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Chasing the Whale: Examining the ethics of free-to-play games

2

2MF

Member
Lock my credit card if old:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/195806/chasing_the_whale_examining_the_.php

Chris' behavior during this time is how people in the video game industry would describe a "whale"-- someone who spends large amounts on free-to-play games, and essentially makes the business model viable by balancing out the 99 percent of players who don't ever fork out a dime.

And while Chris is happy to admit that a portion of his addiction was no doubt down to his own silly mistakes, he reasons, "I have to question whether a business model built on exploiting 'whales' like me isn't somewhat to blame. Free-to-play games aren't after everyone for a few dollars -- they're after weak people in vulnerable states for hundreds, if not thousands."
Click to expand...

I also came across numerous far more outlandish stories. One player, who called himself Gladoscc, told me that he used to play a web-based MMO called eRepublik, in which players waged wars against each other.

In total, Gladoscc spent more than $30,000 on the game. "The geniusly evil part about eRepublik is that you have to spend money in order to neutralize the enemy's money," he says. "It's spreadsheet PVP, though. The social aspect is what kept me in."

When he managed to finally kick the habit, a random stranger added him veryon Skype weeks later, only to discover that it was the creator of eRepublik. He had hunted down Gladoscc's details so he could ask him why he had quit, and try to entice him back.
Click to expand...

Someone who worked at a F2P game company on the guilt he/she felt over this:

"I used to work at [company], and it paid well and advanced my career," the person told me. "But I recognize that [company]'s games cause great harm to people's lives. They are designed for addiction. [company] chooses what to add to their games based on metrics that maximize players' investments of time and money. [company]'s games find and exploit the right people, and then suck everything they can out of them, without giving much in return. It's not hard to see the parallels to the tobacco industry.

This employee chose to leave the company as a direct result of feeling dishonest due to the work being done -- feeling like they were making the lives of a select few players worse.
Click to expand...

Much more in the link. A good article.
 
V

V_Arnold

Member
Yeah, whale-hunting F2P is definitely something that needs to be reconsidered in the future. It is like exploiting certain wealthy human's weaknesses when it comes to spending money. Oh wait, it is EXACTLY that :(
 
K

Ken

Member
When he managed to finally kick the habit, a random stranger added him veryon Skype weeks later, only to discover that it was the creator of eRepublik. He had hunted down Gladoscc's details so he could ask him why he had quit, and try to entice him back.
Click to expand...

That's pretty funny.
 
2

2MF

Member
firehawk12 said:
30 grand on a game? God damn.
Click to expand...

I didn't even post the worst story in the article, which is this:

(...) a mother who became addicted to Mafia Wars on Facebook, and ended up sinking tens of thousands of dollars into it. As her obsession grew, she began to withdraw into the game and care little about the life going on around her.

"The last time I can remember going over, her entire room was filled with just hundreds of pizza boxes and McDonalds bags," says an old friend of her son. "When you enter the house, the smell just smacks you in the face, even though she basically just stays in her room."

The friend even alleges that as a direct result of the mother succumbing to the allure of spending more and more on the game, her son ended up dealing drugs simply so he could afford to keep payments up on the house and keep food on the table.
Click to expand...
 
Velcro Fly

Velcro Fly

Member
As someone who reads up about this stuff often, I take full responsibility for informing my friends playing crap like Candy Crush to not get involved with free to play games beyond playing them to pass the time. Honestly better off going to gamble.
 
V

Vashetti

Banned
When he managed to finally kick the habit, a random stranger added him veryon Skype weeks later, only to discover that it was the creator of eRepublik. He had hunted down Gladoscc's details so he could ask him why he had quit, and try to entice him back.
Click to expand...

This is terrifying.
 
E

Eusis

Member
More than ever I'm wishing this sort of stuff to become straight up illegal. Half for selfish reasons (I want games that don't depend on this!) half because this is legitimately worrying.

And honestly we are entering uncharted territory for this stuff, when you can on a whim just buy stuff for a game.
 
M

mclem

Member
The question is, where exactly do you draw the line? I doubt anyone would find TF2's approach particularly offensive. I'm wondering if "Money gives you significant gameplay advantages" is something that the legal system is qualified to recognise and appropriately curb. Should caps be brought in on spending? If you hit the cap, what happens?

Lots of questions. I agree that something needs to be done, but it needs to be done in a way that allows willing whales to remain as such while protecting those who might become one unwillingly. Cap by default, ability to opt-out?
 
T

ThoughtsOfSpeaking

Banned
I think initally F2P was a great idea, until developers and publishers saw how much money they could make from it. Now its slowly becoming a digusting succubus that is designed to take the most from the most addicted.

The games are not being designed to be fun or rewarding in their own right, but rather to placate you while they convince you to part with your hard earned cash. If you allow yourself to be immersed in a F2P game, it has you and the sad thing that even when you realise you are in the flytrap, you may still continue not just because of an addiction, but because we tend to double down on bad decisions in a desperate attempt to "make them right".


Its something that I very weary of hitting the console space and while I have no problem with trying out most F2P games, i expect to delete them quite quickly before I get sucked in. You just cannot play these games for any significant length of time without paying more the price of a eqivlent boxed/standard product.


People will argue "Im supporting the developers" but why dont you just paypal what you think the game is worth beforehand? Excuses like that sound mighty like " I need a drink to calm my nerves" or "A cigarrette helps me stay awake"


Its becoming an odious part of this industry and its something, unregulated could end up becoming its downfall.
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
ThoughtsOfSpeaking said:
Its something that I very weary of hitting the console space and while I have problem with trying out most F2P games, i expect to delete them quite quickly before I get sucked in. You just cannot play these games for any significant length of time without paying more the price of a eqivlent boxed/standard product. .
Click to expand...

There are plenty of F2P games that you could play for a long time without spending anything. Of the games coming to console I think I spent $10 on Planetside 2 and nothing on Blacklight and Warframe.
 
S

ShutEye

Member
Without reading the article (yeah, I know), the really creepy part of F2P is the blatant targeting of what I'd call Casino Tactics to children.
I would be very, very wary of letting my kid play F2P stuff (I don't have a kid).
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
Addiction is a horrible spiral (or dependence) to be wound into.

Speaking of purely cosmetic things like that Gaia online internet forum thing have been doing pay to bling years before Team Fortress 2 and also have similar gambling mechanics in the form of alchemy.

silkysmooth said:
As someone who reads up about this stuff often, I take full responsibility for informing my friends playing crap like Candy Crush to not get involved with free to play games beyond playing them to pass the time.
Click to expand...
Even that might be an enabler in some circumstances. If nobody played F2P games, nobody would buy the content.

Speaking of which Facebook is funded by ads and the 30% it takes from Facebook credits used in these games...so it is not always black and white. That said Facebook credits just mean players get hit harder.
 
M

mclem

Member
ThoughtsOfSpeaking said:
I think initally F2P was a great idea, until developers and publishers saw how much money they could make from it. Now its slowly becoming a digusting succubus that is designed to take the most from the most addicted.
Click to expand...

No, I think that's not quite right. It's - and with 'it' here I'm not referring to all F2P games, just those that feel more exploitative - designed because it needs to take the most from the most addicted to subsidise those who pay little to nothing.

Whales exist to subsidise those playing for free. And the hope is that some of those playing for free will evolve through the stages to a more lucrative player.

Or to put it another way:

Ikuu said:
There are plenty of F2P games that you could play for a long time without spending anything. Of the games coming to console I think I spent $10 on Planetside 2 and nothing on Blacklight and Warframe.
Click to expand...

That's why you can do that. Paying little necessitates whales.
 
F

Frodo

Member
ThoughtsOfSpeaking said:
I think initally F2P was a great idea, until developers and publishers saw how much money they could make from it. Now its slowly becoming a digusting succubus that is designed to take the most from the most addicted.

The games are not being designed to be fun or rewarding in their own right, but rather to placate you while they convince you to part with your hard earned cash. If you allow yourself to be immersed in a F2P game, it has you and the sad thing that even when you realise you are in the flytrap, you may still continue not just because of an addiction, but because we tend to double down on bad decisions in a desperate attempt to "make them right".


Its something that I very weary of hitting the console space and while I have no problem with trying out most F2P games, i expect to delete them quite quickly before I get sucked in. You just cannot play these games for any significant length of time without paying more the price of a eqivlent boxed/standard product.


People will argue "Im supporting the developers" but why dont you just paypal what you think the game is worth beforehand? Excuses like that sound mighty like " I need a drink to calm my nerves" or "A cigarrette helps me stay awake"


Its becoming an odious part of this industry and its something, unregulated could end up becoming its downfall.
Click to expand...

This is my biggest problem with F2P games. I've caught myself a few times wondering if I should buy that $2 item that will allow me to advance in the game after being stuck for a while, only to realise what I'm about to do and delete the game straight away. But you can see how easy it is to fall into these traps.

And while I don't know anyone who is anywhere close to the cases on the article I know some people who spent more than the price of a retail game on F2P games, and one case where the guy spent almost £400 in a single online game. And as ThoughtsOfSpeaking said, when you come to this point, after investing so much, it is hard to stop since you might just stick with it to validate the amount of time and money you already spent on it and then the vicious circle is complete.
 
Droog

Droog

Member
On page 7 this article references another one called the Top F2P Monetization Tricks by Ramin Shokrizade. It's very insightful and I'd recommend it as an accompaniment to the main one in the OP too if any of you didn't read it.

Put me off wanting to give Puzzle and Dragons a try though!
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
The thing is, it's not only wealthy people that get caught up into it.

I've played games where kids would spend all their allowances, and all their birthday money on item mall stuff.

And sometimes they will buy stuff for other people, just so they will be liked.

And increasingly games are relying on gambling - random boxes, spins on a slot wheel, and so forth. Gambling apparently triggers a dopamine response in the brain.

F2P isn't bad when they sell you a game a la carte, or if it's just cosmetic items. But that doesn't seem to happen much anymore.
 
A

AndyH

Neo Member
I find that most F2P games are highly immoral and that far too many promote a pay to win culture. You see dev talks on how best to milk money out of consumers with F2P games which quite frankly is disgusting.

I feel that games should be about having fun and spreading joy and should not have the goal of addicting players to their detriment in order to maximise profit. In a way this situation is not only limited to F2P titles, but also full fledged subscription based MMOs - although these are quickly dying out.

I don't find it surprising that people want out of developing games like that at all - it really is a sleazy way of producing a game. I'd much rather just purchase a title in full and if these tactics ever permeate the industry at large then I am finished with video games.
 
I

Into

Member
I never thought id read about someone in the inside the industry feel guilty about some of these practices. After all it is not illegal what they are doing, so it is a moral issue for some

Since most of these F2P games are online, it really helps their business that people get to compete, sometimes ego's are at stake and people will happily spend loads of money to stay competitive.

Obviously many of us can stand back, look at it all and just walk away, but not everyone can just easily do that.
 
D

diggmcbadass

Member
I can see any f2p games becoming illegal in my country in a few years when politicians realize what they are and how they are basically competing with state owned lotteries. The government have gona after both online casinos and friends playing poker with cashin the last few years. The problem is of course that some games are exploitative in nature, especially facebook and mobile games, while others use it as an alternative business model to the old MMO subscriptions.

I tend to sink a lot of hours into a few f2p games, but usually I spend around the same amount of money that I did when I played subscription MMOs in the past. Distinguishing between whale-hunters and relatively fair payment models will probably never happen, and we'll end up with an all out ban in countries with a tradition of heavily regulating gambling.
 
T

Tsukumo

Member
Interesting stuff. I always asked myself what would make work free-to-play so well as to spread to all (basically) MMO. It also helped me understand stuff like Marvel Heroes and its 300 dollars packs...
 
T

twofold

Member
diggmcbadass said:
I can see any f2p games becoming illegal in my country in a few years when politicians realize what they are and how they are basically competing with state owned lotteries. The government have gona after both online casinos and friends playing poker with cashin the last few years. The problem is of course that some games are exploitative in nature, especially facebook and mobile games, while others use it as an alternative business model to the old MMO subscriptions.

I tend to sink a lot of hours into a few f2p games, but usually I spend around the same amount of money that I did when I played subscription MMOs in the past. Distinguishing between whale-hunters and relatively fair payment models will probably never happen, and we'll end up with an all out ban in countries with a tradition of heavily regulating gambling.
Click to expand...

Yup, this is the big issue. How can they define what is considered exploitative and what isn't? Does the whale spending $2,000 a month on a F2P game feel like he's being exploited? And what sort of effects would regulations have on other business models (I'm thinking free trials, SaaS, etc.)?

It's going to be an interesting few years.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
This is why I always have and always will look on to freemium pay to win games with disgust. They're a horrible bastardization of video games, if you can even call them video games to begin with. I would never feel comfortable with myself designing games not intended to bring people enjoyment, but to manipulate and scam them out of as many micro-purchases as possible.
 
T

twofold

Member
PKrockin said:
This is why I always have and always will look on to freemium pay to win games with disgust. They're a horrible bastardization of video games, if you can even call them video games to begin with. I would never feel comfortable with myself designing games not intended to bring people enjoyment, but to manipulate and scam them out of as many micro-purchases as possible.
Click to expand...

Read the article, in particular page 6. Not every freemium game is 'pay to win'.

I thought this bit, in particular, was interesting --

"But game journalists and reviewers could play a valuable role -- in reporting how 'exploitive' specific titles are or are not," he says. "I don't think a game critic's rating of 'Graphics Quality' or 'Audio Quality' is all that important anymore -- now that so many games are free-to-play, people can try for themselves. And even with buy-to-play, potential buyers can see graphics and gameplay on YouTube or via live streaming."

"But 'exploitive mechanics' could be harder to detect in a single 'Let's Play' video, so game critics could help a lot in that area," he adds.
Click to expand...
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
I'm OK with it, idiots that fall for this shit fund better development of servers. I profit from this (to the mighty tune of 10 euro so far) by immediately selling my steam cards as soon as earned. got a free game so far.

I'd imagine there is a similar addiction in place with steam sales as well.
 
P

patapuf

Member
PKrockin said:
No biggie.

The point in your edit stood out to me too. I haven't seen gaming journalists cover this much at all, although admittedly I could be looking at the wrong places.
Click to expand...

The worst offenders i've seen, facebook games and phone stuff barely gets any coverage on game sites, F2P or not.

MMO's are covered a bit better but their it's still uncommon unless you go to specialised sites and considering these games often used to have subscription fees the model is more accepted there.

Sutff like dota 2, lol or planetside that do get some coverage usually have less egregious models anyway.
 
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