Microtransactions - The end of an era

Micro-transactions, love them or hate them, they surely are a hot topic at the moment. With the likes of AAA games such as Diablo III and DeadSpace3 going the route of the microtransaction, it really brings to mind  a question… Is this the end of an age? Are we, the older generation gamers, becoming a dying breed?

Let me explain. I started gaming at a fairly early age. Back in the days when you had to try to finish a game in one sitting. No save files, checkpoints or anything that would help you out… except perhaps cheat codes. Remember those?  Most of us took those cheat codes once we were finished with a game and had a second play through with all the cheats enabled. It was a fun little thing to do and often there were some pretty cool cheat codes that would change a characters appearance, unlock a secret character etc. Not all cheat codes were about being invincible and stocked to the teeth with weapons and unlimited ammo. I used them, you have used them. We all have. However there were two different types of cheat code users. Some of us would wait until after our first play through while others decided to use them from the word go.

We can have endless debates about this and whether it’s a good idea to use cheat codes from the start, but this isn’t what this article is about. It is important to the entire discussion however. So bear with me.

People who used cheat codes from the start were not a lower form of gamer by any means. They simply chose to enjoy the game they bought in the way they felt best suited them. They used cheat codes because they wanted the instant gratification. Again, let me stress, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that choice if that’s what you want to do (Although I really feel it takes away from the experience, but that’s just me). It’s a basic human condition we all suffer from. We want things now, whether it’s all the weapons in a game or that cool car we saw in the dealership the other day. We want it and if there is a quick way to get it then even better.

It is this very basic human condition that casual games have taken advantage of. Do you think it’s a coincidence that most of these freemium casual games on facebook and your mobiles make it so hard to unlock all the various powerups or whatever it is the game requires to progress further? Of course it isn’t. They make it difficult and make sure that it would take long enough for even the most hardened gamer to get to the point where they would be happy. In most cases it seems an almost impossible task unless you have hours of free time and a few months of it at that. Enter the microtransaction. It seems a small amount to pay so that you don’t have to spend months trying to get to the same point. Out comes the credit card and there you have it, instant gratification.

But what does this have to do with older generation gamers becoming a dying breed? I shall tell you what I think. From here on out it’s simply speculation but it isn’t by any means too far of a stretch.

AAA games have begun incorporating micro-transactions and while it seems pretty harmless I don’t believe it is. I think it is going to damage gaming as a hobby for many people completely. Whether you like it or not the gaming industry is always evolving, changing according to the times. Unfortunately the traits the industry seems to always take on are not always the traits that take the consumer’s choice or best interest in to account.  It always starts slowly, builds up speed until it becomes a standard where everyone has just accepted that it is the way it is.

As an example, take always on connections. Back in the day this was unheard of. But then someone decided to make an online activation code a necessity. It slowly built up speed and soon everyone was doing it. Ok, not so bad. But then you get that one someone who went and took it a step further. You suddenly needed to sign in online every time before you could play your game. Again, slowly it built up some steam in the industry and pretty soon became a standard. It has evolved now to a point where a lot of games now require a permanent connection. Even going so far as to treat the game as an MMO instead of a single player game. This is fast becoming the norm. It may not seem as bad as I make it out to be, but it is heading there. Herein lies the base problem of the gaming industry; the fact that everyone has to do the same as the previous guy because apparently that is a good thing to do. It often makes no sense and is sheltered behind some invalid excuse (such as piracy or, in the case of microtransactions, some gamers don’t have the time to play long hours). The excuses are valid to a point but shouldn't define the industry standard.

Micro-transactions are going to take the same route. Just because 2 very prominent AAA games have now done it for a distinctly single player type game others are sure to follow suite. All under the guise of making the game more “social” and "accessible".

What most likely is going to happen in the next few years is that almost no game will ship without some form on online store where you can “Pay-to-win”. While it might not be such a bad thing since it allows those who want instant gratification the chance to do so, it seems a bit unfair to those who don’t want to. What’s that I hear you say? “Just don’t buy the items then!”? Well sure, that would be great but there is a far more sinister road that microtransactions open up.

Earlier I mentioned that casual games set the bar so far and high that it is pretty much a requirement to purchase in-game items. Yes, these games allow you to use in-game cash, but the in-game revenue is usually excruciatingly dull to collect and exceptionally time consuming. If AAA games start using microtransactions as a norm don’t you think the industry will start developing AAA games in the same mold? Set the bar so high that you have to purchase item from the convenient real cash game store? Far fetched? No, not really.  Diablo III already did that. It was so difficult in higher levels that one had to purchase from the auction house. The only worthwhile items being hellishly expensive on in-game cash leading people to fork out real cash instead. That or you can sit farming for months for in-game cash just to get 1 item that would make things slightly easier.

Now before you shout at me and say it will never happen just remember, we all said that always on internet connections would never happen for single player games, none of us ever believed we would be asked to pay for on disk DLC. We never dreamed when we were younger that games would ship half finished. Did anyone ever think that a single player game would ever be tied to an external server, MMO style, with no way to play offline? Or how about the death of LAN in games for the sake of "piracy"?

Just like DRM has evolved from the simple CD-Key all the way to what it is now, believe me, micro-transactions will evolve in much the same way and unfortunately I don’t have much faith in the industry to evolve it in to anything good. I foresee a future where you will need to purchase your way through games simply because doing it the “old-fashioned” way is too tedious. This is where the older generation gamers such as myself slowly start dying out because I don’t believe in pay-to-win and don’t find it enjoyable. No offence to those who do. But the gaming industry has proven too often that they only cater for one form of gamer at a time. At a stage it was the old-school gamer. Now the industry is starting to lean towards the casual gamer. When games become too casual a lot of us "old-school" gamers will simply fall by the wayside.

I see my games as an enjoyable past time that is already becoming very expensive. What would microtransactions do if they became almost a necessity? I don't think I'd be able to afford it anymore. Not with paid for DLC also in the works. It would ruin the experience for me and I would feel hard done by.

Yes, I am being a bit "dooms-dayish". But as I said, it's all speculation. The thing that bothers me is that it isn't impossible and by no means too outrageous for companies to do it. Kind of scary.

So what do you think? Can microtransactions open up the industry to more people or ultimately destroy?