I spent a chunk of money on ArcheAge the first (and only) year I played. We are not sitting here talking about sunken fallacy with going to the movies, paying $10-$15 a ticket, and then spending twice that much for a snack and something to drink, are we?
Whatever happened to having money, wanting to spend it, and actually spending it on something you enjoy? This is why I spend money in games. And it's not necessarily that you are wrong about sunken costs, it's just that, with everything, it only applies to certain people, not all people. Whenever you make this type of absolute statement, your entire thesis loses credibility. The moment you spend ANY money on the game, this phenomenon begins. Once you do, your perception of the game becomes tainted, and you get sucked in. Wait until you are sure you actually enjoy playing the game before you spend ANY money. However, if this can maybe get 1 or 2 people to stop before making that initial purchase, and thus “buying in” so to speak, until they have played for a few weeks and made sure they actually like the game, then I will feel like I have accomplished something.
This won’t change anything, and people who spend money on MMO cash shops are going to keep doing it. Nothing I am saying here is that revolutionary, but I know there are people out there that don’t think of it this way. Now, if you are still reading, I take that as a compliment. It’s the same end result, you just took longer to get there. You “spent” those insert currency on something, now you are more likely to feel obligated to keep playing to get the “full value” from that purchase. “But how is that different that simply investing time in playing the game,” you ask?īecause by making it a “purchase”, as opposed to simply spending time entertaining yourself, they have tapped into that part of the human psychology that feels it must get a ROI. Now, as opposed to spending money, you have “spent” time. Some will still say, “No shit, that’s why I don’t spend money on games, I just get whatever currency via in-game methods and buy stuff that way.” You aren’t actually playing the game anymore. Instead of developing quality content that actually requires players to be engaged in order to become invested, they develop shops, and game systems that drive you to the shops, so you become “addicted” to the “investment”. You are simply playing because, if you stopped, you would be “wasting” your money. You have long since stopped playing the game because it is the game you enjoy the most. Thus the cycle perpetuates, you being more and more “invested” into the game, and becoming more and more “addicted”. However, now that you are playing, you, as the competitive player that you are, now realize that to compete, you need to spend even more money. Because you “invested” money, you feel you must play to get a return on that investment. What used to take game companies months to achieve, via monthly subscriptions or time invested into the game, they can now accomplish in 5 minutes. Psychologically, you have invested into the game, and thus feel “obligated” to get your money’s worth. No, I am referring to the “addiction” to the game itself. Now, I am not simply talking about the desire to spend more money (though that is a legitimate issue as well). To put it in layman terms, the addiction has taken hold. I ask that question because, despite the “common opinion” that cash shops are bad, people continue to spend money on them. Now, you may say to this, “No shit, we all know this is happening”. These types of things are practically mutually exclusive with creating in-game content, because if you can get these things in game (with a reasonable amount of effort – we all know they claim you can get them with in-game means), there is no need for you to buy them in the shop.
This could be anything from fancy outfits, to “pay for convenience” services, to straight up “Pay to win”. This means that instead of dedicating resources to create engaging in-game content, they are dedicating resources to creating items that people want to spend money on. Most game companies that have transitioned to "F2P" have also made the shift from using quality content to retain players, to using the cash shop. How does that apply to the current generation of gaming you may ask? Let me explain. So, I was responding to another post, and began talking about how companies use the sunk-cost fallacy to keep people playing their game.įor those that don't know, the Sunk-cost Fallacy in this context refers to the basic principle that the more you invest in something, the less likely you are to abandon it.
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