PaigeFTW: The Freemium Trap
As it may or may not surprise you to know, I’m still stuck playing Avengers Academy. The art is so bright and appealing; the story is just intriguing enough to keep going. And they haven’t even introduced dating yet. I want to form superhero love triangle catastrophes. I can’t quit now.
So here I am, checking the damned game daily, becoming uncomfortably aware that my refusal to spend real money on it is becoming unbearable (I’m also addicted to it, kind of, but like, whatever, right).
There’s a special this week, see, where you can get Pepper Potts as Rescue, but only if you complete this noxious series of tasks to obtain 25 Holo-Globes by Monday, March 28. It’s pretty much impossible even if you go round-the-clock checking the game … unless you fork over some cash to speed things up.
The freemium model is one I have always despised. It always boils down to a “free” game that increasingly becomes nightmarish to play unless you fork over $5, $5, $10, $5 ad infinitum, until hundreds of dollars have gone by and you’re questioning your self-worth.
It relies on addiction, of you just wanting to know what will happen next, and waiting five hours is just unbearable so make it happen now. What’s $5? And that’s the lie you tell yourself, over and over.
I dislike this model — as financially lucrative as it must be — because it simply feels dishonest. Rather than simply creating a compelling product and asking for a price commensurate to what you’re getting, the game doles out content in little sips, withholding itself until the dying man gives up money for a gulp.
You’re not getting more quality, just more (ephemeral) quantity that you can’t even re-experience (freemium games are not known for their replay value). It’s a scam. And we keep falling for it, over and over.
Protest! Don’t spend the money. If I’ve held out, so can you.
