Some of the differences between trading card games, shareware etc and pay-to-play: 1) The older models have transparent pricing, whereas pay-to-play have opaqu

Some of the differences between trading card games, shareware etc and pay-to-play: 1) The older models have transparent pricing, whereas pay-to-play have opaque pricing. You can tell the price of a deck or full version of a shareware game, but you can't tell how many IAP's you'll need over the lifetime of a pay-to-play game. 2) When something is "free!" but actually not, it is a bait and switch technique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch). This leaves many consumers with a feeling of being tricked. 3) IAP's are often transient replenishables such as gems or gold. A trading card or full version of a game, you own permanently. 4) It's hard to trust that pay-to-play games isn't specifically designed to make you part with dollars. Players come to doubt the fairness of the game rules. Even for "honest" game makers, there will be suspicion of foul play in the game mechanics. 5) Pay-to-play games, like slot machines, make their money from 10-20% of users called "whales", who are susceptible to gambling addiction. Using psychological tricks to extract money from such people is very shaky, ethically. When games promote feelings of suspicion, exploitation and even psychological manipulation in the majority of players (i.e. non-whales), you get this kind of backlash, as in the case of clash of clans and other pay-to-plays. Has it ruined the gaming industry? Not in my opinion - I think (or hope) pay-to-play is a fad which will devolve into a niche. As people become aware of the shady tactics being used, they'll tend to avoid them. Or at least gravitate towards those pay-to-plays, where it really is possible to have a decent game play experience without paying.