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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 8928336" data-attributes="member: 7035894">I don't see micro-transactions as "sheer ridiculousness," so I'm already at odds with the OP.Can they be abused? Yes! Will they be? Maybe! This isn't Fortnite, so it's a lot harder to just build micro-transactions into the fabric of the game. You will still always be able to play it with dice, paper, and pencil, which would make for a lousy Fortnite game. So players aren't over the barrel in the same way.And I also don't want to assume that someone else's choice that I disagree with is them being exploited. Different folks value different things, and if someone wants to pay money for access to a cool pet animation for their virtual character, well, it's their money.Then there's the fact that some micro-transactions are great because they actually increase value to the consumer by allowing us to buy only what we want. DDB currently does this very well by letting you buy only the aspects of new releases that you need. So maybe you love the new Echo Knight sub-class in Explorer's Guide to Wildmount but are otherwise uninterested in the setting. Maybe you're not a Critter. DDB let's you buy just that sub-class for a few dollars rather than paying for the whole book. And if you later change your mind and do want the rest of the book, they discount the money you already paid for the sub-class.That kind of micro-transaction increases consumer power and saves money. I think we can all get behind that. So let's be alert to Hasbro abusing micro-transactions, but not turn the term itself into a kind of bogeyman. It's just another sales tool, one that is particularly suited to digital environments.Edit: one of the big ways that micro-transactions get abused is if they become a part of a "pay to win" scheme. But D&D leaves power in the hands of the DM, and it is very hard for me to imagine a version of the game that tells DMs they have to let a player have, say, a holy avenger because the player paid for it. I think that would be obviously game breaking and DMs would just laugh and ignore such a "rule" were it to happen.The type of micro-transaction that I do fear is if Hasbro can create collectibles for the VTT, and then manipulate rarity to jack up prices [cough Magic cough]. That can be used to exploit psychology and turn some players into whales. Their money, their choice...but that doesn't mean a games designer can't and won't manipulate them.</blockquote>

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