Illumination Gaming) |first=Aiden |date=Jul 22, 2022 |title=How Pay-To-Win Games Ruin Player Experience |url=https://medium.com/illumination/how-pay-to-win-games-ruin-player-experience-a52b7edf5744 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref> so players may be at a competitive disadvantage in a game because a newer user purchased their way through progression, or alternatively, punishing players into grinding far more excessively as a method to encourage paying to skip progression. | In some scenarios, games will further encourage users to get an advantage over players, often leaving META-influencing content to be paywalled<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Flavio |date=Aug 2, 2023 |title=Price to pay: the damage caused by Pay to Win games. |url=https://flavio-lee.medium.com/price-to-pay-the-damage-caused-by-pay-to-win-games-74cc533bf9d8 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> as a method to force consumers to either invest more into the product, or risk lacking an important edge within matches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why do people seem so hellbent against people using "pay to win" methods in games? |url=https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-seem-so-hellbent-against-people-using-pay-to-win-methods-in-games |access-date=May 19, 2025 |website=Quora}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lelonek-Kuleta PhD |first=Bernadeta |last2=Piotr Bartczuk PhD |first2=Rafał |last3=Wiechetek PhD |first3=Michał |date=Oct 13, 2020 |title=Pay for play – Behavioural patterns of pay-to-win gaming |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563220303393 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Science Direct}}</ref> P2W also has ties in manipulating resource progression in games,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=(Owner of Illumination Gaming) |first=Aiden |date=Jul 22, 2022 |title=How Pay-To-Win Games Ruin Player Experience |url=https://medium.com/illumination/how-pay-to-win-games-ruin-player-experience-a52b7edf5744 |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Medium}}</ref> so players may be at a competitive disadvantage in a game because a newer user purchased their way through progression, or alternatively, punishing players into grinding far more excessively as a method to encourage paying to skip progression. | ||
This has especially been documented within casual mobile games, where players are often left to wait excessively on tasks to finish, or pay to have the task be completed immediately.<ref name=":0" /> Frequently, these games have also exhibited methods that give players a "free sample" of what it feels like to skip this wait time.<ref name=":0" /><!-- Will need more example images below! --> | |||
Behaviors from operators on some [[Minecraft]] servers in particular have shown attempts to exceed the baseline pay to win model,<ref name=":5" /> such as placing high-value ranks behind a large subscription. Documented from Minecadia's network, a user has to pay ~$300 for the 2nd highest rank, and then an additional ~$50 per month for the highest rank, or pay ~$850 for the 2nd and top ranks.<ref name=":5" /> Reportedly the rank is required in order to have any advantage over other players in the Factions mode.<ref name=":5" /><gallery> | |||
File:Dungeon Keeper dark pattern.webp|An example of a game (Dungeon Keeper) enticing a consumer into spending premium currency to skip waiting on a menial task. | File:Dungeon Keeper dark pattern.webp|An example of a game (Dungeon Keeper) enticing a consumer into spending premium currency to skip waiting on a menial task. | ||
File:PVZ Shop.jpg|Content in Plants Vs. Zombies 2 that makes the game easier, but with a direct paywall | File:PVZ Shop.jpg|Content in Plants Vs. Zombies 2 that makes the game easier, but with a direct paywall | ||
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A method some companies have aimed at introducing, was having content be locked behind randomness, so a consumer may get lucky and receive the cosmetic they want or worse, progression/META item that they are in need of,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Purchese |first=Robert |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=Star Wars Battlefront 2 has a loot crate problem |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/star-wars-battlefront-2-has-a-loot-crate-problem |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Robert Purchese}}</ref> but often would end up with bad luck. Often these are defined as lootboxes, however it is effectively a format of gambling,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dingman |first=Hayden |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=How loot boxes are turning full-priced PC games into pay-to-win games of chance |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/407482/loot-boxes-ruining-gaming.html |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=PCWorld}}</ref> one of which has been seen as detrimental as reports of underrage gambling addiction continue to skyrocket within these games.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fahey |first=Rob |date=13 Oct 2017 |title=Thinking outside the loot box |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/thinking-outside-the-loot-box |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Games Industry}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=W. Osborne |first=Jason |date=May 25, 2023 |title=How Loot Boxes In Children’s Video Games Encourage Gambling |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwosborne/2023/05/25/how-loot-boxes-in-childrens-video-games-encourage-gambling/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Zendle |first=David |last2=Meyer |first2=Rachel |last3=Over |first3=Harriet |date=Jun 19, 2019 |title=Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6599795/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=National Library of Medicine}}</ref> | A method some companies have aimed at introducing, was having content be locked behind randomness, so a consumer may get lucky and receive the cosmetic they want or worse, progression/META item that they are in need of,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Purchese |first=Robert |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=Star Wars Battlefront 2 has a loot crate problem |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/star-wars-battlefront-2-has-a-loot-crate-problem |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Robert Purchese}}</ref> but often would end up with bad luck. Often these are defined as lootboxes, however it is effectively a format of gambling,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dingman |first=Hayden |date=10 Oct 2017 |title=How loot boxes are turning full-priced PC games into pay-to-win games of chance |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/407482/loot-boxes-ruining-gaming.html |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=PCWorld}}</ref> one of which has been seen as detrimental as reports of underrage gambling addiction continue to skyrocket within these games.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fahey |first=Rob |date=13 Oct 2017 |title=Thinking outside the loot box |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/thinking-outside-the-loot-box |url-status=live |access-date=31 Mar 2025 |website=Games Industry}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=W. Osborne |first=Jason |date=May 25, 2023 |title=How Loot Boxes In Children’s Video Games Encourage Gambling |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwosborne/2023/05/25/how-loot-boxes-in-childrens-video-games-encourage-gambling/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Zendle |first=David |last2=Meyer |first2=Rachel |last3=Over |first3=Harriet |date=Jun 19, 2019 |title=Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6599795/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=National Library of Medicine}}</ref> | ||
The frequency of these lootboxes has been seen to be relatively higher on games marketed towards minors, such as ''[[Minecraft]]'' (more specifically community-run servers) or ''[[Roblox]]'', only further representing the ethical issues behind lootboxes.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Young People & Gambling in Gaming |url=https://ineqe.com/2022/04/01/gambling-in-gaming/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Ineqe Safeguarding Group}}</ref><!-- Can someone help me find the publication date on this one? --><ref name=":2" /><gallery> | The frequency of these lootboxes has been seen to be relatively higher on games marketed towards minors, such as ''[[Minecraft]]''<ref name=":5" /> (more specifically community-run servers) or ''[[Roblox]]'', only further representing the ethical issues behind lootboxes.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Young People & Gambling in Gaming |url=https://ineqe.com/2022/04/01/gambling-in-gaming/ |access-date=May 19, 2025 |work=Ineqe Safeguarding Group}}</ref><!-- Can someone help me find the publication date on this one? --><ref name=":2" /><gallery> | ||
File:Overwatch loot box gambling mtx.jpg|The primary way to purchase content in Overwatch is via lootboxes, which have an unknown pool of rewards when the user purchases it | File:Overwatch loot box gambling mtx.jpg|The primary way to purchase content in Overwatch is via lootboxes, which have an unknown pool of rewards when the user purchases it | ||
File:Overwatch loot box gambling rewards.jpg|An example of these loot box rewards from Overwatch, many of which are exclusive to these loot boxes. | File:Overwatch loot box gambling rewards.jpg|An example of these loot box rewards from Overwatch, many of which are exclusive to these loot boxes. | ||