Computer game poll - Promos for purchase

I haven't seen an announcement on this anywhere here, so I thought I'd throw this up - Right now on the game app Handleabra is running a survey to see how much interest there might be to just BUY the various promos in game.  As someone who doesn't have the time to fiddle around trying to unlock a bunch of promos through game play this is something I've been asking for.  The poll is also asking how much people might be willing to pay, as well as making it clear that the purchase option would NOT replace the current unlock-through-play system.  If you haven't played recently, fire 'er up and take the poll!

It's kind of a loaded question. There's obviously no drawbacks to offering an alternative, and Handelabra put a lot of time and work into the digital alternative, but at the same time I think unlocking them is better because it offers a challenge and adds the puzzle aspect. 

If people wanted an easier way to discover the secret to unlocking these cards, I think maybe hints should be added or something.

I personally have ZERO interest in puzzling out the various promos, hints or not.  Running though specific set ups, trying to replicate or create specific conditions just sounds like tedium.  Grinding at it's worst.  Particularly given the randomness of card draws, I might run though a specific scenario a dozen times and never manage to pull off the specific conditions to unlock a promo.  And that's after reading the spoilers so I know exactly what to do. No. Thank. You.

The drawback, as several people pointed out in the stream this week, is that there are dedicated groups out there who hate microtransactions and set out to basically ruin games which have them, by spamming bad reviews or something. I've never heard of that, but apparently it's a thing.

I don't see how paying for a single card is any different to paying for a bunch of cards as an expansion, but what do I know?

My personal opinion is that if people want to pay to unlock stuff, they should be able to do that, as long as the rest of us can still work to unlock them for free.

I see nothing wrong with the option. Personally, I won't use it.

Same here, I like unlocking, but it is economic.

If you prefer to spend a small amount of money to avoid the process of unlocking the cards then I don't have trouble with that.

I have trouble with Competetive micro transactions, or making everyone else jump through 150 hoops to get them, but this isn't competetive and those promo's aren't that hard to unlock.

So yeah, I'm fine with it.

I dislike Microtransaction*, but I have no problem with them being an option for people who do not have the time to spend on unlocking things.

I also like finding/doing the unlocks myself, I still don't have Mad Bomber Blade but he will be mine one day!

*because they're not, they're just transactions. Buying a penny sweet does not make it any less of a purchase than buying a 50 pence chocolate bar.

I believe the origin of the term is from micro-loans.

They became a big deal because while they do little in terms of profit they were of great help in creating capital in a region by giving people with no access to jobs the means to invest in their own job, like buying a sewing machine or a couple pigs.

The loans had no collateral and were essentially profitless, except that they built capital in the area that allowed the region to become a place profit could be made, while basically branding your bank on the population.

The current Micro-transaction is a wierd twist on the idea.

You make a free game because anyone will try a game if it is free, or at least a lot of people will.  You build up community and interest in a game by having all those people, then you start nickel and diming them once the community is built.

The idea is the no-profit free to play aspect is simply there to build up a loyal player base that without f2p might never have tried the game.

You are correct that Micro Transactions are transactions, but they are actually the result of a negative profit transaction of a free to play game, similar to the micro-loans idea which has made huge impact in the world.  Similarly Micro-Transactions have greatly changed gaming.

Also the other side of the definition is that instead of buying a game, you buy little bits of the game, hence each little thing you buy is a part of one transaction, the amount you pay to play that game.

One of the things you always want to do in capitalism is charge people exactly as much as they are willing to pay for your product, to maximize profit.  You can't just charge everyone a different price though, but with micro transactions you can.

For example I backed the game Star Citizen at the lowest level to get the actual game, because I was a Wing Commander nut.  I am willing to buy the game and play it, but nothing more will I spend at this point.  I know a young man who has pent well over $1000 on that game already.  We both got the game, and are both happy with our purchase so far.  That is awesome Economics in action.

Anyways I'm not always a fan of how Micro Transactions have affected gaming, but I'm not the money, people aren't chasing me.

If Handelabra can make a bit more money and people are happy to pay it, then that is an economic success.  Go for it.

I can think of one drawback to offering the promos for sale:  It will reduce the number of people participating in what I thought was an extremely fun group effort to determine the unlock conditions of the first round of promos.  To be fair, I'm guessing the people who will pay for promos probably weren't participating in the fun anyway.

I'm personally against offering the promos for sale directly and said as much in my survey, but would like to add that if the folks at Handelabra think it would be a significant source of income for them then I change my mind and think it's a great idea    Whatever keeps those guys happy and making expansions, that's what I vote for.

I think that as long as it's clear on the purchasing page that the promos are accessible in game, then it's fine.  I don't want anyone accidentally thinking that the only way to get promos is to buy them.

I have issues with in-game purchases when they're being used to conceal the full cost of the game, or to grant a competitive edge (which is effectively the same thing).  That's not the case here, so I have no problem with it.

(I also don't have the App yet (although I'll probably be getting it soon), so my vote counts not at all)

I don't know, I can get a whole new joke out of this

"I determined the new unlock condition was… £0.99"

And I can make the same joke every time, it'll be awesome!Trying a little reverse psychology on Handelabra Games here

This would probably be my only problem with the idea.

I personally wouldn't pay to unlock the promos. I like figuring those things out or trying to set up the game in a particular way.

However, it wouldn't bother me if they offered a pay option. If they were going to do that, it might work best as a flat fee to unlock all promos as they are released, rather than having to pay for each promo individually.

Micro-transactions will only be an alternative to unlocking them, not a requirement. That's why I mentioned there really isn't a drawback.

So the way a lot of games operate is they'll add in  pesky ads in mobile games, or a bunch of grinding in the game in order to reach a goal. For those who don't mind doing so, or for people who would rather save their money are free to continue using the app that way. But those games almost always offer a paid alternative, which allow you to bypass those annoying ads or unnecessary grinding to achieve something. Which brings us to SotM digital.

Personally, I'm very happy that Handelabra is being mindful of those who love a good puzzle, and at the same time offering a way to further support them but at the same time getting something out of it; getting unlocked content without hassling with the conditions. I'd say I really don't have a problem with it either way.

Remember the days when instead of DLC, we had cheat codes for this kind of thing? I miss those days.

I think Killswitch has it right. There is no drawback to having the option, as long as it is an option and not the only way. As long as it's cheap too, i probably wouldn't wnat to spend 10$ or more on unlocking a promo, if you know what i mean/

I totally understand that paying will be completely optional, and you'll be able to unlock as usual if you choose not to pay.

But whoever it was that brought up the fact that there are groups that trash games for having microtransactions also said that these groups don't care if you can earn the content in a non-paying way as well. They just hate microtransactions so much that they want to ruin games that have them, regardless of exactly what the microtransactions are and whether they are necessary.

I don't know how pervasive or bad this is and how much of a risk putting microtransactions in a game is in light of this, but it's not the case that there is "no drawback" to selling promo content.

Personally I'd stick two fingers up to malicious groups like that and sell promos to people that wanted them all day long while letting everyone else unlock them, but it's not my business that would be at risk. It's definitely a thing to research more.

I tend to find that the ones who hate microtransactions will still play, let the ones who absh a game, or even refuse to play whine. They are juts a very vocal minority. Handelabra ahs been doing a good job from what I've seen, and I know they'll keep it up!

But these same groups who smear games for a poor reason would surely do so either way, since Handelabra offers the expansion packs as DLC, or "micro transactions."

I think we're all on the same page here :P. Compainers are silly, Micro-transaction aren't bad if they aren't the only way, and things are good.

And none of us would be able to talk to eachother about it unless we happened to meet in person at some point?

And this game wouldn't even exist because it would have failed at the pitch stage or gotten taken over by people who turned it into a DC game, alterred it unrecognizable and made it suck and we wouldn't even know because it would be the only game like it in the stores?

Ah, the good old days.  When I played Battletech with hand drawn maps and slips of paper with mech names on it because all I could afford were the tech readout books, and I played by myself because I didn't know where to find a gaming community.

Actually, we had the internet and chatrooms in the 90s, and they had it even back in the 80s (thought admittedly, only those who were really into computers actually used it then). Not to mention they had phones, radio, and telegraph long before that. While telecommunications is fairly new in the scope of human history, it's not THAT new.

Besides, just because you can name something that got better with time (such as the internet) does not change the fact that other things have become worse (such as the way that video game developers treat their customers).

Cheatcodes were terrible.

If you didn't have them.

I used them a lot as a kid, but found I've outgrown them as I got older. But still, the idea of paying for cheats seems kind of funny, but also kind of sad.

I don't see the point of cheating, unless you're talking about unlocking something cosmetic like a costume that you needed to win 500 fights to earn that no-one can be bothered to do.

Sometimes a code was used as a save point, and once you get to that point the game tells you the code. However, you could also ask someone. Go Megaman!

Oh yeah, I remember save game codes. They were awesome, but really annoying at the same time.

I'll second that.

Worst were the save game codes that worked... until you turned your machine off and then the memory was cleared.

All that time writing down a 24 letter password and it doesn't work any more? I'm looking at you "The Legend of the Mystical Ninja" on SNES

Oh, the joyful day when cartridges could finally save your game. No longer would you have to leave your console turned on all night with the TV off because you'd got to the final boss but your parents insisted that you had to go to bed because you had school the next day.

Of course you couldn't really lend or borrow games like that because there was only one save slot. But still!

Y'know, back in the day we used to have micro-transactions for all sorts of games.  We called them something different, though.  What was it again?  Oh, yeah.  The Arcade.

Dude, that's awesome. (I can't count the number of times I walked into one with a roll of quarters… )

For me, arcades were something you only really got in touristy places, primarily seaside holiday towns. There wasn't one in my inland town as a kid (most pubs, etc, would have a slot machine or two and maybe an arcade game, but that's it).

But my grandmother lived just outside Skegness (a couple of hours drive away on the coast, very popular but somewhat downmarket Victorian seaside town), and that place is full of arcades. We used to visit her a lot, and I'd be given "spending money" for the week which inevitably ended up gone in two days, leaving me bored in the evenings when my parents and grandparents would sit in the pub doing boring adult things until someone took pity on me and gave me extra cash.

As much as I find the idea laughable now, it is important to note that back in the 80s and 90s, arcade cabinets were often much more powerful than the consoles and even most home computers of their age. This meant you could have much more visually attractive games in the arcade than you could produce for homes- which I believe is one of the major things that lead to the downfall of arcades, now that even indie games can look really "pretty".

As a wee lad, I would beg my parents for nickels to play pinball. A few years older, I would scrape together quarters and ride my bike over to the bowling alley to play Joust, Donkey Kong, and, more than the rest combined, Pole Postition. The prospect of having a video game at home that you could play as many times as you wanted for no additional money? AMAZING!

Speaking of arcade cabinets. If I had all the money in the world...

A guy can dream, right?

And it looks like they've made an official decision…

They're going with classic cheat codes (well, passwords, actually- a little different, but mostly the same)! The methods for unlocking for those who want to work them and the passwords for those who just want them without having to play in any special way will be posted 30 days after any new promos are added.

Yeah, I saw that. It's a smart move, I'd say.

I like it, if it is important enough for you to have them right away then unlock them, otherwise wait a month and get them hassle free.

This also lets you unlock on multiple platforms more easily, which is cool.

I am impressed with their decision. 

I like it

Not only do I agree with the decision, it is one of the best explinations of the process of determining something like that. Even people who may not agree with the decision can agree that they used solid reasoning to make it fair and economical for all. Kudos.