I am no fan of IAP-laden games but there’s a lot of stuff skins with no obvious game effect do in a multiplayer game. * status games - I have this old/hard to

I am no fan of IAP-laden games but there’s a lot of stuff skins with no obvious game effect do in a multiplayer game. * status games - I have this old/hard to get/expensive skin and you do not. * social games - me and my buddies all dress identically/similarly. Gang colors, the All-Shrek Squad, GTA’s roving gangs of purple/green alien gangs... * role play games - does dressing up like Superman make you want to play the game differently than dressing up like Little Bo Peep, or like Freddy Krueger? This has very little effect on a single player game (though I know I sure do spend a while making my character look cool in games with character creation and visible equipment) but “choosing your visual style” is an important part of social signaling. And of course selling this stuff to the captive audience in your popular game is a pretty nice way to keep a small army of artists busy cranking out stuff, so you don’t have to worry about firing them while the next big project is in the planning stages. Or to just have a giant cash cow of a gentle IAP funnel with a few bits of whale bait here and there.