Free 2 Play games: Threat or Menace?

Dungeoneer · Feb 4, 2014

EA has released a new, mobile version of the classic PC strategy game "Dungeon Keeper". And... it's loaded with micro-transactions. This has reviewers up in arms, to put it mildly.

Thomas Baekdal:

What EA has done here has nothing to do with gaming, and the same is true for pretty much all other 'free-to-play + in-app purchase' games. We don't have a mobile gaming industry anymore. We have a mobile scamming industry.There is no game here. And you know what the worst part of this is? Let me show you.
This crap is featured as one of the five top picks on the front page of Apple's app store, as an Editors' choice.

The Escapist:

As I write this review, I am waiting for one of my imps to finish mining a block that I commanded it to start digging last night. It has hours left to go. Something so simple, something that took a handful of seconds in the original Dungeon Keeper, is taking me 24 hours in the twisted mobile reimagining.

It started in the game's very tutorial. The grasping. The harassing. The demands for money. As I was being taught about how gems can speed up the building and excavating of dungeons, the game's narrator - a twee redesign of the once iconic Horned Reaper - openly mocked me, making fun of how "polarizing" in-app purchases were before shamelessly telling me how spending my real money will grease the wheels and get things accomplished. This is how it begun, and it only got worse from there.

Destructoid:

Waiting is the name of the game in Dungeon Keeper -- in fact, it is the game unless you're willing to shell out for more resources and crystals. You'll excavate more areas of your base, then you'll wait. You'll wait to collect gold and stone in your appropriate mines, then tap the ore (it's not automatically collected, so you have to log in periodically). You'll queue up minions to go on a raid, then wait a bit. If you fail, you'll have to wait some more before you get enough resources to launch another attack.

Time may be the ultimate boss of Dungeon Keeper mobile, but there's a whole lot more on the microtransaction front. You can buy every type of resource, buy temporary boosts, buy long-term boosts, and pretty much everything that you could possibly want. The game will constantly remind you if this fact, as you slowly wait for everything to unfold before your eyes. It's like EA saw dollar signs after the success of Clash of Clans, and wanted to clone it in the worst way possible -- by using a respectable IP as its skin.

When the first F2P games appeared on the market, I assumed that 'microtransactions' would be just that - micro. "Okay," I thought, "kicking in a few bucks to support a game you're enjoying for free seems reasonable." Except, as the video review (warning: language) below illustrates, EA would like you to buy 'gem packages' that cost more than the price of a new console game. Remember, you can get the original game in its entirety for $5.99 on GOG.

Nerd^3 video review.

Personally, I am so burnt out on free 2 play 'games' for my phone which are not in fact games and are not in fact free, that I actively look for games that I can pay for up front. Does anyone else feel this way?

Baekdal put together a web comic which I think sums it all up:

Edit: Whoops, I meant to post this in the Geek Talk forum! Mods, can you help me out??

Dungeoneer · Feb 5, 2014

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong forum. Can somebody move me to general? Thanks!

Yaztromo · Jul 25, 2017

I think/hope they are shooting themselves on their feet!

Jhaelen · Jul 26, 2017

Luckily, I have a strict policy regarding my mobile apps: I will not pay anything for any of them, ever.

It's true that there aren't many titles that are _really_ free and still worth playing. But they still exist.

Mallus · Jul 26, 2017

My general take is "menace". Their financial success is based on monetizing human loneliness, i.e. hunting for "whales". My rule is: pay for games, even if it's only $.99. If nothing else, I trust the design choice more when their not so directly tied to revenue-collection schemes.

I do have 1 FTP game on my phone. Something called Summoners War. Because I spent an entire long 4th of July pool party surrounded by people obsessed with it, including my best friend the host who was delivering these adorable, multi-generational one-on-one tutoring sessions in winning at it.

(don't tell him, but I haven't opened it since)

Tonguez · Jul 26, 2017

don't play them if you have don't wanna pay them

Blue · Jul 31, 2017

I have a few FTP games, but I hate microtransactions in general and play pay2win like described. Now, if I find I'm spending a lot of time in the game (in other words, enjoying in without paying) I'll often buy something to kick some dollars towards the developers. For example the PC game Mechwarrior Online is FTP - you can pay for lots of things, but also play just fine without. I bought their currency to get more mech bays instead of earning them at a slower rate, but only after I'd been playing the game for a few months.

Thornir Alekeg · Aug 4, 2017

I have a few Free-to-play games in my phone. Two of them are from EA. Plants v Zombies 2 I have had for years. I was able to play it completely free when it came out. I bought a few premium plants because I had so many fun hours playing, I felt like they should be paid something.

More recently I downloaded Real Racing 3 because my youngest son loves watching me or his brother play it. You can do a lot without paying, but you will never get the best cars without shelling out a ton of cash. If you want a NASCAR car, it costs the equivalent of $50 in game gold for a single car.

Most recently EA obviously realized that PvZ2 was not making them enough money so they updated the game to give more ways to spend game gold and gems. I played for free for so long that I have a ton of both banked, but a new player will be seriously hindered if they don't want to spend real money.

My only issue with paying up front for a game is there is no refund. Sometimes a game looks great and the reviews are good, but I find it awful and regret having spent anything.

Sent from my iPhone using EN World

Free 2 Play games: Threat or Menace?

Dungeoneer

First Post

Dungeoneer

First Post

Yaztromo

Explorer

Jhaelen

First Post

Mallus

Legend

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow

Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

Thornir Alekeg

Albatross!

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