Will Micro-transactions replace DRM at the top of the “Things we Hate” List?

{sidebar id=3}{sidebar id=1}In a recent interview with Bill Roper of Cryptic Studios, Ten Ton Hammer discusses the micro-transaction business model for Champions Online. Mr. Roper explains that micro-transactions are not the core of the game's business model and that the game is not "based" on micro-transactions.

However, Champions Online has many ideas for micro-transactions including ways to purchase many items that are fun, cosmetic and maintenance based.  Roper explains how the Western world has already embraced micro-transactions in the form of games like Rock Band and World of Warcraft.

At the beginning of the interview, Roper's first example is the game of Rock Band, which he states is "based wholly on micro-transactions."  He goes on to explain that you buy the game and then you buy the different peripherals and equipment.  The problem with this argument is that buying physical equipment in order to play a game is not a micro-transaction.

Rock Band and other Guitar Hero type games function on constant content, he is right about that.  However, they function more on the typical expansion business model.  Expansions have been around ever since video games have been around.  For the most part, Americans enjoy buying content in large chunks not because it has always been done that way but because a large dose of content is more exciting.

The next example that Roper explains is World of Warcraft.  He argues that purchasing the movement of a character from one realm to another is the same thing as a micro-transaction.  After that, Roper argues that the trading card game is nothing more than additional micro-transactions.

In this situation, purchasing a character transfer is not a micro-transaction.  You are paying for a chance to restart your character's life on a different server, often times to play with real life friends.  Additionally, the trading card game acts more like a lottery than a micro-transaction because you are not actually purchasing anything.  You are purchasing cards that belong to a Magic the Gathering style card game that has a chance at a completely cosmetic yet in demand item.  Since there is no guarantee of which item you will be purchasing, in essence; you are taking a gamble.

You might as well spin the Wheel of Fortune or throw some dice because you have the exact same chance at winning those games as you do getting your item of choice.

The textbook definition of a micro-transaction is a minor purchase that trades real-life money for in game items that either save time or add functionality.  For example, in some Korean-based games you can purchase experience potions, leveling gear, and companion pets.  These types of purchases are always small in nature but trade real-life currency for in game currency.  Yet in most mainstream games, the purchase of in game currency is illegal.

Towards the end of the interview, the fact of some purchases being able to be procured via in game methods is finally revealed.  This should be a red flag to any gamer that although the original intentions may be to provide cosmetic upgrades for those that wish to spend five dollars here and there.  You must ask yourself, "When this happens will you be ready to open up your wallet and let another company bleed your bank account dry?"

After all the arguments are mostly exhausted, Roper begins to grasp at straws, citing things such as iTunes and Amazon as micro-transactions.  When you purchase a song from Apple iTunes, you are paying for the time that it took the artist to create the song for you to enjoy.  Furthermore, an Amazon purchase is not even close to a micro-transaction.  Buying things from Amazon.com is nothing more than a virtual trip to the local shopping mall.

Have you ever been able to spend two dollars at Amazon.com?

The most frightening details came in the form of the following statement.

"The way I look at it, from a player's standpoint, there are certain things I've wanted in MMOs where I'm like, "man, I really should get that item." I know that if I was part of a big giant guild and we did raids over and over again, and I got on the list that maybe I'm going to get that item. And it's not even because that item has a gameplay effect; it's that cool mount, or that cool pet that is a super rare drop or that kind of thing. I don't have that kind of gaming time, and I'm not part of a big giant guild so it would be tougher to get some of those kinds of things too. But if I had the opportunity to get something that was similar or something that I felt was equally cool, so not even necessarily the exact same thing, I might say, "Oh cool, I'm going to buy this cool pet for myself." I don't think that negates from the enjoyment of my game, or the enjoyment other people have with their game because they're going to be getting stuff that's equally as cool if not cooler by playing, but they didn't have to spend any money on it."

Do you see the bait and switch in that statement?  The topic starts out talking about the ability to buy shiny new epic gear for a price but then switches to purchasing a pet.  Yes, Mr. Roper, speaking as casual disabled gamers, being able to purchase an item that is similar or equally cool to something that someone had to spend 80 hours to acquire for $7.50, does negate from someone's enjoyment.

Video games have always stood for a different kind of equalizer; an environment where having more time is equal to or better than having money.  In the real world, whoever has the most money wins but in video games, whoever has the most skill and time can win.

And that brings us to our final question.  Everyone hates DRM because of the shady business practices behind the software, the way it penalizes those who purchase a title versus those who pirate it, and most of all because of the way it allows the game company to control how and when we play a video game we purchased legally.

What is worse, a situation where the game that you buy is full of software that controls your style of play or a game company that allows gamers to buy their way into a game?

We propose that micro-transactions can be more damaging if implemented poorly than DRM.  From the possibilities of overspending and breaking budgets to devaluating of in game achievements, micro-transactions are changing the way we perceive games.  The only cost attributed to a game should be the purchase of the game and any subscription fees, not an additional dollar for each item included with your game.