I remember a monthly subscription to Everquest being under 10 dollars a month when I used to play in 1999. Fortunately, I won’t be taking you on a trip down Nostalgia Lane (I wouldn’t do that to you), but it is good example of a very successful MMO. Everquest is also a good example of a classic MMO that is keeping up with current gaming trends by offering players virtual goods for a price via micro transactions.
Everquest has always been a subscription based game. Even a decade and 16 expansions later, it still has a monthly subscription payment plan. In December 2008, Sony introduced Station Cash. With this special currency you can purchase items from the Station Shop. This trend was adapted from the most free-to-play games that rely on the sale of virtual goods entirely. Of course, there are some exceptions now with MMOs like Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons Online being free-to-play with an option to upgrade to a full monthly subscription and offering a cash shop as well.
I think what we are seeing is that there are many different types of players out there who want diverse payment options to customize their gaming experience. Gamers want options and the more options the better. But not useless or meaningless options, gamers usually pick up on those pretty fast.
So what do gamers want from a game that offers virtual goods –or better, what are we willing to pay for?
I think we’re looking for the 3 C’s convenience, collections, and customization. I know there are more and many are being thought up daily. With the evolution of how we play multi-player and social games, the more we are able to share and come together to play games, the more items and things we will need to satisfy our emotions. We want to brag, look cool, and share our achievements. We want to socialize, using games as a medium, through which we can identify with others.
• Convenience items are items which make the game faster and more efficient. They are items such as: health potions, XP elixirs and J-boots (these are boots that help you run faster for you non-EQ nerds out there). No longer are the days that you need to grind hours and hours stockpiling these items, you can buy them now from a cash shop. While you can still grind hours and hours stockpiling them, you have an option. I’m not sure if you can buy J-boots with Station Cash or not, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea. A good way to sell an item like that would be to make the boots you can buy 50% faster run speed and the boots you have to work for maybe 75%. This always gives your players a reason to keep playing and keep striving for something better. It also allows the people who are short on time but not cash a way to catch up in the game without feeling left out.
• Collections items: My Little Ponies, sticker books, baseball cards, coins, stuffed animals, He-Man (with the awesome Battle Cat, I had that one). I’m sure as a kid you had at least one of these collections or something similar. There is something weird built into our hunter-gather nature makes a fully completed sticker book a necessity. Same thing goes for gamers. We want to unlock, collect, horde, and gather everything. We want the rarest of items and the shiniest of shiny objects. The last piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle is the best piece to put down -it’s a sense of completion. There are many things in games that can be considered collectibles including achievements to having every piece of a Santa suit. Turning these into virtual goods could be as simple as giving gamers the option to buy them after the item is no longer being offered for whatever reason.
• The last C, and probably my favorite, is customization. As virtual worlds grow, so do the amount of players packed into them (hopefully). We don’t want to look like everyone else. Gamers want cool pets, fun clothes, different colored hair, crazy mounts, and unique looking weapons. Male or female, there is something to be said about showing up to a party in the same suit or dress as everyone else. Gamers will pay to be different. Xbox Live just added avatar pets and robot toys that people can buy for $5. We’ll try to stomach being homogeneous for as long as we can, but before long we are hooked and we want to be a special snowflake.
Potions- increase your speed, health, or even experience gain!
The 4th C is Charity. It’s not listed in the 3 C’s, but it might become as common place as other virtual goods soon. How can a portion of money made from virtual goods actually go to a good cause? I want to talk about that more next time.
I want to wish everyone have a safe and wonderful holiday! Thanks for reading.
Melissa Loy
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