So my poll didn't seem to go as well as I'd hoped. But I think there may have something wrong with the Blogger widgets I used. The total number of votes actually decreased after the initial surge last week, and I doubt people were retracting their votes. I think I'll use the Google Docs Poll tool next time, like I did for the Gamer Gender Issues Survey designed by Sctrz and me last August.
Anyway, people seemed enthusiastic for cosmetic items in cash shops, with less inclination to buy XP Boosts, "Gambling" Boxes, and other items. No one I saw respond wanted to buy high level gear, which is often viewed as Pay-to-Win. In fact, flipping the coin, most respondents would actually shy away from games that sell P2W items in the cash shop. with the same rough distribution of folks disinclined to buy the other items mentioned.
Happily for game developers, no one who took the survey outright refused to buy anything in the cash shop. Perhaps the proverbial freeloader is a bit of a myth. There's always something that will appeal to somebody in the item shop. The question is finding the right balance of items and pricing.
Anyway, people seemed enthusiastic for cosmetic items in cash shops, with less inclination to buy XP Boosts, "Gambling" Boxes, and other items. No one I saw respond wanted to buy high level gear, which is often viewed as Pay-to-Win. In fact, flipping the coin, most respondents would actually shy away from games that sell P2W items in the cash shop. with the same rough distribution of folks disinclined to buy the other items mentioned.
XP boosts are tricky. In theory, its great. In practice, if you actually feel like you need one, it means your game is not offering up progression at a "satisfying" (to borrow from a recent Psychochild post) rate, which is ultimately frustrating because then you feel like you *have* to buy the XP boost. See also: Vanguard.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to feel the need to buy an XP boost, though I do occasionally feel the urge, and am certainly willing to play more on "double-XP" weekend events.
DeleteProgression in many games is tricky, because you have to balance between the player outleveling the content, and the content outleveling the player. Which may be different for each player.