Dice World, a game for iDevices does offer in-app purchases, but they are
not necessary to play the game. I think this is a fair practice.
---
Be positive! When it comes to being defeated, if you think you're finished,
you! really! are! finished!
----- Original Message -----
From: "dark" <d...@xgam.org>
To: <Gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 3:23 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] a discussion on freemium games
hi.
Those of you who are Simpsons fans might already know the dead Homer
society article (or rather novellaa), on the concept of Zombie simpsons,
ie, why the Simpsons is no longer where it was and what it might be
devolving into, (If you don't know it and are a simpsons fan i definitely
suggest giving it a read, sinse at the same time it manages to be both
highly readable and entertaining and extremely well researched).
However, checking out that article again I notice that the webmaster has
written a similarly in depth treatment of The Simpsons Tapped out game on
Android which may be found here http://deadhomersociety.com/tapped-in/ I
am %90 certain that this game is inaccessible, however Why have I posted
this in General game discussion? Because the discussion of The Tapped out
simpsons game goes into heavy detail on the concept of Freemium games,
that is games that are essentially free to download and play but have a
premium currency that is used to buy certain features or expantions in the
game, especially I might add for these sorts of games that fall somewhere
between resource management and a slot machine.
I found the comparison of these to gambling and the idea that their
ultimate aime is too get you into a state where you lose money quite
worrying, however I have noticed such tendencies myself in games from the
defunct Legend of Zork (cryticized as a payment system disguised as a
game), to Epical gladiators, and possibly some of the Storm8 titles, games
that exist more for the repetitive task than anything else.
Of course, such a thing is a sliding scale, and a game like Puppet
Nightmares or even a time management style game like Solara isn't guilty
of all the same shabby tricks, for example spending of premium currency
with no confirmation that Tapped out is guilty of, however I did find some
cryticisms here quite fascinating for example the need to contribute four
or five times the price f a standard mainstream game to unlock game
features for essentially not much reward, indeed I have been investigating
Lords and KNights for a db entry and I was interested to see how many of
these cryticisms applies.
As I said, from the article it is clear that Simpsons Tapped out is a
relatively extreme example of this form of gambling disguised as a
computer game,but it's probably worth thinking about some of these things
next time you considder whether to buy that extra bag of gold and just
what the game is actually giving you in return or what it is trying to do,
and a bit of awareness of possible abuses of a given system never hurts,
especially with how common this idea of freemium perchices is.
Dark.
Take them to the refirbished chamber that was once bad!
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