4 ms·

Economically sustainable and ethical monetization of user-generated-content games. The closest most known example of this kind of game nowadays is Roblox, but

Economically sustainable and ethical monetization of user-generated-content games. The closest most known example of this kind of game nowadays is Roblox, but I'm thinking of things more like Mario Maker or the older-generation Atmosphir/GameGlobe-likes. Unlike "modding platforms" or simulators/sandboxes/platforms such as Flight Simulator, VRChat or ARMA, these games' content are created by regular players with no technical skill, which means the game needs to provide both the raw assets from which to build the content, as well as the tool to build that content. Previous titles tried the premium model (Mario Maker), user-created microtransactions (Roblox) and plain old freemium (Atmosphir and GameGlobe). I suspect Mario Maker only works because of the immense weight and presence of the franchise. Roblox's user-created microtransactions (in addition to first-party ones) seem to be working, but they generate strange incentives for creators, which I personally feel taints a lot of the games within it. (The user-generated content basically tends to become the equivalent of shovelware) GameGlobe failed miserably by applying the microtransaction model to creator assets, which means that to make cool content, creators have to pay as well as spend lots of their time actually building the thing, which means most levels actually published end up being the same default bunch of free assets and limited mechanics. Atmosphir is a bit closer to me so I find some more nuance in its demise, but long story short, essentially they restricted microtransactions only to player customization, however it didn't seem to be enough to cover the cost of developing the whole game/toolset. Eventually adding microtransactions to unlock some player mechanics, which meant that some levels were not functional without owning a specific item. --- In short, the only thing that can effectively monetize on is the game itself (premium model) or purely-cosmetic content for players. Therefore, to incentivize the cosmetics, the game needs to be primarily multiplayer, which implies lots more investment on the creator tooling UX, as well as the infrastructure itself. But this also restricts the possibilities for the base game somewhat.

jpindar 5y ago
I'm surprised you didn't mention Core. https://www.coregames.com/ https://www.coregames.com/
- abricot 5y ago
  It's a Roblox copy, and as such is already mentioned.
- kroltan 5y ago
  Yeah the post was getting a bit long, there are a bunch of similar games to the ones listed, I just used one of each to exemplify each strategy. Core is very similar to Roblox in that the creation tools are rather involved, it tends more to a platform with distinct creator/consumer roles. There's also the PS4 game Dreams, as well as other integrated-modding initiatives like in Krunker.
Kinrany 5y ago
A different but similar in topic problem is running and playing tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. The solution is a general-purpose distributed computing platform designed for end-user development. The closest three things that exist are Google Sheets, replit.com and dndbeyond.com. Replit is too low level, dndbeyond is not powerful enough, sheets are stuck with grid and too clunky for everything else. Here's a few things the user should be able to do: 1. Design a tabletop roleplaying game system from scratch and automate all the math 2. Write content designed to be used with a system 3. Use systems and content designed by other people, without copy-pasting 4. Modify the system and the content designed by other people for your own purposes 5. Share access to the content in a granular way Tabletop roleplaying games are unique: they thrive on content that must be created and shared quickly, but includes simple but fully general programming capabilities. Seems like a great place to start making programming as commonplace as literacy.
f0e4c2f7 5y ago
My favorite Microtransaction systems are in Counter-Strike Global Offensive and Planetside 2. Planetside 2 has very slight pay to win mechanics in the form of subscriptions for more xp, but it doesn't feel bad to play without pay. Counter-strike on the other hand (and I think so other valve games too) have just about the perfect model in my mind. There are no advantages you get by paying, only status. The skins that you can buy and sell look cool but are purely cosmetic. Even with this in mind people spend quite a lot of money (we're talking hundreds of dollars for one gun skin in some cases). It always seemed like a great way to generate revenue ethically. One thing I will note with that model is they still have the gambling mechanics with the "crates" that open random skins. You could probably crank it up one more ethical notch by getting rid of those or trying to make them less addictive.
- kroltan 5y ago
  That is indeed my current conclusion of the least-ethically-bad viable monetization. Purely cosmetic. However, paid status is not really a big hook for single-player games, you need to be able to show it off! This means that the game must be designed primarily around multiplayer interaction, which is fine but limits a lot the kinds of games you can implement with this monetization.

jpindar 5y ago

I'm surprised you didn't mention Core. https://www.coregames.com/ https://www.coregames.com/

abricot 5y ago
It's a Roblox copy, and as such is already mentioned.
kroltan 5y ago
Yeah the post was getting a bit long, there are a bunch of similar games to the ones listed, I just used one of each to exemplify each strategy. Core is very similar to Roblox in that the creation tools are rather involved, it tends more to a platform with distinct creator/consumer roles. There's also the PS4 game Dreams, as well as other integrated-modding initiatives like in Krunker.

Kinrany 5y ago

A different but similar in topic problem is running and playing tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. The solution is a general-purpose distributed computing platform designed for end-user development. The closest three things that exist are Google Sheets, replit.com and dndbeyond.com. Replit is too low level, dndbeyond is not powerful enough, sheets are stuck with grid and too clunky for everything else. Here's a few things the user should be able to do: 1. Design a tabletop roleplaying game system from scratch and automate all the math 2. Write content designed to be used with a system 3. Use systems and content designed by other people, without copy-pasting 4. Modify the system and the content designed by other people for your own purposes 5. Share access to the content in a granular way Tabletop roleplaying games are unique: they thrive on content that must be created and shared quickly, but includes simple but fully general programming capabilities. Seems like a great place to start making programming as commonplace as literacy.

f0e4c2f7 5y ago

My favorite Microtransaction systems are in Counter-Strike Global Offensive and Planetside 2. Planetside 2 has very slight pay to win mechanics in the form of subscriptions for more xp, but it doesn't feel bad to play without pay. Counter-strike on the other hand (and I think so other valve games too) have just about the perfect model in my mind. There are no advantages you get by paying, only status. The skins that you can buy and sell look cool but are purely cosmetic. Even with this in mind people spend quite a lot of money (we're talking hundreds of dollars for one gun skin in some cases). It always seemed like a great way to generate revenue ethically. One thing I will note with that model is they still have the gambling mechanics with the "crates" that open random skins. You could probably crank it up one more ethical notch by getting rid of those or trying to make them less addictive.

kroltan 5y ago
That is indeed my current conclusion of the least-ethically-bad viable monetization. Purely cosmetic. However, paid status is not really a big hook for single-player games, you need to be able to show it off! This means that the game must be designed primarily around multiplayer interaction, which is fine but limits a lot the kinds of games you can implement with this monetization.