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#4: Free-to-Play Games

Candy Crush has now released a sequel: Soda Saga. Farmville has one too: Country Escape. Plants vs Zombies now has PvZ 2: It’s about time,which unlike the first game is Free to Play. Yes, these games were popular, but why do they need sequels? Candy Crush was constantly updated with new levels. Farmville had new animals and additions all the time. Why do we need sequels for these games? They’re no Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Portal, Half Life or Halo! What story do they have to expand on? What different feature can they add that can’t be placed in a simple update to the original?

These are simply a few of the problems I have with Free-to-Play games. I, as you may or may not know, am an aspiring game designer. Free-to-Play (or FtP) games are one of the most infuriating additions to the gaming world. I hate them with a passion, yet not for the reason you might think. I don’t hate them because they’re a bad idea. I hate them because they’re genius.

First of all, they’re fairly simple. Most are just a minigame dressed up as a game. Add a new mechanic every twenty levels or so and you’re good. The problem is, while this is technically a game, it is not really a game among the standards of the other great pieces out there. It’s one action you learn and do over and over. While this may have been popular with, say, Tetris, we have capabilities now to where they sell them in bundles, and the bundles are completed and ready to play. There’s another problem: the creators don’t even finish making the games before releasing them. Unlike most games, which experience rigorous bug-testing. While these games are at least playable upon release, they use the public as unsuspecting beta-testers. They wait for the bug reports to come in and fix them, and people can’t complain since they didn’t pay for the game. Yet, sometimes, they do.

Microtransactions. Little in-app purchases that prey on the mind of the weak. The game doesn’t “officially” cost anything, so people get invested. That’s when they get into something too hard, but it’s too late. They want, nay, they NEED to keep playing. 1 dollar for 5 extra lives? Sure, I didn’t pay anything for the game anyway. What people don’t realize is, it adds up. This doesn’t apply to strong-willed people who scoff at microtransactions and can easily put the game down, but preys on the stupid. Sometimes, as with Farmville, they use charity as a front. Buy a Hurricane Cow for 1 dollar, and we’ll donate 10% to Hurricane victims! It doesn’t cost them anything to give one person an extra cow, so why not just donate 50% to hurricane victims? Because that would mean they would have to actually care, instead of simply caring about the money. I’d rather just donate that dollar straight to the charity instead.

The main problem is, I want a full game. I don’t want to buy it in bits and pieces, getting fixed over time and adding on more levels with every five bucks I shovel over. If they had an option to pay 5, even 10 dollars for some games to eliminate all ads, microtransactions and waiting, I’d do it. But they don’t, because these games only have one thing in mind: money. I’ll take a step back to the waiting. Waiting is not good game design. If to read a book you had to walk around your house or wait 30 minutes after every page, and could stack that up for only five pages at a time, you’d be sick of it! So why do we think it’s smart to make games that make you wait? Zelda? Mario? I buy the game, I can play it as much as I want. It takes time to beat the game, sure, but I’m not forced to stop playing the game that I paid for. You may think the reason they do this is to keep people from getting addicted and playing too much, but it’s the exact opposite. These games are designed, neurologically, to addict. A short lesson on addiction: let’s take soda, for example. You drink one soda a week, your brain releases dopamine, which makes you happy. Suddenly, you become used to it, as your brain releases less dopamine than before. To get that same kick, you need to do it more often. Soon enough, you have one a day or more. Free-to-Play games follow this model, with easy first levels that get you wanting to play, then making you spend more and more time on each level. With most things, you’d overdo it until you don’t get the pleasure from it anymore and move on. These games force you to wait so that you don’t lower on dopamine from having it too much. It keeps you invested, yes, but it’s an artificial investment. You think you’re having fun, but you’re just addicted to a minigame that’s unfinished and made not for your enjoyment, but to make money.

That’s really my point here. A game, yes, is made to make money. It is a business. COD makes money, Mario makes money, Indy games make money, and the developers wouldn’t make them if they didn’t. But with larger games, time and care is put into them. They want the user to get their money’s worth. The gamer’s not going to play your game, not going to even pay for it if it’s not enjoyable. Yet a free to play game? Try it out; you don’t need to drop a cent. Except they get ad revenue from the moment it opens, and even if you’re not enjoying it you may get invested. Maybe you want a new animal in Crossy Road, or to beat your friend’s high score in Two Dots. The gameplay isn’t good, but the way it’s presented just makes it so you want more. Suddenly you buy some extra lives and you’re in it for the long haul. I know because I’ve been there, sans the actually buying things in-game. I’ve gotten Candy Crush to beat it without playing, Two Dots to beat my friend’s high score, and Farmville to check it out before later having to cut it off cold-turkey (unfortunately, not before spreading the Farmvirus to my mom). The problem is, these games are not made with gameplay or user enjoyment in mind, it’s all about the money. It’s made in a genius way to get people to keep playing and paying, taking people away from quality games that deserve recognition to a world of cheap enjoyment, waiting, and microtransactions.

The industry will last. Sequels will be made. They’ll make money fast. Games will be played. So, that’s what I hate about Free-to-Play games. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go try out Nintendo’s attempt at FtP. Let’s see how f***ed up they’ve gotten.

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