Per item? Roughly $20 max. Over a period of time? It would probably double if it wasn't for free rewards I've gotten from other services (and yes, actually free rewards. Not first time purchase discounts and the like). Google rewards surveys (and play points) have paid for damn near every Welkin Moon I've purchased in Genshin in their entirety.
Solid video! For me it would be League of legends. It's around 40 dollars. I think it was 2-3 skins. I was infatuated because it was star guardian and KDA themed skins.
Mobile games: ~$700 for Kingdom Hearts Union χ (pay-to-win) worthwhile as I was part of a Top 10 guild. (Over the course of 4 years) ~$200 for Final Fantasy VII: the First SOLDIER (Cosmetic/support) 40% worth it, never engaging with gacha ever again from that experience (1 year, game is about to EoS). ~$250+ for Cytus & Cytus II (DLC) I haven't played most of it, yet I love the devs so much I'd gladly support new tracks coming out (since 2011 and still on-going).
Probably Apex Legends. The equivalent of 10$ on season 1 BP, 10$ on season 2 BP, 10$ on Wattson skin, and 20$ when they raised the level cap from 100 to 500. I have played it nonstop since first week.
My only problem is that game devs spend millions making a game and put it up for free download. I'm against P2W, but the currency distancing and foot in the door methods don't seem too malicious, it's just a sure way to recoup your losses.
i feel like the worst part of it all is that once the game finally convinced you to buy something you become committed to it, and putting down the game for good becomes harder because of all the cash you've sunk into it, and the more you spend the harder it gets to realize it's long since time to quit. It's incredibly predatory in the way it keeps people playing a game long after they've become bored of it because if they leave they'll have wasted their money, instead of keeping people playing by, well, making an actually good game that will keep players' interest for longer.
It was kinda like that with Pokemon Masters EX during 2021 with the Introductiom of the stamina system. But overtime, the multitude of changes added overtime + constant tie in promotion to other Pokemon ads help it stay alive. It may not be just me, but as a player 2 years and ongoing still playing this game, I find it strange as to how other Gacha gamers views this Pokemon Spin-off as having a Generous Rarity system rate compared to other Gacha games on the lootbox mechanics.
@@gameman3250 same. I’m at the point where after this season I’m just not buying the bp or any skin. I feel imma just buy single player games and be content
you really didn't waste your money, i mean; you bought a product and you used said product then your money has been spent, not wasted. I understand that someone would want to use the things bought in the game as much as they can, but the money is already spent, play more or less would not change anything. The best thing someone can do in that situation is realize that he no loner enjoys the game and move on, try other things or even other games
One method we didn't include in this video was "FOMO" or putting in-game items on sale, which is an age old technique that has proven time and time again to be effective whether its the allure of saving money or players knowing the options is only going to be aroudn for a limited added time .
@@angpham941 In most games I'd rather pay for a bp than a couple of lootboxes. It's just that in OW2, the first battlepass was mediocre to a lot of people and the prices for the in game shop were pretty high so it makes their old lootbox system look better. It was more generous since you already paying 40-60 bucks to even access the game
@Shi Yu Meng The only reason why people say OW1 Loot boxes are better than the current OW2 economy is because you weren't limited to $.60 a week playing for free to pay for $20+ skins, and could grind to get cosmetics for free. Yeah, I don't like lootboxes because they prey on gambling addicts, but at least it was a better system.
i thought you did with the beginner bundle segment since bundles goes away with time. so it has fomo attached to it even as with the "foot in the door method"
@MichaelSpeth well in OW u payed 40 (on pc at least for the lower tier edition), and could get EVERY SINGLE SKIN in a few years. (With lots of legendary, lots of epic (sometimes of great quality), and a ton of rare) In OW² thats impossible, even while paying as much as OW cost you or even the cost of the first game legendary edition with the statue. You'd get a dozen of skins maybe in a few years, most of it being low quality "epic" (rare/epic/legendary/mythical).
How to avoid every monetization tactics: Foot In The Door: ignore them like all those pop up ads Currency Distancing: using the power of math Loss Aversion: real gamers don't cheat Social Pressure: generous of you to think I have friends to begin with Congrats, you can now enjoy predatory games for free!
I do basicly that, and found it so easy to do that I never understand why people complain too much. It's like they can't control their wallets. Maybe it's a first world problems or something I'm not rich enough to comprehend...
@@pontoancora it's because even if they don't fall for the tactics, the game is made worse by everything held behind the paywall. It makes sense to complain tbh
@@pontoancora warframe is one of the only consumer friendly free to plays Genshin? Nope. Absolutely not. They absolutely do not need those prices or the gambling, the money they make is extreme profit. They dont put much of that money back into the game, they just abuse the gambling to make a massive profit, not because they want to make the game as good as it can be, but because they just want as much money as possible whatever the cost.
Its baffles me how people normalize these kind of thing these days. Some even took pride on how much they spent in a game. How did it even came to this point? I dread to guess
Crash On The Run is one of the example that is terminated by Dev. So I must avoid Online games from greedy company, and play offline game if I'm bored.
Because the Dev of Candy Crush wanted to make more money from COTR, but it didn't success as their first game, eventually they TERMINATED the game that may be the cost of server was expensive or ordered by Activision to delete it.
It sucks that such a large part of the gaming industry is moving to this model. I even play some free-to-play games, but I almost never buy anything. But yeah, I'm still complicit in the system. Makes me feel bad man.
@@littleboss2006 good old time and we can litteraly preserve the game through emulator. Most game nowadays follow the fremium live service always online game which will lead to wasted potential regardless how many money they will make because once the game service end, that game will looming into abandonware realm forever because no one can play them anymore.
As a FEH player, I think “Power Creep” is a huge factor. Every character added is the next. With better art, better skills, and BST, it promotes summoning and ultimately money spending with their criminally low rates to get one. Note: FEH is fairly F2P friendly.
so how does it compare to Pokemon Masters EX where the PVP culture is non existent? (besides it's lackluster but serviceable PVE mode) 70% - 3 star trainers (basic) 23% - 4 star trainers (intermediate) 7% - 5 star trainers (rarest and often most powerful) are they also the rarity rates to Fire Emblem Heroes?
@@jirehtheprovider It varies a bit from banner to banner, but generally: 36% - 3 star heroes 55% - 4 star heroes 3% - 4 star special heroes (Those are older 5 star units that were taken out of the gacha, and can otherwise only be gotten as 5 stars on spcific banners) 3% - 5 star heroes 3% - 5 star focous heroes (Likely the ones you are pulling for)
FEH feels quite forgiving in comparison to other games I’ve played, ngl. If I don’t want xyz character, I can just fodder their skills/weapon into a unit I do care about and it makes the game more fun because you can play with whoever you want with the best gear you have lying around. Heck, the fully maxed out Berkut I’ve been building since I started playing the game carries me harder than most of the new units, but I can’t say the same for main Lords that get a new alt every 2 patches. They give out plenty of freebies, and there’s so many characters to cycle around that it softens the blow if you don’t get the new one (because they’ll be back in like a month anyway). But when the gacha rates say no… they mean no.
I’ve never spent a cent on FEH and I never will, I get along just fine. Most of my favorite units to use are Grail Units anyway (like flame mordecai or iago)
My problem with monetisation in games is that many developers choose to gate certain gameplay experiences behind a paywall so it feels like you have to pay to even enjoy the full game. Dungeons and transmog in destiny for example
@NumberisNaN I would say that skins actually takes effort to do (specially if they change animations and/or effects), but they do not justify the price
Valorant's Night Market is probably the most predatory monetization system in existence. The fact that I've seen people get excited to buy an item they never wanted in the first place is crazy
I might add the desire to be special, whether it's by expressing individuality or standing out When there's so much customization/options available, people would want to find ways to express their individuality. But this is only so effective if they share the same options as everyone else (generic colour palette swaps). An in-game shop does address this to a degree, but lootboxes and slim odds to acquire certain items enhance them as you would always be in the small minority group that owns this ultra rare item. It becomes a status symbol like luxury brands.
I think this is the major reason i pay, i always liked things that are "unique", if i could pay a skin only i could wear i think i would (within reasonable margins im not rich)
I've been thinking why are gamers nowadays fall for this kind of tricks and then it dawned on me: because I grew up playing games that did not pull these kind of cheap tricks. I think stricter laws should be implemented because this is unlike the "spending your allowance on the arcade" kind of issue, it's pulling out your parent's credit card and burning through savings. Kids are conditioned and may view this kind of monetization as the new "normal" instead of demanding a product that is fair to its customers. So support your indie studios and remember that "free games" are not actually free because you'll be paying for convenience.
Those "free games" would be free if payment involved in them is only for stuff like skins and merchandise, not for stuff that affects gameplay being locked from a paywall.
I love indie games and I agree with you, however the reality is sad. I have seen so many awesome cool indie game that even this channel has covered just to die or enter a coma stage while games that do this models thrive in player base T_T , of course I am talking multiplayer indie game, single players have no issue. Maybe the system cannot be beaten and it is what it is
@@ArjunTheRageGuy actually no, many games that feature heavy microtransactions dont affect gameplay but they do prey in the desire of feeling "unique" with skins. I find funny that some people are bothered when I buy another game (especially an old one) but they keep spending on clothes for their avatars on a single game
@@lordeilluminati ok then. as long as those microtransactions arent used for stuff like some stronger weapons, which would affect gameplay, and only for stuff like skins, then I'm fine with it.
Do not forget one of the most important thing with these type of game: Fear of missing out. Similar to what you said about 30 hours Beginner Pack, but instead it a "limited" character/weapon/costume.
FOMO is a part of our everyday life Black Friday sale, Christmas sale, New Year sale, Payday sale, Grand Opening sale, etc. if you keep falling to the FOMO trap, then the jokes on you
A piece of advice for all genshin players and people curious about playing it: You don't need all the characters, all the 5* weapons nor all the constellations to enjoy it. The game is easy by itself with whatever the game throws at you, and it's story driven by your main character anyways. Plan ahead: See the list of characters, see the ones you like and save your free primogems for them. If you fail to get them don't feel stressed, they WILL be back sooner than you expect (this was a problem early on the game when we didn't have idea of the time it would take for a rerun, but not anymore). The "hardest" part of the game (the abyss) is mostly dependent on your luck with artifacts, and the rewards are mediocre, so even there it's not worth to pay for the ez mode.
Thank you! This topic is so important and should be common knowledge. Especially in our current gaming landscape where manipulation runs rampant and gets worse by the day. Theyre legit mutating
4:12 In the Overwatch subreddit a few weeks ago, people were complaining about how a certain skin was out of reach. They don't realize that it's all a tactic. Since it's their first time experiencing freemium monetization, it made it look like the lootbox system was a godsend and regret the loss of that system.
@@sushiroll3795 they only are because they used to get so many of them, they have no clue about the actual system and that it's actually more predatory in itself. They don't think deeper, they only say "we get less skins so old system better".
@@sushiroll3795 I mean, I genuinely have no problem with it still. I didn't ever feel like content was locked behind anything because I had currency I could spend towards it and most loot I got was nice as well. I did not ever feel a need to buy any lootboxes nor did I. Most importantly, it didn't give me any advantage whatsover against other players. Compare it to the current OW2 system in which heroes are locked behind some wall, which is too much imo.
I would argue Overwatch’s lootbox system was pretty damn good. The game very generously gave away loot boxes to players that often dropped good skins, emotes, and other things you genuinely wanted that didn’t affect gameplay. If there was a skin a player really wanted, the game and the loot boxes gave away plenty of currency to just buy the skins directly. I played ~100 hours of OW and got good skins and emotes for almost every hero without spending a cent.
Here's a tip: Just try to actually have fun... that's the point after all! Spending too much money feels the opposite of fun, especially since you feel obligated to keep playing a game when you spend money on it. That's how an addiction can start
These are the many reasons I wont buy into free to play games anymore. So many of them try so hard to get you to spend money from energy systems to limit your game time to long build/progress queues that take literal days if not weeks to complete. That isn't even touching the fact so many are a grind fest to get you to spend as much money as possible to save time.
Love this video, supported by actual research, raising awareness especially for the younger generation! We want to enjoy games, not to be financially manipulated!
This video really helped me understand why Overwatch 2's monetization feels so terrible. 1. Foot in the door They made everything too expensive. $20 for any legendary and even the battlepass for $10 isnt very appealling. Spending $20 or even $10 is alot harder to justify than if it was say $5 for a cool skin. 2. Currency distancing The currency packs are too expensive and the bonuses are too small, making so that everyone can agree that 100 coins is roughly $1 dollar. 3. Loss aversion The game sells cosmetics only so they have to make you like the game first before you're tempted into spending money. The game is in a bad state, no reason to spend on skins. 4. Social pressure Since their system has failed to lure us into spending, we actually look down on those wearing $20 dollar skins. Some of them look nice, but you spent 20 dollars on that?... Its like Blizzard completely forgot about the psicology of microtransactions and decided that their only customers from now on will be the brainless whales that spend thousands just because the game is popular.
As a TF2 player I can say TF2 already won the "TF2 vs OW" with those bad practices. I mean, is not like one game is better than another in general but if somebody needs to pick just one, TF2 is now easier to choose than before.
Really does suck that almost every modern day games are using micro transaction. Especially gacha games which are the worst offenders and now a shit ton multi-player games are utilizing these mechanics. More people need to know this and be warned of these predatory actions because these tactics are being utilized in almost everything.
Excellent video, thanks for sharing. If no one else has said this already, but I think another couple factors to your social pressure section is if a friend or people you actually know have a certain skin and may further entice the other person to buy the same or other skin so show off to friends. Lastly, and maybe even more important, is that having a skin vs a default character can plant certain ideas into other players' heads. I've heard from some people and even my younger cousins that sometimes seeing someone with a default skin automatically makes them think "noob". Or worse when playing with friends to make them feel embarrassed just for using a default skin (and this problem is probably seen much more with people probably under 20 years)
I can tell you first hand, that I've played Genshin Impact for over 2 years now, and I haven't spent a single penny. Great video this.. was great fun educating myself more about gacha games and what they do to our psyche!
@@kami_narisama I don't think that genshin's gacha rates are forgiving tbh, but what makes the game so f2p friendly is that the game is so easy that you don't need to get every characters that the game releases to finish even the hardest contents of the game so there's no reason to spend money into the game aside from you liking a certain character, in which case, you can just save up the in game currencies that you get just by playing the game to get the character that you want. I am just like the op, 2 years into the game and have not spend a single cent into the game, and so far I've gotten all the characters that I want and can easily clear the hardest content in the game with them.
@@kami_narisama you know what is funny about it? Pokemon Masters EX also has that strange level and game design on how the majority of the content can be beaten with the Free to Play units of this Pokemon Spin off that is doing better than Scarlet and Violet.
A great amount of self control. I bought in a couple months in, and left about a month or two later after I recognized the predatory nature of the system I was buying into
When I worked in the casino industry you see a lot of these. Particularly Social Pressure. In Alberta we have what is called, The Self Exclusion Program, and basically you sign yourself up to be banned from all casinos. So your face gets taken, and your name, etc and put into a big system where guards have access and have to work to keep those people out of the casino. Most of the faces in the books were dealers from casinos who had dealt to people, seen how easy they were winning so also got hooked on trying to get that feeling in other places until they bankrupt themselves completely.
I'm totally in the "actually calculate my odds" doctrine of playing gacha games and I have spent on them. However, on the psychology front, it seems when I spent on gacha games, I suddenly find myself harder to get guilt tripped by those asking me to donate to charities, since both video game spending and charity spending are part of my discresionary spending.
I don't think this video touches on the topic of how this affects gameplay quality itself. Many systems or mechanics are just outright removed or replaced by monetization schemes instead these days. Lately after seeing Monster Hunter Rise's paid cosmetics no longer being event-based free DLC, we don't even get themed event quests to work toward anymore. What's worse is that not everybody is into the wacky stuff or the standard stuff, so it targets people for their own personal taste, the same issue I have with Battle Passes. You just buy and go, it just rubs me the wrong way having experienced what it used to be like where you felt like you earned everything. Relevant to the above, the video also doesn't discuss enough about how being a F2P doesn't solve any problems. How you're spending hours and hours on a game designed to make your life inconvenient with no respect for your time, when it never should've been the case in the first place. A rewarding feeling of earning things is through struggle, learning, and challenge, not just how much time you can throw at it. If we didn't just play these games, we'd have more games working to create something memorable and fun.
Blue Archive is very f2p friendly. The game gives a lot of freebies for you to save up for "sparks" which guarantee a banner character of your choice, and even disregarding that, the hardest content in the game can be done just with farmable units and a borrowed unit from a club member. As long as a character is farmable, you can simply farm them all the way to maximum investment without spending a single dime.
The ironic thing, is that developers have been known to skew odds too, just look at the gumi devs. Who's to say that there aren't games out there that tweak odds based on accounts
Great video for those who are new to f2p/freemium games. I'm constantly surprised that people don't know these things, but then I remember that I grew up with these predatory tactics. I watched as companies tried and refined different ways of getting money out of you. It is so much easier to spot what they're doing today because I watched them fail at it.
Never spent a cent on Genshin. It's very generous in rewards, and the pity system allows you to 100% guaranteed any character or weapon want in the game. Already have all the characters i like, with their signature weapons in a year and few months. It just needs consistent play, like 10 minutes a day or less. Only people who are too restless will pay, but it's not forced at all. You don't see the gem shop popups anywhere in the game, only when you open the shop.
As a guy who plays gacha games religiously, this video is an example of social awareness. i've seen people spent almost 2k on gacha, monthly passes and battle passes. while me spent only a measly 30$ a month until getting that guaranteed unit, quite a patience game but it's worth it
As a poor man, I am immunized to FOMO I Don’t care for Cool Brands or cosmetics, and I wish to see a World Champion that got there with Defaults Skin and no emotes one day… XD
Aside from one puzzle game when I spent 7 cent for extra boots (and feel stupid about it), the only game I spent my money on is Guardian Tales. Not because I want to get ahead from everyone else but because I want to appreciate the developer. I love the game, I like how the developer handle the game (they fast to response to any error or bugs), the community is fun. The developer also quite generous with gifts and bonuses, like free coupons for holydays, doing live streaming (and gave free coupons in the stream), etc. The game is f2p friendly so actually I didn't need to buy anything to progress, but sometimes I bought some packages only to appreciate their hard works.
I play gacha games like Genshin, but put strict rules on myself. I only put money into the game on the basis that I enjoy the game and the amount I'm putting in is a fair amount relative to "$60 box" games for the enjoyment I'm getting, and then I only roll with what I already have stored up. Under NO circumstances will I put a "little more money in" just because I didn't get what I wanted. I find Genshin's pity system to be acceptable, because if I'm lucky, I'll get what I want for fewer rolls and be ahead for next time, but even if my luck is awful, I'm still guaranteed to get what I wanted for a price I'm willing to accept.
I love that you bring attention to this. Minor clarifications, the foot in the door is actually the free currency they give you to get you to buy something the first time. It removes the mental barrier and eases the possibility of a future purchase. (See how they get their foot in the door) the new package is a combo of “sweetening the deal” and “fear of missing out.” (Super cheap, great value, but there’s also a timer.) the ramping difficulty is also a combo of the avoiding pain, but relies heavily on the sunk cost fallacy. (First the cost is time, then the more you spend the more invested you become, the harder it is to quit otherwise you wasted everything) You don’t have have to believe me, I’m just a random UA-cam comment. Any highlight on how the psychology works helps fight the predatory practices. Even if some terms are off, the mechanics are the same. Great job
I still remember my biggest childhood sin. In SEA, free online games (semi P2W) and internet cafes are booming business, games like Point Blank, Dragon Nest, Lost Saga, etc emerges and milked millions of children to spend more for permanent items, better weapons, you know it I mostly regret that i was kind of a whale. I spend around 2 million Rupiahfor those games only to enjoy it about 5 years. Shouldve saved that money for English Test training or skill certification....
Man PB, I remmeber during the Gemscool era it was so tense P2W and competetive but you still can play better with some of their points weapon like AUG or G36C but the amounts of times you need to spend is just insane. Then Garena take the game make too many discount sale and for some reason removed the normal G36C points on shop but after that Zepetto decide to want to handle the game alone and good lord I stopped played that game. I spent probaly 800$ and it was a hard lesson. And is it PB never have any permanent weapon? Since Lost Saga have that.
tips on how to avoid spending money if youre having a hard time: 1- avoid p2w pvp-focused games at all costs, no matter how good they look 2- avoid making the first purchase. youre going to get the characters and items you want by just playing eventually 3- youve invested too much money on a game? okay, what will make you feel better: keep playing and spending and loathing the money youve spent or put the game down and play other games or just do something irl lol p.s.: as a genshin player who have never spent a dime, ill tell you this: no, you dont want all the 5* characters. thats nonsensical and what the devs want you to think. the more "good" characters you have the less you need each of them individually. just have fun and choose a couple characters that are both strong and interesting to pull for
We need to be able to EARN our rewards, Not just megagrind for them. I feel it's the mentality of this generation, " why struggle when I can just pay to beat it"?
10:28 Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that the Blade Runner 2049 clip wasn't covered quite well on the bottom left corner, in case you'd like to censor it so the video doesn't get taken down or something
I play a large variety of games, ow2, genshin, tf2, single player games, etc. I am no stranger to the cheap tricks, I have not spent any money on game transactions whatsoever besides spend a couple bucks on tf2 and ColorfulStage, I think that paying for games that give a great experience without needing to pay or needing to pay your entire wallet are games that I feel are worth paying for, of course whether or not a game is fun without having to pay is a personal standard but when I like the business model, I want to support it. For trying to minimize bad monetization, I think that there should be like a pop up in-game to tell the gamer what kind of monetization tricks the game is using and what good practices to avoid losing your entire wallet, or like a warning every time you pay money to remind you of your life choices.
Genshin monthly pass really is a FOMO for me damn. However its free gems are pretty decent (gameplay wise) and gacha impulses are a must to have in the first place while playing these games so i would say not so bad
I've been playing gacha games for about a decade now. Never paid a cent. I played casually and I think I'm doing great as I really never enjoy the game if I have to pay for things in it. Also self control is very important.. if you cant manage yourself or have an addiction problem then of course you need help
You are complicit in the system and feeding the beast. FTP players provide free marketing, help prop up in game economies, and otherwise contribute to the developer’s ability to make bank. The only winner is the developer.
@@bate01071exactly playing for free is not really going against those scam practice at all The answer to win in those cash grab is to not play since everything is based on luck/money its just bad
I earn £2,500 a month from my job. I'm single with no kids. I save 75-80% of my paycheck. Spending £50-100 a month isn't much of a dent in my pocket. Spending it on something that makes me happy is definitely worth it. So it depends on your financial situation.
Someone telling me to spend money on in game microtransactions (real life money) for meaningless cosmetics I treat no differently than someone who tells me to try alcohol! Point being, it's peer pressure that I resist everytime
@overson7614 It's getting so bad that these devs aren't even giving their player base an option to earn in game currency to unlock anything anymore and that satisfying feeling that comes from earning items that way. They are now forcing their player base where if they want to customize anything they're locking it all behind microtransactions, battle passes/season passes / loot boxes / pay to win, these dev's that implement this are greedy POS's! Greed has and always will destroy anything good and video games are no exception, these devs will find out the hard way when their player base (the sane ones at least) drop these games like the plague! They are blatant predatory tactics and in all honesty not too much different from gambling in all honesty.
Knowing these actually helps avoid the tricks. I found out about foot in the door about 3 years ago and ever since I haven't bought anything other than the starter pack in any game except for one.
Loss Aversion is imo the most grimey tactic and a staple of P2W stuff. Any game that REQUIRES me to open my wallet to advance at all or just in reasonable amount of time is a no-go in my book. Foot in the door is by far the most sly tactic tho. Seeing myself go from being okay with occasional $1 purchases to setting aside up to $80 for a character purchase over the years is...interesting, to say the least. Fortunately, I do have good self-control and have never spent what I couldn't afford, but understand that the sec you spend that first in game dollar, you open yourself to more and bigger spending. Be careful.
Haha the Shadowverse example really caught me off-guard cuz I wasn't expecting to hear about it while playing a match of it. But to elaborate on the example provided, Shadowverse is actually incredibly f2p friendly imo, you just gotta do a little bit of research which you should be doing regardless if you're into TCGs in the first place. I recently got back into the game after not playing for a while and before that I had 60-ish hours into the game playing with one of the prebuilt decks that are given to you for free. And after Liquifying all of my non-rotation cards I was able to get enough Vials to make two tier 1 decks. But I would be lying if I said I didn't feel like pulling for packs whenever I see a card-specific leader
i find it beneficial to keep a budget log and just write down all your game spendings. that way, you can see how much youve spent and adjust your spendings accordingly. also set a hard limit for game spendings as well
just want saying this tactic also been use for online shopping like Amazon, so in the end of day its your money do whatever you want with it but don't crying to other when you don't get what you want.
To those who play with a game that has an energy system and is offline... I recommend time travelling... No I'm not joking, just change the date and time of your device... Happy playing! Seriously, the amount of mobile games that have an "energy system that replenishes over time" is why I gave up on mobile games years ago.
Damn. People really fall for this kind predatory monetization? I caught on really early on when playing Overwatch back in 2018. I didn't take into consideration FOMO, though, and the psychological effect of losing. Maybe it's because I only play Single player, co-op and fighting games mainly, this idea of learning to lose was strongly instilled on me when I played more competitive Street Fighter. So I was calm about my loses and despite even going on losing streaks, I had fun. I guess I had/have other things going on that take priority in terms of what to emotionally invest my time into? Nonetheless, this was an informative video. Thank you!
11:20 - In this particular case, you could just have your friend agree to only use free cards when battling you. Some 'save money' peer pressure at hand there.
Honestly, with all these tactics, I would say the only way to counter there tactics is yourself. As long as it is not pay-to-win, selling skins for heavy discount is a viable business model, and no one is to blame but yourself if you ended up having a buyer’s remorse. I personally paid to Genshin because I support the devs and wanted them to create much better content in the future, as long as the freebies that they release on their UA-cam channel on a bi-monthly basis. So it’s less about the fomo, but more about the fact that I know my money is being used for good content.
This is exactly what I'm writing my senior thesis on for my school! This was really helpful to provide more points and information to my thesis, do you have sources for where you found all this so I can read up more on some of these topics?
I bought a microtransaction once. I got the cat ears cosmetic in Halo Infinite. It didn't stop me from dropping the game once I was done with the campaign. The feeling of shame I got was kinda nice though.
i am trying so incredibly hard to wrap my head around 7:56. I get loss aversion, i get it in p2w and irl, but that last bit of the quote just doesnt find application in the game-sphere to me? talking about "while still keeping some(..)". Can somebody help please
I guess, both in the example and in gaming, there are 2x2 states of being: winning vs losing - and - taking a risk by investing something vs not doing it. In case of the lier-example, you get either of 4 states (like a 2x2 matrix): win by lying - lie and still lose - don't lie and still win - don't lie and lose. With the risk of the investment in this case they most likely mean the guilt/bad feeling that you get from lying your way to succes. In games, the 4 states would be: pay to win - pay and still lose - win without paying - lose while not paying. The equivalent of the lying would be that when paying to succeed for example in pvp, you don't want to feel like your money boosted you to victory but instead have the uncertainty-factor in there that maybe after all your skill decided the game in your favour (for example in pvp against a more skilled players despite pay-to-win gear). In short, my take would be: When trying to win something, you don't blatantly lie because you would feel bad. When trying to beat someone in a game, you don't straight up pay-to-win all the way because you wouldn't feel that good.
As someone who have played gacha games since 9yo, i just wanna say that despite gacha is one of genshin's most criticized aspect, it is far from the worst. And ironically, most of the newer games that isn't rpg in the first place often have more predatory monetization compared to gacha rpgs.
While I agree on the character banner being bad but not the worst. I can't think of any gacha game with as worse gacha pity rate than Genshin's weapon banner. I truly believe it should be illegal. In contrast to Genshin, I think the most F2P and fair gacha monetization system I've ever seen in the gacha game industry is Punishing Gray Raven.
@@hijodelsoldeoriente Azur Lane also one of the F2P friendly gacha where you can get most of the ships but if you want skins for that ship you need buy it using premium currency (gems)
Social pressure can be built into games. Even PvE ones. Generally in the form of letting stronger, experienced players help out new players in some way.
What is the most amount of money you've spent on microtransactions in a particular game?
Holy, I must have have spent over a 1000$ on both TF2 and Hearthstone. 18-year-old me was pretty dumb
Per item? Roughly $20 max. Over a period of time? It would probably double if it wasn't for free rewards I've gotten from other services (and yes, actually free rewards. Not first time purchase discounts and the like).
Google rewards surveys (and play points) have paid for damn near every Welkin Moon I've purchased in Genshin in their entirety.
Solid video!
For me it would be League of legends. It's around 40 dollars. I think it was 2-3 skins. I was infatuated because it was star guardian and KDA themed skins.
Mobile games:
~$700 for Kingdom Hearts Union χ (pay-to-win) worthwhile as I was part of a Top 10 guild. (Over the course of 4 years)
~$200 for Final Fantasy VII: the First SOLDIER (Cosmetic/support) 40% worth it, never engaging with gacha ever again from that experience (1 year, game is about to EoS).
~$250+ for Cytus & Cytus II (DLC) I haven't played most of it, yet I love the devs so much I'd gladly support new tracks coming out (since 2011 and still on-going).
Probably Apex Legends. The equivalent of 10$ on season 1 BP, 10$ on season 2 BP, 10$ on Wattson skin, and 20$ when they raised the level cap from 100 to 500. I have played it nonstop since first week.
This vid needs to become standard for gamers to watch. Ty for exposing these predatory actions.
You should also watch PMG's (People make games) video on the topic.
My only problem is that game devs spend millions making a game and put it up for free download. I'm against P2W, but the currency distancing and foot in the door methods don't seem too malicious, it's just a sure way to recoup your losses.
@@tdc9951 checking it out right now.
Accursed Farms did it pretty well:
ua-cam.com/video/tUAX0gnZ3Nw/v-deo.html
Applys pretty well to micro games.
@@differentman1878 nice to see a tower of god enjoyer
i feel like the worst part of it all is that once the game finally convinced you to buy something you become committed to it, and putting down the game for good becomes harder because of all the cash you've sunk into it, and the more you spend the harder it gets to realize it's long since time to quit. It's incredibly predatory in the way it keeps people playing a game long after they've become bored of it because if they leave they'll have wasted their money, instead of keeping people playing by, well, making an actually good game that will keep players' interest for longer.
thats happening with me and apex legends right now
Ah yes
Sunk cost fallacy
It was kinda like that with Pokemon Masters EX during 2021 with the Introductiom of the stamina system. But overtime, the multitude of changes added overtime + constant tie in promotion to other Pokemon ads help it stay alive.
It may not be just me, but as a player 2 years and ongoing still playing this game, I find it strange as to how other Gacha gamers views this Pokemon Spin-off as having a Generous Rarity system rate compared to other Gacha games on the lootbox mechanics.
@@gameman3250 same. I’m at the point where after this season I’m just not buying the bp or any skin. I feel imma just buy single player games and be content
you really didn't waste your money, i mean; you bought a product and you used said product then your money has been spent, not wasted. I understand that someone would want to use the things bought in the game as much as they can, but the money is already spent, play more or less would not change anything. The best thing someone can do in that situation is realize that he no loner enjoys the game and move on, try other things or even other games
One method we didn't include in this video was "FOMO" or putting in-game items on sale, which is an age old technique that has proven time and time again to be effective whether its the allure of saving money or players knowing the options is only going to be aroudn for a limited added time .
@Shi Yu Meng still, its ironic how lootboxes are better than what blizzard doing to Ow2 right now
@@angpham941 In most games I'd rather pay for a bp than a couple of lootboxes. It's just that in OW2, the first battlepass was mediocre to a lot of people and the prices for the in game shop were pretty high so it makes their old lootbox system look better. It was more generous since you already paying 40-60 bucks to even access the game
@Shi Yu Meng The only reason why people say OW1 Loot boxes are better than the current OW2 economy is because you weren't limited to $.60 a week playing for free to pay for $20+ skins, and could grind to get cosmetics for free. Yeah, I don't like lootboxes because they prey on gambling addicts, but at least it was a better system.
i thought you did with the beginner bundle segment since bundles goes away with time.
so it has fomo attached to it even as with the "foot in the door method"
@MichaelSpeth well in OW u payed 40 (on pc at least for the lower tier edition), and could get EVERY SINGLE SKIN in a few years. (With lots of legendary, lots of epic (sometimes of great quality), and a ton of rare)
In OW² thats impossible, even while paying as much as OW cost you or even the cost of the first game legendary edition with the statue. You'd get a dozen of skins maybe in a few years, most of it being low quality "epic" (rare/epic/legendary/mythical).
How to avoid every monetization tactics:
Foot In The Door: ignore them like all those pop up ads
Currency Distancing: using the power of math
Loss Aversion: real gamers don't cheat
Social Pressure: generous of you to think I have friends to begin with
Congrats, you can now enjoy predatory games for free!
I do basicly that, and found it so easy to do that I never understand why people complain too much.
It's like they can't control their wallets.
Maybe it's a first world problems or something I'm not rich enough to comprehend...
@@pontoancora it's because even if they don't fall for the tactics, the game is made worse by everything held behind the paywall. It makes sense to complain tbh
@@Savariable totally disagree.lots of game knows how to use the gacha/microtransations part.
@@Savariable and being free to play make the game 100% better for the millions that can't pay
@@pontoancora warframe is one of the only consumer friendly free to plays
Genshin? Nope. Absolutely not. They absolutely do not need those prices or the gambling, the money they make is extreme profit. They dont put much of that money back into the game, they just abuse the gambling to make a massive profit, not because they want to make the game as good as it can be, but because they just want as much money as possible whatever the cost.
Its baffles me how people normalize these kind of thing these days. Some even took pride on how much they spent in a game. How did it even came to this point? I dread to guess
Knowing the games are online and will one day be shut down
Crash On The Run is one of the example that is terminated by Dev. So I must avoid Online games from greedy company, and play offline game if I'm bored.
Because the Dev of Candy Crush wanted to make more money from COTR, but it didn't success as their first game, eventually they TERMINATED the game that may be the cost of server was expensive or ordered by Activision to delete it.
Correction: was ordered by Activision to delete it.
exactly… it baffles how people basically bragging “hey guys I just got exploited by the company for spending 200$ for unlocking one character jpeg”
It sucks that such a large part of the gaming industry is moving to this model.
I even play some free-to-play games, but I almost never buy anything.
But yeah, I'm still complicit in the system. Makes me feel bad man.
This is why console PS2 Era is the golden age for players.
@@littleboss2006 this is why i still love ps2 games even if its so outdated by todays standards
why feel bad, just enjoy the game, big spenders and funding the game for you, enjoy =)
@@littleboss2006 good old time and we can litteraly preserve the game through emulator. Most game nowadays follow the fremium live service always online game which will lead to wasted potential regardless how many money they will make because once the game service end, that game will looming into abandonware realm forever because no one can play them anymore.
@@jorge86rodriguez Can't enjoy the game when it pop-ups cosmetic shit everytime on your screen. You will feel guilty, doesn't matter what
As a FEH player, I think “Power Creep” is a huge factor. Every character added is the next. With better art, better skills, and BST, it promotes summoning and ultimately money spending with their criminally low rates to get one. Note: FEH is fairly F2P friendly.
so how does it compare to Pokemon Masters EX where the PVP culture is non existent? (besides it's lackluster but serviceable PVE mode)
70% - 3 star trainers (basic)
23% - 4 star trainers (intermediate)
7% - 5 star trainers (rarest and often most powerful)
are they also the rarity rates to Fire Emblem Heroes?
@@jirehtheprovider It varies a bit from banner to banner, but generally:
36% - 3 star heroes
55% - 4 star heroes
3% - 4 star special heroes (Those are older 5 star units that were taken out of the gacha, and can otherwise only be gotten as 5 stars on spcific banners)
3% - 5 star heroes
3% - 5 star focous heroes (Likely the ones you are pulling for)
FEH feels quite forgiving in comparison to other games I’ve played, ngl. If I don’t want xyz character, I can just fodder their skills/weapon into a unit I do care about and it makes the game more fun because you can play with whoever you want with the best gear you have lying around. Heck, the fully maxed out Berkut I’ve been building since I started playing the game carries me harder than most of the new units, but I can’t say the same for main Lords that get a new alt every 2 patches. They give out plenty of freebies, and there’s so many characters to cycle around that it softens the blow if you don’t get the new one (because they’ll be back in like a month anyway). But when the gacha rates say no… they mean no.
That's why I quitted Asphalt 9
I’ve never spent a cent on FEH and I never will, I get along just fine. Most of my favorite units to use are Grail Units anyway (like flame mordecai or iago)
My problem with monetisation in games is that many developers choose to gate certain gameplay experiences behind a paywall so it feels like you have to pay to even enjoy the full game. Dungeons and transmog in destiny for example
@NumberisNaN I would say that skins actually takes effort to do (specially if they change animations and/or effects), but they do not justify the price
You just described DLCs..
Valorant's Night Market is probably the most predatory monetization system in existence. The fact that I've seen people get excited to buy an item they never wanted in the first place is crazy
Not even close. Look at mobile/gatcha games they use tactics that online gambling uses.
not really, that place is reserved for diablo immortals.
@@tdc9951 In online gambling you have a real chance of winning real money; the same can't be said of Genshin. It's gross.
Genshin Impact with it's pity system is disgusting. Specially the weapon banner.
@@hijodelsoldeoriente have you seen diablo immortals system? We have gone deeper to depravity
I might add the desire to be special, whether it's by expressing individuality or standing out
When there's so much customization/options available, people would want to find ways to express their individuality. But this is only so effective if they share the same options as everyone else (generic colour palette swaps). An in-game shop does address this to a degree, but lootboxes and slim odds to acquire certain items enhance them as you would always be in the small minority group that owns this ultra rare item. It becomes a status symbol like luxury brands.
I think this is the major reason i pay, i always liked things that are "unique", if i could pay a skin only i could wear i think i would (within reasonable margins im not rich)
I think this counts as a part social pressure
I've been thinking why are gamers nowadays fall for this kind of tricks and then it dawned on me: because I grew up playing games that did not pull these kind of cheap tricks. I think stricter laws should be implemented because this is unlike the "spending your allowance on the arcade" kind of issue, it's pulling out your parent's credit card and burning through savings. Kids are conditioned and may view this kind of monetization as the new "normal" instead of demanding a product that is fair to its customers. So support your indie studios and remember that "free games" are not actually free because you'll be paying for convenience.
Those "free games" would be free if payment involved in them is only for stuff like skins and merchandise, not for stuff that affects gameplay being locked from a paywall.
I love indie games and I agree with you, however the reality is sad. I have seen so many awesome cool indie game that even this channel has covered just to die or enter a coma stage while games that do this models thrive in player base T_T , of course I am talking multiplayer indie game, single players have no issue.
Maybe the system cannot be beaten and it is what it is
I agree. The future is worrying. I think monetization for free-to-play games should be more similar to the likes of Warframe and not Genshin.
@@ArjunTheRageGuy actually no, many games that feature heavy microtransactions dont affect gameplay but they do prey in the desire of feeling "unique" with skins. I find funny that some people are bothered when I buy another game (especially an old one) but they keep spending on clothes for their avatars on a single game
@@lordeilluminati ok then. as long as those microtransactions arent used for stuff like some stronger weapons, which would affect gameplay, and only for stuff like skins, then I'm fine with it.
Do not forget one of the most important thing with these type of game: Fear of missing out. Similar to what you said about 30 hours Beginner Pack, but instead it a "limited" character/weapon/costume.
FOMO is a part of our everyday life
Black Friday sale, Christmas sale, New Year sale, Payday sale, Grand Opening sale, etc.
if you keep falling to the FOMO trap, then the jokes on you
A piece of advice for all genshin players and people curious about playing it: You don't need all the characters, all the 5* weapons nor all the constellations to enjoy it. The game is easy by itself with whatever the game throws at you, and it's story driven by your main character anyways.
Plan ahead: See the list of characters, see the ones you like and save your free primogems for them. If you fail to get them don't feel stressed, they WILL be back sooner than you expect (this was a problem early on the game when we didn't have idea of the time it would take for a rerun, but not anymore).
The "hardest" part of the game (the abyss) is mostly dependent on your luck with artifacts, and the rewards are mediocre, so even there it's not worth to pay for the ez mode.
Ya but it sure is nice to spend $60 once and get all the things the game has to offer
Yep this. I only use Welkin since it's pretty cheap.
Thank you! This topic is so important and should be common knowledge. Especially in our current gaming landscape where manipulation runs rampant and gets worse by the day. Theyre legit mutating
4:12 In the Overwatch subreddit a few weeks ago, people were complaining about how a certain skin was out of reach. They don't realize that it's all a tactic.
Since it's their first time experiencing freemium monetization, it made it look like the lootbox system was a godsend and regret the loss of that system.
The sheer amount of people I've seen praising the lootbox system since OW2's release has been genuinely concerning.
@@sushiroll3795 it was better tbh. Not good but better.
@@sushiroll3795 they only are because they used to get so many of them, they have no clue about the actual system and that it's actually more predatory in itself. They don't think deeper, they only say "we get less skins so old system better".
@@sushiroll3795 I mean, I genuinely have no problem with it still. I didn't ever feel like content was locked behind anything because I had currency I could spend towards it and most loot I got was nice as well. I did not ever feel a need to buy any lootboxes nor did I. Most importantly, it didn't give me any advantage whatsover against other players. Compare it to the current OW2 system in which heroes are locked behind some wall, which is too much imo.
I would argue Overwatch’s lootbox system was pretty damn good. The game very generously gave away loot boxes to players that often dropped good skins, emotes, and other things you genuinely wanted that didn’t affect gameplay. If there was a skin a player really wanted, the game and the loot boxes gave away plenty of currency to just buy the skins directly. I played ~100 hours of OW and got good skins and emotes for almost every hero without spending a cent.
Here's a tip: Just try to actually have fun... that's the point after all! Spending too much money feels the opposite of fun, especially since you feel obligated to keep playing a game when you spend money on it. That's how an addiction can start
These are the many reasons I wont buy into free to play games anymore. So many of them try so hard to get you to spend money from energy systems to limit your game time to long build/progress queues that take literal days if not weeks to complete. That isn't even touching the fact so many are a grind fest to get you to spend as much money as possible to save time.
This is why it makes me so sad that fighting game players are begging for F2P. These people have Stockholm syndrome.
@@dankgothtrash People always want to get something for nothing.
Love this video, supported by actual research, raising awareness especially for the younger generation! We want to enjoy games, not to be financially manipulated!
This video really helped me understand why Overwatch 2's monetization feels so terrible.
1. Foot in the door
They made everything too expensive. $20 for any legendary and even the battlepass for $10 isnt very appealling.
Spending $20 or even $10 is alot harder to justify than if it was say $5 for a cool skin.
2. Currency distancing
The currency packs are too expensive and the bonuses are too small, making so that everyone can agree that 100 coins is roughly $1 dollar.
3. Loss aversion
The game sells cosmetics only so they have to make you like the game first before you're tempted into spending money. The game is in a bad state, no reason to spend on skins.
4. Social pressure
Since their system has failed to lure us into spending, we actually look down on those wearing $20 dollar skins. Some of them look nice, but you spent 20 dollars on that?...
Its like Blizzard completely forgot about the psicology of microtransactions and decided that their only customers from now on will be the brainless whales that spend thousands just because the game is popular.
As a TF2 player I can say TF2 already won the "TF2 vs OW" with those bad practices.
I mean, is not like one game is better than another in general but if somebody needs to pick just one, TF2 is now easier to choose than before.
Really does suck that almost every modern day games are using micro transaction. Especially gacha games which are the worst offenders and now a shit ton multi-player games are utilizing these mechanics. More people need to know this and be warned of these predatory actions because these tactics are being utilized in almost everything.
I adore Gacha games for characters an lore but rarely play them XD
Or learn to pkay those games free to play. Or at least spending minimum like less than $10-$50 per month or so depending on ur spare money.
@@invertbrid yeah. It seems people are too fragile to just have some self control.
@@pontoancora im literally saving up some materials for my character and yeah i have self control and also other things
@@walterwhite4398 keep doing that
Excellent video, thanks for sharing. If no one else has said this already, but I think another couple factors to your social pressure section is if a friend or people you actually know have a certain skin and may further entice the other person to buy the same or other skin so show off to friends.
Lastly, and maybe even more important, is that having a skin vs a default character can plant certain ideas into other players' heads. I've heard from some people and even my younger cousins that sometimes seeing someone with a default skin automatically makes them think "noob". Or worse when playing with friends to make them feel embarrassed just for using a default skin (and this problem is probably seen much more with people probably under 20 years)
This need more attention! Such good editing!
8:48 haha couldn’t have said it any better love the content 👍🏻
I can tell you first hand, that I've played Genshin Impact for over 2 years now, and I haven't spent a single penny. Great video this.. was great fun educating myself more about gacha games and what they do to our psyche!
Judging from my friends who are ehem, gacha 'experts' Genshin's are VERY forgiving despite the low percentage. So there's that at least
@@kami_narisama I don't think that genshin's gacha rates are forgiving tbh, but what makes the game so f2p friendly is that the game is so easy that you don't need to get every characters that the game releases to finish even the hardest contents of the game so there's no reason to spend money into the game aside from you liking a certain character, in which case, you can just save up the in game currencies that you get just by playing the game to get the character that you want. I am just like the op, 2 years into the game and have not spend a single cent into the game, and so far I've gotten all the characters that I want and can easily clear the hardest content in the game with them.
I always wanted to try out Genshin while maintaining F2P but videos say its P2W but this convinced me
@@kami_narisama you know what is funny about it?
Pokemon Masters EX also has that strange level and game design on how the majority of the content can be beaten with the Free to Play units of this Pokemon Spin off that is doing better than Scarlet and Violet.
A great amount of self control. I bought in a couple months in, and left about a month or two later after I recognized the predatory nature of the system I was buying into
The worst offender with these things is war robots, literally everything is pay2win.
When I worked in the casino industry you see a lot of these. Particularly Social Pressure. In Alberta we have what is called, The Self Exclusion Program, and basically you sign yourself up to be banned from all casinos. So your face gets taken, and your name, etc and put into a big system where guards have access and have to work to keep those people out of the casino. Most of the faces in the books were dealers from casinos who had dealt to people, seen how easy they were winning so also got hooked on trying to get that feeling in other places until they bankrupt themselves completely.
I'm totally in the "actually calculate my odds" doctrine of playing gacha games and I have spent on them. However, on the psychology front, it seems when I spent on gacha games, I suddenly find myself harder to get guilt tripped by those asking me to donate to charities, since both video game spending and charity spending are part of my discresionary spending.
I don't think this video touches on the topic of how this affects gameplay quality itself. Many systems or mechanics are just outright removed or replaced by monetization schemes instead these days.
Lately after seeing Monster Hunter Rise's paid cosmetics no longer being event-based free DLC, we don't even get themed event quests to work toward anymore. What's worse is that not everybody is into the wacky stuff or the standard stuff, so it targets people for their own personal taste, the same issue I have with Battle Passes. You just buy and go, it just rubs me the wrong way having experienced what it used to be like where you felt like you earned everything.
Relevant to the above, the video also doesn't discuss enough about how being a F2P doesn't solve any problems. How you're spending hours and hours on a game designed to make your life inconvenient with no respect for your time, when it never should've been the case in the first place. A rewarding feeling of earning things is through struggle, learning, and challenge, not just how much time you can throw at it. If we didn't just play these games, we'd have more games working to create something memorable and fun.
I hate in-game cosmetics because not only does it serve no functional purpose, but it also breaks the in-game canon. Most of the times anyway.
At least they dont affect gameplay besides just being like skins
Blue Archive is very f2p friendly. The game gives a lot of freebies for you to save up for "sparks" which guarantee a banner character of your choice, and even disregarding that, the hardest content in the game can be done just with farmable units and a borrowed unit from a club member. As long as a character is farmable, you can simply farm them all the way to maximum investment without spending a single dime.
The ironic thing, is that developers have been known to skew odds too, just look at the gumi devs. Who's to say that there aren't games out there that tweak odds based on accounts
I love how this companies make that much money and still the game is not good enough
Nice. Now do one about how content creators manipulate you into giving them money!
I really liked the vid, keep it up!
Great video for those who are new to f2p/freemium games. I'm constantly surprised that people don't know these things, but then I remember that I grew up with these predatory tactics. I watched as companies tried and refined different ways of getting money out of you. It is so much easier to spot what they're doing today because I watched them fail at it.
Never spent a cent on Genshin. It's very generous in rewards, and the pity system allows you to 100% guaranteed any character or weapon want in the game. Already have all the characters i like, with their signature weapons in a year and few months. It just needs consistent play, like 10 minutes a day or less. Only people who are too restless will pay, but it's not forced at all. You don't see the gem shop popups anywhere in the game, only when you open the shop.
By this point I already know the ins and outs of all those tricks like the back of my hand.
Still very well made and educational video 👍
I thought myself too strong minded to ever fall victim to loss aversion but then he brought up clash Royale 💀
Thanks for the vid
As a guy who plays gacha games religiously, this video is an example of social awareness.
i've seen people spent almost 2k on gacha, monthly passes and battle passes. while me spent only a measly 30$ a month until getting that guaranteed unit, quite a patience game but it's worth it
As a poor man, I am immunized to FOMO
I Don’t care for Cool Brands or cosmetics, and I wish to see a World Champion that got there with Defaults Skin and no emotes one day…
XD
Times like this I'm glad I grew up in a humble not so rich home where money was around to be thrown at games
Love your content
I really want currency distancing to become illegal.
A really good video!
They can't make me spend money if i don't have any
Aside from one puzzle game when I spent 7 cent for extra boots (and feel stupid about it), the only game I spent my money on is Guardian Tales. Not because I want to get ahead from everyone else but because I want to appreciate the developer. I love the game, I like how the developer handle the game (they fast to response to any error or bugs), the community is fun. The developer also quite generous with gifts and bonuses, like free coupons for holydays, doing live streaming (and gave free coupons in the stream), etc. The game is f2p friendly so actually I didn't need to buy anything to progress, but sometimes I bought some packages only to appreciate their hard works.
I play gacha games like Genshin, but put strict rules on myself. I only put money into the game on the basis that I enjoy the game and the amount I'm putting in is a fair amount relative to "$60 box" games for the enjoyment I'm getting, and then I only roll with what I already have stored up. Under NO circumstances will I put a "little more money in" just because I didn't get what I wanted. I find Genshin's pity system to be acceptable, because if I'm lucky, I'll get what I want for fewer rolls and be ahead for next time, but even if my luck is awful, I'm still guaranteed to get what I wanted for a price I'm willing to accept.
I love that you bring attention to this. Minor clarifications, the foot in the door is actually the free currency they give you to get you to buy something the first time. It removes the mental barrier and eases the possibility of a future purchase. (See how they get their foot in the door) the new package is a combo of “sweetening the deal” and “fear of missing out.” (Super cheap, great value, but there’s also a timer.) the ramping difficulty is also a combo of the avoiding pain, but relies heavily on the sunk cost fallacy. (First the cost is time, then the more you spend the more invested you become, the harder it is to quit otherwise you wasted everything)
You don’t have have to believe me, I’m just a random UA-cam comment. Any highlight on how the psychology works helps fight the predatory practices. Even if some terms are off, the mechanics are the same. Great job
I still remember my biggest childhood sin. In SEA, free online games (semi P2W) and internet cafes are booming business, games like Point Blank, Dragon Nest, Lost Saga, etc emerges and milked millions of children to spend more for permanent items, better weapons, you know it
I mostly regret that i was kind of a whale. I spend around 2 million Rupiahfor those games only to enjoy it about 5 years. Shouldve saved that money for English Test training or skill certification....
Man PB, I remmeber during the Gemscool era it was so tense P2W and competetive but you still can play better with some of their points weapon like AUG or G36C but the amounts of times you need to spend is just insane. Then Garena take the game make too many discount sale and for some reason removed the normal G36C points on shop but after that Zepetto decide to want to handle the game alone and good lord I stopped played that game. I spent probaly 800$ and it was a hard lesson. And is it PB never have any permanent weapon? Since Lost Saga have that.
tips on how to avoid spending money if youre having a hard time:
1- avoid p2w pvp-focused games at all costs, no matter how good they look
2- avoid making the first purchase. youre going to get the characters and items you want by just playing eventually
3- youve invested too much money on a game? okay, what will make you feel better: keep playing and spending and loathing the money youve spent or put the game down and play other games or just do something irl lol
p.s.: as a genshin player who have never spent a dime, ill tell you this: no, you dont want all the 5* characters. thats nonsensical and what the devs want you to think. the more "good" characters you have the less you need each of them individually. just have fun and choose a couple characters that are both strong and interesting to pull for
We need to be able to EARN our rewards, Not just megagrind for them.
I feel it's the mentality of this generation, " why struggle when I can just pay to beat it"?
Exactly when the best way to progress in a game is just to go to work it just kills my excitement to play tbh
10:28 Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that the Blade Runner 2049 clip wasn't covered quite well on the bottom left corner, in case you'd like to censor it so the video doesn't get taken down or something
I play a large variety of games, ow2, genshin, tf2, single player games, etc. I am no stranger to the cheap tricks, I have not spent any money on game transactions whatsoever besides spend a couple bucks on tf2 and ColorfulStage, I think that paying for games that give a great experience without needing to pay or needing to pay your entire wallet are games that I feel are worth paying for, of course whether or not a game is fun without having to pay is a personal standard but when I like the business model, I want to support it. For trying to minimize bad monetization, I think that there should be like a pop up in-game to tell the gamer what kind of monetization tricks the game is using and what good practices to avoid losing your entire wallet, or like a warning every time you pay money to remind you of your life choices.
Great video. I’ve subscribed.
Genshin monthly pass really is a FOMO for me damn.
However its free gems are pretty decent (gameplay wise) and gacha impulses are a must to have in the first place while playing these games so i would say not so bad
Do you thing so? It's so easy to just play a game as a F2P. Even more Genshin that don't have any P2W moment.
Do you mean the battlepass?, I would rather buy the Welkin moon instead
I've been playing gacha games for about a decade now. Never paid a cent. I played casually and I think I'm doing great as I really never enjoy the game if I have to pay for things in it. Also self control is very important.. if you cant manage yourself or have an addiction problem then of course you need help
You are complicit in the system and feeding the beast. FTP players provide free marketing, help prop up in game economies, and otherwise contribute to the developer’s ability to make bank. The only winner is the developer.
@@bate01071exactly playing for free is not really going against those scam practice at all
The answer to win in those cash grab is to not play since everything is based on luck/money its just bad
I earn £2,500 a month from my job. I'm single with no kids. I save 75-80% of my paycheck.
Spending £50-100 a month isn't much of a dent in my pocket. Spending it on something that makes me happy is definitely worth it.
So it depends on your financial situation.
Someone telling me to spend money on in game microtransactions (real life money) for meaningless cosmetics I treat no differently than someone who tells me to try alcohol! Point being, it's peer pressure that I resist everytime
Absolutely phenomenal video. More people need to see these predatory techniques
@overson7614 It's getting so bad that these devs aren't even giving their player base an option to earn in game currency to unlock anything anymore and that satisfying feeling that comes from earning items that way. They are now forcing their player base where if they want to customize anything they're locking it all behind microtransactions, battle passes/season passes / loot boxes / pay to win, these dev's that implement this are greedy POS's! Greed has and always will destroy anything good and video games are no exception, these devs will find out the hard way when their player base (the sane ones at least) drop these games like the plague! They are blatant predatory tactics and in all honesty not too much different from gambling in all honesty.
Knowing these actually helps avoid the tricks.
I found out about foot in the door about 3 years ago and ever since I haven't bought anything other than the starter pack in any game except for one.
Awesome video, it should be shared massively! 💪🏼
Excellent video! Very informative!!
Loss Aversion is imo the most grimey tactic and a staple of P2W stuff. Any game that REQUIRES me to open my wallet to advance at all or just in reasonable amount of time is a no-go in my book. Foot in the door is by far the most sly tactic tho. Seeing myself go from being okay with occasional $1 purchases to setting aside up to $80 for a character purchase over the years is...interesting, to say the least. Fortunately, I do have good self-control and have never spent what I couldn't afford, but understand that the sec you spend that first in game dollar, you open yourself to more and bigger spending. Be careful.
Loss aversion will never force me to spend, instead would make me drop the game. That's a reason I don't play p2w games.
Maybe manipulates you guys but I'm immune to these fraudulent tactics
And people gonna say "They need to make money somehow"
> Revenue of 3 billion from lootboxes
"Somehow"
someone for fucks sake send this to the supreme court or something
Haha the Shadowverse example really caught me off-guard cuz I wasn't expecting to hear about it while playing a match of it.
But to elaborate on the example provided, Shadowverse is actually incredibly f2p friendly imo, you just gotta do a little bit of research which you should be doing regardless if you're into TCGs in the first place. I recently got back into the game after not playing for a while and before that I had 60-ish hours into the game playing with one of the prebuilt decks that are given to you for free. And after Liquifying all of my non-rotation cards I was able to get enough Vials to make two tier 1 decks. But I would be lying if I said I didn't feel like pulling for packs whenever I see a card-specific leader
As a long time Genshin player, I have almost every character I wanted (mainly just the males) and I’m proud to say that I’ve never payed a cent
i find it beneficial to keep a budget log and just write down all your game spendings. that way, you can see how much youve spent and adjust your spendings accordingly.
also set a hard limit for game spendings as well
thanks for the dividens guyss :)
I have been always a f2p and the only game that i bought a skin for was soul knight for being the best mobile game
And that was for £2
I refuse to play any game that is pay for advantage. The ones that do it via real money gambling are especially bad.
I rarely buy into AAA games anymore so I'm thankful indie games are kicking ass in the industry
It appear two genshin impacto adds when i was waching this video.
You cannot trick me now
just want saying this tactic also been use for online shopping like Amazon, so in the end of day its your money do whatever you want with it but don't crying to other when you don't get what you want.
Of course I get a genshin impact ad in the middle of this kind of video...
another Akshon banger
I Hate how the market is full of shitty ass freemium p2w games like Clash royale, where i cant enjoy a game without spending loads of money on it.
How ironic that a channel used to analyzed Overwatch taking about gaming monetization
How does this video not have over 1k likes?
i know from experience that the best way to not spend money in video games is to not have money at all in the first place.
Very polished overview
Thanks!
To those who play with a game that has an energy system and is offline... I recommend time travelling... No I'm not joking, just change the date and time of your device... Happy playing! Seriously, the amount of mobile games that have an "energy system that replenishes over time" is why I gave up on mobile games years ago.
Reason why you press on the video
1 you are actually interested in the content and want to learn
2 you press it bc you saw genshin
Damn. People really fall for this kind predatory monetization? I caught on really early on when playing Overwatch back in 2018. I didn't take into consideration FOMO, though, and the psychological effect of losing. Maybe it's because I only play Single player, co-op and fighting games mainly, this idea of learning to lose was strongly instilled on me when I played more competitive Street Fighter. So I was calm about my loses and despite even going on losing streaks, I had fun. I guess I had/have other things going on that take priority in terms of what to emotionally invest my time into? Nonetheless, this was an informative video. Thank you!
I miss when video games were a passion project and not a mass produced industry product that's filled with psychological tricks to scam a player
Great tutorial!
>me, completely immune to these manipulations
Yeah, me too
11:20 - In this particular case, you could just have your friend agree to only use free cards when battling you. Some 'save money' peer pressure at hand there.
Honestly, with all these tactics, I would say the only way to counter there tactics is yourself. As long as it is not pay-to-win, selling skins for heavy discount is a viable business model, and no one is to blame but yourself if you ended up having a buyer’s remorse.
I personally paid to Genshin because I support the devs and wanted them to create much better content in the future, as long as the freebies that they release on their UA-cam channel on a bi-monthly basis. So it’s less about the fomo, but more about the fact that I know my money is being used for good content.
This is exactly what I'm writing my senior thesis on for my school! This was really helpful to provide more points and information to my thesis, do you have sources for where you found all this so I can read up more on some of these topics?
I bought a microtransaction once. I got the cat ears cosmetic in Halo Infinite. It didn't stop me from dropping the game once I was done with the campaign. The feeling of shame I got was kinda nice though.
I watched this video, Then opened genshin and pulled Diluc Xiao and am now 500k in debt
thank Akshon
Is there an edited version without cussing I can show my young children?
Great video though, thanks!
Great vid
i am trying so incredibly hard to wrap my head around 7:56. I get loss aversion, i get it in p2w and irl, but that last bit of the quote just doesnt find application in the game-sphere to me? talking about "while still keeping some(..)". Can somebody help please
I guess, both in the example and in gaming, there are 2x2 states of being: winning vs losing - and - taking a risk by investing something vs not doing it. In case of the lier-example, you get either of 4 states (like a 2x2 matrix): win by lying - lie and still lose - don't lie and still win - don't lie and lose. With the risk of the investment in this case they most likely mean the guilt/bad feeling that you get from lying your way to succes. In games, the 4 states would be: pay to win - pay and still lose - win without paying - lose while not paying. The equivalent of the lying would be that when paying to succeed for example in pvp, you don't want to feel like your money boosted you to victory but instead have the uncertainty-factor in there that maybe after all your skill decided the game in your favour (for example in pvp against a more skilled players despite pay-to-win gear).
In short, my take would be: When trying to win something, you don't blatantly lie because you would feel bad. When trying to beat someone in a game, you don't straight up pay-to-win all the way because you wouldn't feel that good.
As someone who have played gacha games since 9yo, i just wanna say that despite gacha is one of genshin's most criticized aspect, it is far from the worst. And ironically, most of the newer games that isn't rpg in the first place often have more predatory monetization compared to gacha rpgs.
Compared to other gacha games, its the only gacha game that its not pay 2 win because pvp doesnt exist
The game is balanced around casual f2p, do there is no need to pay.
While I agree on the character banner being bad but not the worst. I can't think of any gacha game with as worse gacha pity rate than Genshin's weapon banner. I truly believe it should be illegal.
In contrast to Genshin, I think the most F2P and fair gacha monetization system I've ever seen in the gacha game industry is Punishing Gray Raven.
@@hijodelsoldeoriente FGO with 330 rolls prequisite for a pity : "Am i a joke to you?"
@@hijodelsoldeoriente Azur Lane also one of the F2P friendly gacha where you can get most of the ships but if you want skins for that ship you need buy it using premium currency (gems)
Social pressure can be built into games. Even PvE ones. Generally in the form of letting stronger, experienced players help out new players in some way.