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Wherefore art thou, micropayments?
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Note: this is not a microtransaction.
To wit, MMO’s exist for profit. The MMOs that allow free-to-play, like Dungeons and Dragons: Eberron Unlimited, aren’t doing so because of the kindness of their hearts. An economist might call the free-to-play shebang an expansion of market saturation. People who would otherwise never bother with the game because of a subscription start to play. Yet the jump to a subscription, a long-term investment of time and money, still doesn’t appeal to most of these free-to-play fellows. Sure, a fraction may change their minds on the matter, but in terms of cost effectiveness, keeping up servers and manpower for the flux of new players, free-to-play seems like it would have difficulty breaking even. How to capitalize on this larger, apparently more frugal market? Well, what if they could make just little, teensey-weensey payments, so they could get that cool sword or neat character class without getting all that other stuff? At the right prices and places with this idea, the free-to-play wouldn’t just break even – it would make a killing. Heads were undoubtedly nodded in some dark and dusty corporate redoubt. Microtranscations, or micropayments, had been born.
And why not extend this kind of thinking to the subscribers, who are already willing to shell fifteen dollars a month on the game? It’s just a few extra dollars. For the company, though, that’s a few extra million dollars. Easy dollars. Dollars that these people would almost certainly hand over with the right incentive. They wouldn’t want to kill off the paid subscribers by forcing it on them (as the paid subscribers quite legitimately expect to have all content available to them), but it’s not like cleverness would or could be stopped by what is surely just a semantic problem. Add bonuses that a non-subscriber would have to pay double or triple for. Make expiration dates on certain events, and retro opportunities with certain one-off items that, for the low price of half a dollar, could be yours even though you missed the event (or you want extras). As long as these incentives make profit, as long as they are reasonably priced and the subscribers are otherwise equally pampered, who wouldn’t mind throwing away a dollar for a set of ten one-time-only items? Make them relevant and capable without being vitally important to the subscribers experience, and these little things become gems of business revenue.
If this feels a bit unfair, don’t worry – it’s because it’s only a bit unfair, and not completely unfair, that the dubiously-named micropaymentss work their wonders. As it turns out, it’s very easy to argue away these nagging thoughts – “for a dollar or less, I get some genuinely cool stuff. Sure, it’s a dollar spent, but it’s cool stuff, a dollar isn’t really intensive on the budget – maybe I’ll just buy one less carbonated beverage or something.”
This, of course, bears no judgment of how entertaining the game actually is, or whether the micropayment is necessarily the best possible way for companies and users alike to enjoy the experience. It does, however, add incentives for other companies, who in competition may offer for “free” what others will give only in micropayment. And micropayments are definitely capable of supporting a service, not only within MMO’s, but other services like ITunes and Amazon. For better or for worse, the micropayment is an effective model for the demands and necessities of an internet that is supposedly beleaguered by piracy and is, in turn, looking for the best possible solutions.
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