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In my opinion, micropayment is more or less a solved problem these days, at least on mobile. I'm an old fart, I never understand why free games can make a lot

In my opinion, micropayment is more or less a solved problem these days, at least on mobile. I'm an old fart, I never understand why free games can make a lot of money from selling "powerups" and even vanity stuff like "skins", but as we all know, it's big money. I even don't understand people buying scratch cards/vouchers from convenience stores with marked-up price. TL;DR: Lots of free apps/games, yet people pay, sometimes at premium/need to literally walk to a shop. And, not only Google Play or Apple AppStore, WeChat and other super-apps are also enabling micro payments. Some issues are still valid though, such as monopoly by the middlemen.

grawprog 7y ago
>I'm an old fart, I never understand why free games can make a lot of money from selling "powerups" and even vanity stuff like "skins", but as we all know, it's big money. I was like yourself with this belief until i tried out mobile legends at a friend's request. I'd always read how bad those games were for that but I didn't really get why until I seen it myself. The game is so full of dark patterns and Skinner boxes to get you spending I don't even know where to begin. It's my first f2p game with things like that, it boggles my mind how much crap is being constantly thrown at me to get me to spend money on random skins, powerups, and heroes. Even when you're not playing, the game entices you to log in to give you a free chest every few hours with a push notification. It reminds me of the way a drug dealer gets customers hooked. They give you little bits of free shit when you first start then cut you off hard after a week.
TACIXAT 7y ago
Those aren't really micro though. You can't spend a cent digitally, much less a fraction of a cent. The fee structure doesn't allow for it.
- coldtea 7y ago
  The latter (only up to cent level) shouldn't really matter. Are people that cheap that their problem is they have to give "at least a cent"? Sub-cent might matter for third world countries wanting to micropay for a western content creator, but it's more than good enough for the 4+ billion of people in developed economies. And I'd say, relative cost-of-living considered, even someone making $100 dollars month could afford a cent payment, like a person making $3000/month can afford a $5 latte. But I don't think many $100/month populations have "how do I support a western content creator already living 20x as luxuriously as me" as their concern... So if that was the issue, we could already solve it with cent-granularity payments....

grawprog 7y ago

>I'm an old fart, I never understand why free games can make a lot of money from selling "powerups" and even vanity stuff like "skins", but as we all know, it's big money. I was like yourself with this belief until i tried out mobile legends at a friend's request. I'd always read how bad those games were for that but I didn't really get why until I seen it myself. The game is so full of dark patterns and Skinner boxes to get you spending I don't even know where to begin. It's my first f2p game with things like that, it boggles my mind how much crap is being constantly thrown at me to get me to spend money on random skins, powerups, and heroes. Even when you're not playing, the game entices you to log in to give you a free chest every few hours with a push notification. It reminds me of the way a drug dealer gets customers hooked. They give you little bits of free shit when you first start then cut you off hard after a week.

TACIXAT 7y ago

Those aren't really micro though. You can't spend a cent digitally, much less a fraction of a cent. The fee structure doesn't allow for it.

coldtea 7y ago
The latter (only up to cent level) shouldn't really matter. Are people that cheap that their problem is they have to give "at least a cent"? Sub-cent might matter for third world countries wanting to micropay for a western content creator, but it's more than good enough for the 4+ billion of people in developed economies. And I'd say, relative cost-of-living considered, even someone making $100 dollars month could afford a cent payment, like a person making $3000/month can afford a $5 latte. But I don't think many $100/month populations have "how do I support a western content creator already living 20x as luxuriously as me" as their concern... So if that was the issue, we could already solve it with cent-granularity payments....