You Spend to Gamble or… To Speed Up?
We all love playing video games online for free. They were called as the free-to-play, or F2P in short. More often, they were called as the freemium online games. Usually, we play those because we were interested in its game mechanics. They are various genres, whether it can be a puzzle, RPG, or even a rhythm game. There are many variations, one that is a combination of the other, and so on.
So how do these freemium free-to-play online games has really changed my gaming lifestyle? It shall be discussed further in the next paragraph.
A free-to-play game is a game that is easily accessed and played by players worldwide without even paying to download, or buy its software. It is also called as freemium online game because a player can play the game for free, only he or she has to pay with real money currency if he or she is going to buy some virtual items that can speed up the progress in the game, such as increased EXP and items drop rate, premium items and characters, and so on.
F2P Games Now a Pay-to-Win and Nagging Situations
Some freemium games, including the one that I am playing in the present, requires me to pay in order to win the situation. They were called as pay-to-win games, or even nagging.
I had experienced paying using my real cash. I used them to buy some virtual items in the game. This has started since I played Ragnarok Online, or even older games like O2Jam and Flyff Online. With the exception to O2Jam, where you will buy items like new songs and costumes, this will not change my gameplay experience. For Ragnarok Online, in the past, I am paying in order to continue the game (That time, Ragnarok Online is still a Pay-to-Play game). When Ragnarok Online has updated with new features, it has some virtual and premium items that you needed to buy in order to become strong (Yeah, it’s a pay-to-win situation). For Flyff Online, that I played in the past, I had spent more money on that, also. I buy items, like increasing the chance of successfully upgrading the item, or even preventing the item from breaking due to failed upgrade. All the time, all virtual items obtained by purchasing with real money can be reselled. Which means, I can get more in-game money, and I can use them to buy newer and stronger equipment. Again, I can consider this online game, a pay-to-win one.
So how about the other freemium games that nags the player to spend more?
There are another freemium games, which feature the Gacha system (items or characters drawn by random means), that are becoming a worldwide trend or addiction. Gacha games can make you spend even more money — makes you said, “I wanna try one more time!” And that until you realized that your wallet cash is almost empty, due to the realization that you draw and draw but you got nothing but rares.
There are other Gacha games that allows you to spend certain amount of gems in order to get your favorite character. Well, that is considered friendly, since you don’t have to spend more by just rolling the Gacha just to get a random character that you don’t even really like. Just if it happens that you got insufficient in gems, then you have to buy more, or even grind for quests that give out some gems.
Gacha is for… Simulated Gambling?
For me, Gacha is considered as simulated gambling. It is because you pay for real money. You roll by chance, and you can either win or lose. If you win, you are lucky and your spending is worth it. If not, then you lose your hard-earned money, and you didn’t get anything.
Don’t Spend More Than You Can Spend
It is not recommended to spend on something that is indeed temporary. It is a person’s choice whether to spend real money on an online game that they loved to play with or not. Sometimes, it’s all about competition. If you got left out, then you are already out of the game, and you just quit. I am just a casual player, so I do not need to be a hardcore or be addicted to something that is really not lasting forever until I die.
Sometimes, there are times that we really need to prove ourselves that we are really strong gamers. And that is, we need to moderate our own selves from addiction, and from excess simulated gambling. Also, patience is a must if you really need to save more resources that can be used in order to draw more from the Gacha, or by upgrading some stuff that you have in game!
