Surviving the Microtransapocalypse

If 2009 is to be remembered for one specific thing in the MMORPG history books, other than Fallen Earth’s greatness, it will probably be called the year when the microtransactions floodgates finally broke and swept into the “mainstream” of MMOs.  Sure, we’ve had microtransactions before, and I’m not going to get bogged down in semantics over what constitutes a microtransaction or not (such as purchasing a collector’s edition that has a special item vs. the regular edition) — I just want to note that it seems that we’ve passed some sort of point of no return in 2009, and it’s going to be Microtransaction City from here on out.

Turbine’s putting a lot of faith in these things, with DDO’s switch to “free to play + microtransactions” and their LOTRO expansion with micro-dealies attached to it.  Cryptic is so infatuated with them that it gets creepy when you see the two of them in the room together and there’s lots of inappropriate touching going on.  Runes of Magic, Wizard101, anything SOE, and even World of Warcraft — they know that we’ll pony up additional cash for extra niceities, and that means that there isn’t a power in the universe that’s going to stop them now.  In fact, it’s probably going to get worse from here on out.

I’ve waffled on microtransactions in the past, both liking and disliking them depending on the day and situation.  It’s hard to take a firm stance for or against them, because it tends to make hypocrites out of us when we’re not looking.  The bottom line here is: are microtransactions going to benefit the players more, grow their games (and the overall MMORPG genre), and increase the quality of our gameplay?  Or are they turning our game worlds into web sites, with 60% real content and 40% annoying ads for services?  Here’s how I see the division:

The Good of Microtransactions:

• We’re much more accepting of microtransactions in almost every facet of our society and economy these days — the iTunes app and music store is a clear example of this.  It makes sense that our games would begin to include these as well, as they’re a successfully proven business model.
• Microtransactions are, in several cases, helping to run otherwise free to play MMOs — and “free” is always a good thing for players, even if they are are on the receiving end of a microtransaction sell every so often.
• They allow players to purchase upgrades, items and services that MMOs might not the compulsion to include before that point.  In other words, the high demand for these things was identified by the company and provided accordingly.
• Many microtransactions, such as non-combat pets or additional character slots, do not give you an advantage over a player who doesn’t purchase them.  Additionally, other purchases that do give you an advantage (like an XP bump for X hours) aren’t that significant in the long run.
• Microtransactions allow you to buy the features and content that you want, instead of a lump fee for all of the content, even stuff you won’t ever use.
• You aren’t forced to buy these things, and shouldn’t ever *have* to, unless it’s a free game that uses such transactions to unlock further content.

The Bad of Microtransactions

• Double-Dipping: many players, myself included, feel as though we’re being taken to the cleaners when a company tops a subscription-based game with additional microtransactions.
• Any microtransaction that gives an in-game advantage over a player who doesn’t (or can’t) pay for them will always be negatively received and hotly debated in the community.
• The persistent, and quite possibly true, perception that game companies deliberately withhold full content from a subscription game in order to stock their microtransaction store.
• The perception that if you don’t get X item/service/content, then you’re not playing the “full” version of the game.
• Microtransactions cheapen the feel of the game overall, particularly for titles that are blatant and shameless about constantly asking and reminding you to buy more features.  One of the appeals of straight-up subscription MMOs is that it was just a one-time-per-month price, then they don’t bother you after that.
• It’s entirely possible to end up spending more per month through microtransactions (death of a thousand cuts) than through a single subscription fee — just look at the Facebook MMOs for proof of this.
• Several microtransactions are anything but “micro”, costing upwards of one to two times the subscription cost for a service or item.

But as I said, we’re still only at the beginning of everyone figuring this mess out — for players to sort out how they feel and what is acceptable and not when it comes to microtransactions, and for companies to gauge the “sweet spot” of how far they can push these before it becomes more of a nuisance than a welcome.