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Examples Of Microtransactions

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So what exactly are microtransactions? Microtransactions can be defined as the exchange of real money for virtual goods. It is a system where “users can purchase virtual goods via micropayments.” hence the term microtransaction (“Microtransaction” 2017.) This type of business model is common in free to play games and is typically used to speed up progression within the game itself. However, some developers have decided to incorporate microtransactions despite customers already paying the full price for the game. While this is not necessarily an issue if the goods are cosmetic and have no effect on the core gameplay, it is an issue if it provides users who pay for offered goods with an unfair advantage over free to play players. One might …show more content…

In my opinion, this was a blatant money-grab by EA and in no way ethical because they were not acting in the interest of their clients (the users) and utilizing us as a means to an end. They could have made the same game sans the microtransactions and have made a reasonable profit from the cost of the base game itself, but instead chose to make a greedy decision to increase profit margins for what would have been a successful game regardless. Had I been the one to make the decision, I would have lowered the time-sink required to unlock heroes by a substantial amount, and limited the microtransactions to cosmetic items. That way, the needs of the customers would have been satisfied, but the company would have still made more profit than it normally would. In summary, the decision was not ethical because they acted against the interest of the customers and instead decided to further their own profits. To understand why microtransactions have become so prevalent one has to understand the history of them first. Microtransactions date as far back as early 2005 with the release of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Back then, players could purchase virtual goods such

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