Quote (Jaille @ Jun 22 2022 10:44am)
This is not about whether or not you can have fun as a free player
This is not about whether or not you can compete as a free player
This is about whether or not this game is predatory
Here are some of the predatory psychological strategems used in mobile games to lure the player into spending money and/or keeping them hooked
Temporal Withholding
Offering packages right-away to the player will turn them off, while waiting for them to be invested in the game will make them more prone to upgrade their character due to having built emotional attachment to it
The IKEA effect
A cognitive bias in which consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created. Making the characters as customizable as possible, without overdoing it, will make the player feel like their characters are really worth something, building emotional attachment to it once again
The Hook
Hooking the player with a first, nicely-priced initial purchase. A 500% discounted deal that only a fool would refuse, and it's less than a dollar! Why not go for it? There you go - the player went from the binary state of "not being a spender" to "being a spender" - the ice has been broken. The first purchase is always the hardest
The Sunk-Cost Fallacy
Starting by offering cheap deals to the player, and progressively going up, will lure and trap them. When the player has already spent an accumulative of 100$, what's stopping them from spending an additional little 20$? That's just a fraction of what they already spent anyway. When the player has already spent 500$, why not an additional little 100$? After all, they've invested so much, so let's go for another notch. It's all relative
Peer Pressure
Making sure that the game is not only as social as possible, but as cooperative as possible, the player will feel pressure. Due to the fear of being exposed to others as being weak, a liability, and being kicked out of groups, they are incited to make purchases. When a cooperative event is over, making sure that a DPS leaderboard is shown is a classic. No one wants to be at the bottom and scoffed at, no one wants to be shamed into leeching off everyone else's success
Loss Aversion
A psychological mechanism where the hate of losing is greater than the love of winning. Making the player "earn" something, like gear, throughough a dungeon, just to threaten to take it away when they don't succesfully complete it, will incite them to spend the necessary currency to either continue the dungeon or leave with the acquired gear. They'll feel like they're entitled to get it. "It's mine, no touchy!"
Gear Obsoletion
Regularly updating content with more powerful items will not only help player retention, but will incite the player to buy new gear to replace the obsolete one, as long as it's not overdone - it's all in the moderation
Hot State
The brain has two states - the monkey one and the smart, lazy one. Abusing the monkey one, the one that takes irrational decisions, will net positive gains. Having time-limited offers will trigger its compulsive, irrational decisions and the player will make more purchases this way
FOMO
Fear of missing out, making sure that there are as many good, discounted special deals as possible in the shop will make the player inclined to make purchases, in fear of the deals going away. Time-limited items also sell nicely, even if they're just cosmetics
A Privilege
Another regularly used stratagem is enticing the player into thinking that buying a one-time pack at a discounted price alongside their normal rewards after having completed something is a privilege. It will also trigger the hot state and the fomo
Instant Gratification
Overly rewarding the player for even the menial of task, showering them with a bunch of currency and consumables, will make them feel like they've really accomplished something, building trust and retention
Competitiveness
Having as many leaderboards as possible, for things like the player's power level, level, monsters killed and such (nothing skill-related, but things that are achieved by spending money or overly playing) will increase competition. The competitive nature of man will incite the player to compete for a place on a leaderboard, no matter how irrelevant that leaderboard may be. It helps for retention as well
Too. Much. Clutter.
Having too many currencies layered and all intertwined together will confuse the player and they will lose track and control of what they're even purchasing
Limit
Limiting the amount of activities a player can do a day to prevent a burnout is intended. The player will also always get that sweet dopamine rush when logging in the next day
Pass
Enticing the player into logging in every day for daily, accumulative rewards is a no-brainer. If it's a monthly pass, gating the last reward behind the 30th day, with no way of obtaining it unless they've logged in every single day, is a clever stratagem. If the player is two-days short of their 30th day reward and their pass is expired, the reward will be made available if they purchase another monthly pass that chains the first, creating an endless cycle of monthly pass purchases. "I'm only two days away, so let me purchase it again!"
You're Missing Out!
If there's something such as a monthly pass that shows progress and rewards tied to it, including rewards that are gated behind a special monthly pass will condition the player into thinking that they've "lost" items because they haven't paid. This will trigger the loss aversion fallacy
Carrot, Stick
Making sure that the player is aware of what's the best gear for them, while making sure that they most likely never get it, is a given
Whac-A-Mole
The whales love to get that sweet dopamine rush when stumping a myriad of non-payers when it comes to anything competitive. If everyone were a whale, they'd get bored and quit. If everyone were free-to-play, no money would be made. Having a good balance of payers and non-payers is primordial
Longetivity
Considering the aforementioned Whac-A-Mole point, and considering that non-payers will get frustrated and be inclined to whale themselves up, it's necessary to get a good influx of new players as well, most of which will be non-payers. This will help keep that sweet spot of a balance between payers and non-payers. A nicely oiled machine if done right
The Anchor
If an item is priced at 10$, it may not sell. But putting it at a 20$ and later on offering it at a discounted price of 10$, the player will be enticed to buy it. They'll feel like they're making a good deal, as if they were making a wise decision and screwing the system
Strategically Priced Payment Rewards
Say there are two packs of diamonds for sale, diamonds being the RMT currency. The first pack contains 235 diamonds, while the second contains 950. Making the purchasable items something like 250 diamonds, 500 diamonds, and 1000 diamonds is a clever strategy used in most mobile games. The player who has purchased one of the pack will be just a few diamonds short of another purchasable, inciting them to buy another pack to get it. The player will not look at what they have acquired, but at how close they are to acquire the next purchasable
So Far, Yet So Close
Cleverly showing progression bars in a way that the player feels like they're close to the next tier is yet another stratagem. Say the player starts at VIP 0 and every 100$ spent increases your VIP tier. The player spent 600$ and is thus at VIP 6. Now, instead of showing the progression bar as "0/100 to VIP 7", it will be shown as "600/700 to VIP 7". The player is way closer to the next tier this way! "I'm almost there! So why not go for it?"
Monetization by Bartle Type
Players are separated into four groups: the explorers, the killers, the achievers, and the socializers. Explorers will buy new content, killers will buy MTX that grant them a competitive advantage, the achievers will buy convenience MTX, and the socializers customization MTX. It's good to know the playerbase, to identify them, and what to sell them
Multiple Servers
Needlessly having multiple servers is a clever psychological mechanic used. It's easier for whales and potential whales to see the light at the end of the tunnel and dreaming of becoming the next number one this way. Having one big server will simply blind the payer, they'll feel like they can't realize that dream, it's an out-of-reach goal
Servers Merge
The whales who are and have already massively invested will be 'forced' to make outrageous purchases to win their fights against other whales
Look At Me!
Making sure the player shows others about their RMT habits, through cosmetics and such, will normalize this behavior and make people more prone to partake in this activity to fit in
Loot Boxes
Gating the best items behind RNG loot boxes will naturally trigger the gambling fallacy and the player will keep going at it until they've gotten what they want (or not)
Forced Routine
Another way to make sure that the player keeps coming back is by penalizing them for not doing so. You planted a tree? The player will be forced to come back in 4 hours to collect its fruits or else they'll wither. You don't log in for a day? Your daily login reward goes to waste
That being said, is this game predatory?
Great post and analysis, developers have employed psychologists and behavioral experts to develop systems like these just like casinos did.
A sense of accomplishment when you win, flashy lights and sounds when you get a rare drop, the act of gambling disguised to be fun, innocent and entertaining etc... it's evident.
This post was edited by Lionhearted on Jun 22 2022 02:34am