There's a new concept in software, and it's called "freemium". The idea is that you get to use the software for free, but you can pay to get some sort of added features. It's especially spreading in games. It seems like a good fit for casual games. See, if you're a hard-core gamer with a
Master Chief tattoo, you'd probably be willing to pay to play a major game, but if you're a mobile phone owner just looking for something to waste time with, you're less likely to put up even a small amount of money to try out Sharks Vs. Giraffes.
The challenge for the game makers is: what are you going to charge the user for? There's basically three approaches:
Each approach has its problems. Paying for custom items that don't affect gameplay won't bring in much money, since you're only selling to the rich, vain, or obsessed. Paying for advancement takes away the challenge of the game, and allows people to buy their way to victory in head-to-head competitions.
I've now run into problems with the charge-for-speed set up. I've just started playing Real Racing 3 for Android. For the most part it's a good game. I'm still getting used to trying to "steering" a car with the phone, so I can't comment too much so far. Like a lot of driving games, you have to win money racing (pretend money, that is) and then put that money into upgrading and repairing your car. What they've done is introduce a delay of 2-3 minutes for those upgrades, with the option to pay real money to skip the wait.
It all seems very arbitrary and phoney, added purely to make money. Sort of like protection money to the mob. Who do you need protection from? The people you're paying for the protection. It doesn't help that the first two Real Racing games (only on the iPhone) were conventional pay-for-the-game affairs. Personally, I've never had an urge to pay even with the free credits they give you at the start of the game: After all, you don't sit down to play a game on your phone, you just want some intermittent amusement. If it tells you you'll need five minutes to change the oil, that's just a push to go back to doing something productive.
It'll take a while for game makers to find the limits to what they can charge for, but it seems RR3 has gone a little too far.
The challenge for the game makers is: what are you going to charge the user for? There's basically three approaches:
- Charge for advancement. Having trouble getting past the Dread Ogre of Vargal? Pay a buck to go to the next level anyway.
- Charge for speed. You see this in Facebook games a lot. If you don't want to wait for your Farmville crops to grow, you can pay to harvest them now.
- Charge for customization. Everyone else wonders through the forests of Orgoeron in drab burlap, but you can pay to have a nice custom outfit.
Each approach has its problems. Paying for custom items that don't affect gameplay won't bring in much money, since you're only selling to the rich, vain, or obsessed. Paying for advancement takes away the challenge of the game, and allows people to buy their way to victory in head-to-head competitions.
I've now run into problems with the charge-for-speed set up. I've just started playing Real Racing 3 for Android. For the most part it's a good game. I'm still getting used to trying to "steering" a car with the phone, so I can't comment too much so far. Like a lot of driving games, you have to win money racing (pretend money, that is) and then put that money into upgrading and repairing your car. What they've done is introduce a delay of 2-3 minutes for those upgrades, with the option to pay real money to skip the wait.
It all seems very arbitrary and phoney, added purely to make money. Sort of like protection money to the mob. Who do you need protection from? The people you're paying for the protection. It doesn't help that the first two Real Racing games (only on the iPhone) were conventional pay-for-the-game affairs. Personally, I've never had an urge to pay even with the free credits they give you at the start of the game: After all, you don't sit down to play a game on your phone, you just want some intermittent amusement. If it tells you you'll need five minutes to change the oil, that's just a push to go back to doing something productive.
It'll take a while for game makers to find the limits to what they can charge for, but it seems RR3 has gone a little too far.
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