Currently, micro-transactions are found predominantly in casual games or "freemium" games (a portmanteau of "free" and "premium"). Developers allow players to download and play their games for free as well as offer micro-transactions for players who want premium content. If you have a smart phone, chances are, you've played a freemium game. These include Subway Surfers, Tiny Tower, Pocket Frogs, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Clash of Clans.
Now, micro-transactions have recently gotten bad press due to some games being harsh on the players unless they opened up their digital wallets. So let's talk about the do's and don't's when it comes to implementing micro-transactions into your game.
Sell convenience, not power
First, let's define what convenience and power are. Convenience is anything related to saving time. In an adventure game, these are things such as more storage or a faster way to travel the world (the former saves time because you don't have to go back and store your items first before continuing on your journey). Power is essentially anything related to affecting another player's experience in the game. In a first-person shooter game, these are things such as a powerful weapon or the ability to go invisible.
If your game revolves around players competing directly against other players, then I highly recommend you never sell power. This is because if you do, you're turning your game into a pay-to-win model. You want your game to be fair and balanced for all players. If not, players who won't pay or can't afford to spend as much will simply stop playing since they know that anything they do will just get trumped by the people who are spending big money on the game.
In casual games, selling power should be avoided like the plague since its demographic is basically everyone. Is it fair for a child with no money to go up against a business man with money to dump? Don't think so.
If your game revolves around players competing indirectly against other players (such as competing for first place on a leader board), then it's more excusable to sell power. This is because you're not affecting another player's experience in the game.
Sell comfortably, not forcibly
If you are planning to implement micro-transactions into your game, don't purposely make the game frustrating in the off-chance that the player will be forced to spend money just in order to play your game normally. The benefits of premium content should not be the dominant factor in your game.
Premium content should be seen, not heard
The access to the premium-content in your game should be presented in such a way that it's not in the player's face nor should it interfere with their experience. Once you've taught the player how to access the premium content, place it passively in the game's flow where it will be seen and not heard. By heard, I mean actively reminding the player about your premium content such as through roadblocks or pop-up windows.
Think of it like the pit stop in a race track where the pit stop is the premium content and the track is the player's experience. While the player drives around the track, the pit stop doesn't make any effort to interfere with the player's driving. It just stays on the side where it is merely visible to the player. While driving, if the player ever wants to access the pit stop, they can simply enter it the same way they've been experiencing the race, by driving into it (thus not breaking the player's flow).
Clash of Clans does this very well by incorporating the access to its premium content into its user interface.
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| Clash of Clans - "Finish Now" is incorporated into the UI flow |
Sell vanity
One thing you can sell other than convenience or power is vanity. Vanity are things such as decorative items, clothes for your avatar or new skins for your weapons. They are purely visual and players will spend money on vanity because they either want to make a statement to other players or simply customize the look of their own game. This is why some people will spend a lot of money buying expensive clothes and jewelry.
Give premium currency for free
In most games, players must first buy premium currency in order to buy premium content. If you're planning to do this, I highly suggest allowing players the ability to earn premium currency by merely investing time into your game. This will allow players to set a long term goal in your game, thus encouraging them to spend more time playing your game, and not make it seem impossible for them to obtain the premium content. This ties in with selling convenience because if the player wants the game's premium content but doesn't have the time to earn the premium currency, then they can always spend money to obtain the premium content.
Well that's it for this week. Thanks for reading and see you all next week!
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