[PPOTW] Do you like micro transactions?

[questccg]

questccg I reckon you should have a watch of ...

I watched the video, not sure what struck me more:

1. People not having enough time to play all the great games developed.
2. People not wanting to give up their characters in WOW so they pay the subscription fee.
3. There is not much board game piracy, because it's labour intensive to actually MAKE a game (physical parts and all).

Either way, the goal of a Free-to-Play is obviously to get players INTERESTED in the game. It's not really about playing the game Free. Games that are available for free are designed as a way of trying out the game before spending money on the game later. I think it should be labelled *Free-To-TRY*...

From there each player can determine how much they want to invest in the game.

That's my take on things!

Note: Personally I like *Micro-Transactions* but only if they affect the game play. I don't want to buy/customize my character FOR A PRICE. That to me should be FREE... Where I feel Micro-Transactions are interesting is *unlocking* other aspects to the game. So game features that a free player would not have access to. Or only to *preview* of what the game allows if you are willing to spend a couple bucks on.

On my last Play-For-Free game, I spent about $30.00. And I played the game for over 6 months. Having *Guilds* and other such aspects tend to make the game more interesting in that there is cooperative game play.

But personally I don't want to *overburden* the development of a free app/game with too many features. I think it's probably best to have a solid *core* and build from there...

Like take a quest game, when you visit the local tavern you could have a list of the available quests... Then you could talk to the barkeep about "Special Missions" that can only be played if a player pays for the quest... Something like that (although not what I plan on implementing)...

Note 2: That WOW info about keeping their characters makes me wonder if I should implement a game policy in which if you have not played with your *character* for a period of 3 months, your character and his stats will be erased. Or something like that...