11/05/18

     As a child, I remember the first days of being introduced to video games, playing games non stop on the gamecube such as Super Mario Strikers, Super Smash Bros Melee, Pikmin 2 and much more. I used to invite my friends over all the time and even play with my dad every once in a while. Back then, video games were built on a basis where the only use of money would be on receiving the game from the store you were purchasing from. No extra funds were needed to get anything else, the only thing required was to put your own time into the game.

     Fast forward years later, and nearly all games have left the original idea of paying in full from the start and moved on to something known as microtransactions. Microtransactions are defined as any purchase made in a game using real life currency for extra content whether it is only cosmetic or gives a player a certain advantage (Alek). Since video games are not only becoming more popular but are online play also is too, where you can play with people around the world, video game developers decided that the idea of making people pay for more than the initial purchase will help them get more money for doing the same amount of work (Alek)

     The real issue that microtransactions is causing is what it has done to the youth of gaming. It has basically created a way for kids to spend money rapidly which could even be compared to a gambling addiction (Alex and Hyoun). These games mostly contain “case” systems where people can use money and have a chance of getting a virtual item which most of the time will be worth nothing compared to what it was bought for. There is a chance for the item to be very rare and can go for large sums of money which pushes the addiction (Mattha).

     Most people that see microtransactions in an app ask the same question as everyone else wondering, “Who would even spend money in a free game like this?” The answer is a lot. People will spend large amounts of money, sometimes up to thousands of dollars, in order to gain a competitive edge on other players without putting any kind of effort in the game, gain cosmetic items locked for other players or to unlock extra content to progress further into the game (Alex).

 

Where did the idea of microtransactions start from?

     During the end of 20th century, most games were either single players, meaning only one person was allowed to play at the time or local multiplayer where multiple people were allowed to play at a time but everyone had to be on the same device at the same location (Nenad) All the games during the time followed the original concept where gamers would receive the game in full at the initial purchase. Coming into the 21st century video game developers, would think of ways to increase the sum of money while doing the minimum amount of effort (Nenad). The idea would come to be what is known as microtransactions (Nenad). Microtransactions appeared first in mobile (phone or tablet) games. These games were free on the app store when first downloaded but as a person began to play and get into the game, purchases to remove ads and to receive limited items only began to pop up. Many people fell for this trap, giving them advantages over other players (Nenad). It would get to the point where other people that did not want to spend money would either have to fall into the trap as well to catch up or quit the game as it was impossible to fight back the people that used money. When I fell into games of this category, I would most likely fall into the trap as well spending hundreds of dollars in order to keep up when it was most likely worth my time to just give up and move on to a different game. Video games developers seen how effective the use of microtransactions was and the amount of money it brung in leading to the use of in game purchase all around the video game world (Nenad).

 

Where are microtransactions mainly and why there?

     Microtransactions mainly reside in 2 types of games. Shooter games (both first and third person) and sports games (Nenad). Microtransactions feed off of players in other genres but these are the main 2 where money truly generates from in game purchases. (Chelsea)

     Shooter games usually have 2 teams using a variety of guns with the goal of seeing which team gets more kills or which team performs a certain objective better. Usually these games have only cosmetic microtransactions which does not give any player an advantage but just allows people who spend to unlock new looks for guns and characters. A popular game that I play during my free time is Fortnite. This shooter game is become more popular each day and is gaining money non stop due to cosmetic in game purchases. None of these purchases help you gain any advantage but purely for the looks.

     Sport games have a great use of microtransactions giving many advantages. Most sports games have a mode where the player can make their own athlete to compete with people already in the pro league of whichever game they are playing (Mattha). A person can “grind” the game out spending hours on end to get their player to maximum potential or do what other people do and spend more than you paid for the game to instantly get your character to the highest level possible. Also in sports games, there is another mode where a player can create a custom team of athletes already in the pro league (Mattha). This brings back the “case” mechanic where players buy multiple “cases” in hopes of getting a legendary player on their team such as LeBron James from the Lakers in NBA 2k or Lionel Messi from FC Barcelona in FIFA. Many people get addicted in trying to get a very rare player and end up spending more money than they actually gained in value to the virtual goods received (Mattha).

 

Youth vs Microtransactions

     With microtransactions being so popularized in the 21st century, it is not surprising that people in the youth age group (15-24 according to the United Nations) have fallen into the trap. The amount that is spent is another story. The average person in this age group spends about 20 – 40 euros (23 – 46 dollars) every week on microtransactions which adds up to about 1040 – 2080 euros (1196 – 2392 dollars) a year (Mattha). This might not seem a lot to most people but if someone spends 1,500 a year on microtransactions, that can go to 15,000 from start to end of their youth stage of life.

     Not only does microtransactions cause money to be wasted on virtual spending but leads to very horrible spending habits in all. Just like any addiction, only a little is needed at first to feed it but later on requires a lot to satisfy it (Hyoun and Alex). A user from the social discussion website Reddit claimed that he had spent over 10,000 dollars on the game Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) on the “case” system (Mattha). He says “At my worst I was working two jobs and considering dropping out of high school (Mattha). Please consider how unregulated micro transactions can affect the youth of the world.” Another man around the age 24 says he first used 20 dollars to pass a level hard to beat and would be “adamant that I would not spend again.” Now he is 15,800 dollars in debt and no one trusts him with money including his wife and kids (Mattha). I am also a victim of microtransactions in this case because I too played Counter Strike Global Offensive and spent tons of money in order to get high tier and very exotic skins in order to not only show off to other people but to complete that satisfaction that the money I spent was worth it. I have not played the game in a long time but I checked in with one of the developers to find out that I have spent over 500 dollars on the game with a whooping 3000 hours of gameplay. This does not compare to the other stories in the paragraph but shows it can affect anyone in different ways.

     Recent studies are also starting to prove that people who spend lots of money on microtransactions are more likely to fall into an addiction of gambling at casinos than people who play games without using in game purchases (Hyoun and Alex). This is mostly because games using the “case” system is basically like casinos giving you a very small random chance to win big and also winning anything gives a certain adrenaline rush which gets you to keep going (Mattha.)

     Another effect that is usually overlooked of microtransactions is the social aspect that it can cause (Alek and Nenad). Most gamers look down upon the use of microtransactions so if a person uses in game purchases to progress quickly in any game, many people will give that person backlash for doing so and/or would go so far to the point where they will stop communications with that person (Alek and Nenad). This can lead to anxiety and depression as the friends the person once had start to have less respect for them and/or start to talk less to them (Alek and Nenad).

     There are many reasons why microtransactions should be more familiarized with the public and why people should be worried if they are a victim or they know someone (BBC). The government has started to recently get involved with the situation creating bills and laws for video game developers to either give a warning to pre-18 people stating the microtransaction can lead to a gambling addiction or cutting off microtransaction as a whole such as in Belgium where the “case” system in games are illegal (BBC and Hern). Hopefully more people inform themselves about the topic and can provide help in the war against microtransactions to make the video game environment safer for everyone.

 

Work Cited

 

Busby, Mattha. “’Easy Trap to Fall into’: Why Video-Game Loot Boxes Need Regulation.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 May 2018, www.theguardian.com/games/2018/may/29/gamers-politicians-regulation-video-game-loot-boxes.

 

Felstiner, Alek. “Regulating in-Game Work.” Journal of Internet Law, vol. 16, no. 2, 2012, pp. 3–18.

 

Hern, Alex. “Video Games Are Unlocking Child Gambling. This Has to Be Reined in | Alex Hern.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Dec. 2017, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/28/video-games-unlock-child-gambling-loot-box-addiction.

 

Kim, Hyoun, et al. “Who Spends Money to Play for Free? Identifying Who Makes Micro-Transactions on Social Casino Games (and Why).” Journal of Gambling Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2017, pp. 525–538.

 

King, Chelsea. “Forcing Players to Walk the Plank: Why End User License Agreements Improperly Control Players’ Rights Regarding Microtransactions in Video Games.” William and Mary Law Review, vol. 58, no. 4, 2017, p. 1365.

 

Tomić Nenad. “Effects of Micro Transactions on Video Games Industry.” Megatrend Revija, vol. 14, no. 3, 2017, pp. 239–257.

 

“Video Game Loot Boxes Declared Illegal under Belgium Gambling Laws.” BBC News, BBC, 26 Apr. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-43906306.