Virtual Currency is changing video games, but not always for the best
It is no surprise that in this day in age, if you wanna go far in anything it will take monetary motivation, whether it it trying to further your education or get something bigger and better. This is something that even occurs in the world of video games.
The first recorded instance of microtransactions was in the fan favorite Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. In this game, players had the chance to pay out of game currency to progress further through the game. At the time this was a breakthrough in modern technology and since then microtransactions have devolved into pay to win type scenarios. The worst of these was Battlefront 2’s inclusion of a loot crate system which was strictly pay to win. EA, the developers of Battlefront, made the loot crates imperative to the progression within the game. If one was to “grind” this game to get max level everything one must play a minimum of 400 hours to gather enough of the in-game currency to be effective against other player, or you could spend around 100-150 dollars to max out the levels of your character and go around winning everything.
The owner of Star Wars, Disney, threatened to cut ties with EA because of the negative feedback that surrounded the introduction of microtransactions into this game. Something else that has played out within this narrative is that many countries in Europe and Asia are pushing and voting to outlaw microtransactions on the basis that these transactions are a form of gambling and thus should be outlawed. This is something that will be monumental when this debate is finally cleared up because in that case microtransactions will have to be closely monitored and more than likely take out the pay to win aspect.
Two games that are doing very well on the other end of microtransactions are Rainbow Six Siege and Fortnite. Rainbow Six is a game that has been out since 2015 and since the beginning there have been two ways to achieve things. You can either grind for the different things or you can pay into the game but it is not necessary that you pay money into the game and everything that is able to be bought is fairly balanced. In Fortnite you can earn currency throughout the game and use it to buy things within the game. I buy the emotes because they are awesome but that’s just me.
Microtransactions are something that the world is going to have to stand on one side of the fence or the other, it is up to find which side you stand on.
