Microtransactions, MMOs, and Play Loops.

[Retreater]

They could but would any DM allow them? May be they have to in AL play but I doubt I would allow them.

If they are incorporated in the VTT and you can't turn them off, then maybe it gets difficult to filter them out.

 

[MarkB]

If they are incorporated in the VTT and you can't turn them off, then maybe it gets difficult to filter them out.

That would be an excellent incentive to find a new VTT.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They could but would any DM allow them? May be they have to in AL play but I doubt I would allow them.

Yeah, I'm in that camp of DMs that gives inspiration for stuff outside of play, like buying new DDB content for everyone to share on the Master Account or voting in the Nov. 8 election, but I would laugh in the face of anyone who said their character had a magic item because they gave WotC $3.

I cannot picture them even bothering with such a scheme.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I had a good solid couple of years of enjoyment from WoW, around the time Cataclysm came out, but I've tried going back a few times and couldn't get back into it. The extent to which MMOs incentivise tedium just isn't something I can find the time or attention span for anymore.

It's gotten a lot better -- you are not alone in aging out of the old model -- but daily quests, etc., are still part of the expected style of play.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think the only way the MMO model works is if WotC really pushes the 3D VTT concept. I find it hard to believe stuff like character boosts would be a thing, but nickel and diming people using the 3D VTT on assets to fill the VTT with? Absolutely. Want a kobold model? $2. A cool looking throne to sit behind your BBEG? $3. A massive Tiamat for the end of your campaign? $5.

I can definitely see that being a thing. I would, for instance, buy all the pieces to recreate the 1E PHB cover as digital miniatures, even if I didn't have any plans for a scenario to use them in. I guess that's predatory, but I'd view it as pretty similar to buying miniatures that I didn't have immediate plans to use. (Which is most of my miniatures purchases over the years, to be honest.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If they are incorporated in the VTT and you can't turn them off, then maybe it gets difficult to filter them out.

"Sorry, you can't use any characters with paid boosts in my game."

The DM saying "get out" is the ultimate filter.

 

[payn]

That would be an excellent incentive to find a new VTT.

This. fortunately for us, there are some good alternative VTTs on the market.

 

[practicalm]

Wow, if that's true -- and it doesn't include Hearthstone and Diablo Immortal -- that's shocking. I don't know what those microtransactions would even be. Other than the item that lets people look like raid bosses, which seems to get dropped constantly in raids, I don't know that I see that many shop items in-game.

World of Warcraft has hundreds of people working on it. Even the most elaborate in-game stuff only has a small handful of people and they don't even put out one item a month. The manhours can't be that big of a piece of the pie.

Microtransactions are hugely profitable. There is a game I play that has both a subscription side and a microtransaction side and the microtransaction side generated at least three times the revenue of the subscription side.

With a subscription you've capped the amount of money you are going to get from someone. With microtransactions you allow them to decide how much money to pay you based on what you are offering.
With many mobile games offering only microtransactions for payment and allowing free play, they stay in business because there are people who want to spend the money to have the newest thing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Microtransactions are hugely profitable. There is a game I play that has both a subscription side and a microtransaction side and the microtransaction side generated at least three times the revenue of the subscription side.

With a subscription you've capped the amount of money you are going to get from someone. With microtransactions you allow them to decide how much money to pay you based on what you are offering.
With many mobile games offering only microtransactions for payment and allowing free play, they stay in business because there are people who want to spend the money to have the newest thing.

It's true. But not all companies follow that path, which was the assertion made on the investors call thread.

 

[Retreater]

That would be an excellent incentive to find a new VTT.

Yes, but will any of them work with OneD&D? Especially if they don't tie in with the new monetization policy?
I mean, I can easily see magic items being purchased to access them on your character. Same thing with spells/species/etc that aren't a part of the base rules.