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Microtransactions: Little Purchases, Big Problems
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In this week's episode, Andrew and Brandon tackle one of the biggest problems parents face in video games - microtransactions. Growing from a widely laughed at Horse Armour DLC to the driving force between multi-billion dollar games, if your child is playing video games, someone is trying to sell them Microtransactions.
Andrew, a father of two and lifelong gamer, teams up with Brandon, a consumer psychologist and ex-pro video game coach, to cover video games, the way they are designed and how these design decisions impact the children that play them.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Dopamine Slot Machine'
00:00:08
Andrew Wilmot
Good morning, good day, good evening. Whenever you are, welcome to the dopamine slot machine, the podcast that discusses what you need to know about the video games that your children are playing. How are they designed to get your kids hooked? How do they make money from your children? And what can you do to make sure that your child's relationship with video games is a positive one? My name is Andrew. I'm a dad of two and a lifelong gamer.
00:00:31
Bdizzle
And I'm Brandon, a consumer research psychologist and an ex-professional video game coach.
What are Microtransactions?
00:00:36
Andrew Wilmot
This week we're covering microtransactions, the little purchases that can add up to big problems. So what is a microtransaction? It's a bit of a nebulous term, but really it defines any sort of purchase, in-app purchase, typically a small one that you can do in-app, in-game.
00:00:54
Andrew Wilmot
That's a broad definition, but it really does cover everything from paying for additional content, additional levels in the game, to unlocking new items for you to use, to even just giving you an advantage over other players. When you see articles in the news about some kid accidentally spending thousands on a game and them trying to get refunds from the Apple Store or the developers, this is what they're on about.
00:01:22
Andrew Wilmot
And that can make parents wary of any sort of in-app purchase. But over to you, Brian, are all microtransactions bad?
00:01:32
Bdizzle
i say It's a tough question because I think it's like one of those like you're comparing literature, right? You're comparing maybe your Playboy to your Shakespeare. and But in essence, like the reason why I say that is because the reason why micro microtransactions existed in the first place was it's like a really bold business model. You're saying, hey, play my video game for free. And if you really want to support us, like buy these cosmetic items, that it's good.
00:02:01
Bdizzle
On the other side of the fence, you have video games that are set up to try to maliciously squeeze out as much money as they can from microtransactions.
The Evolution of Microtransactions
00:02:11
Bdizzle
And that's almost like a complete spectrum. I think in essence, they can be a force for good, but most of the time, unfortunately, because obviously these are businesses, they care about the bottom line, they're they're abused in a lot of ways. and But I'm sure we'll dig into that in this podcast.
00:02:30
Andrew Wilmot
So I actually, I'm sure you do as well, I remember the first microtransaction, the infamous Oblivion Horse Armor DLC, and the idea was that you paid $2.50 for some cosmetic armor for your horse in the game.
00:02:50
Andrew Wilmot
And this was absolutely mocked, blasted just by journalists, by other developers, by gamers themselves.
00:02:59
Bdizzle
Everyone put it was ridiculous.
00:03:00
Andrew Wilmot
every Everyone
00:03:01
Bdizzle
Everyone. Yeah.
00:03:03
Andrew Wilmot
And, you know, it was it was just supposed to be a little experiment. But the thing is, despite all the feedback, it was a really cheap bit to content to produce. I mean, I cannot emphasize for our listeners who have no idea what the Elder Scrolls Oblivion is, we are talking a different outfit for your horse on a single-player game.
00:03:25
Bdizzle
Correct. And to put that in greater perspective, this is something that your intern could do at a game studio, not a 20 or 30 person team. So it's not like a DLC or downloadable content update that might give you 30 minutes, four or five hours of extra play time. This is just how you look from intern's work. Like it it really is as minimal, minimal effort as possible.
00:03:55
Andrew Wilmot
But it it made millions. So for all the for all the backlash against it, the experiment proved the model works.
00:04:03
Andrew Wilmot
And ah that was 2006. That's 20 years ago. And now it almost seems, yeah you look at the top grossing games, it's all microtransaction based.
00:04:15
Bdizzle
Yeah it's it's a start.
Impact of Microtransactions on Gaming Experience
00:04:16
Bdizzle
set s i've Obviously I'm like you Andra, I've been playing video games my whole life and yeah I think this is even very common in the overarching community of video games but it has almost completely taken over for how these the financial models that run these video games is microtransactions are the heartbeat for a large but almost major i would say wow almost surprises me coming it coming out my mouth but is the majority of them nowadays isn't it andrew
00:04:50
Andrew Wilmot
Yeah, you you look up at the top grossing games that the ones that we talk about regularly on this show, Roblox, Fortnite, Clash of Cowns, Pokemon Go, Clash Royale, it is dominated by either games that are entirely monetized around microtransactions or games which heavily offer them. So Mario Kart, right? You can buy Mario Kart and play it and never spend another penny, but it will also have additional content, map packs, race packs that you can buy with it. And um i want to I want to reverse, so you mentioned there's you know not all microtransactions are going to be the same. you know it's Comparing your Shakespeare to your hello magazine, we really do.
00:05:36
Andrew Wilmot
We really do insult Hello Magazine readers on this show, that's not intentional. but but's ah Can we pick some examples of them both? So let's start off with what would be the Shakespeare of microtransactions? What is the best possible, from a psychological safety perspective, microtransaction model? what's the What's the least damage they can do?
00:06:01
Bdizzle
is an interesting one well i wouldn't say least damage i think for me it's about least malicious right so they're not using any tactics that obfuscate the value of what you're buying so yeah my gut and i haven't thought about this really before but my gut tells me it'll be something cosmetic that doesn't offer any type of in-game advantage and is sold at a particular price that is reflective of real world wild currency so it's not ten thousand you know, bucks of some kind, it's seven hundred, eight seven, seven pounds, four pounds, five pounds. And it's more of a case of like almost when you go into these websites and they're like, can you please donate to us? I feel like that's when microtransactions really shine.
00:06:43
Andrew Wilmot
OK, that answer kind of surprises me, because for me, I've always associated the cosmetic DLC with a tying of sort of self-value into a game, as opposed to, say, level pack DLC, where you're just expanding the content that you're playing.
00:07:04
Bdizzle
ah and i can I completely agree with you and I can see why you think that. the parallel The example I would give is like designer clothing. right So if you have a Ralph Lauren t-shirt of some kind,
00:07:19
Bdizzle
what makes that impressive is not because of the fabric quality or even how it looks it's just a white t-shirt with a let's say a red logo on it it's the fact that it cues it's expensive to other people so the problem comes is when you ah ah you include kind of a hierarchy of spend and that kind of innately forces people aspirationally upwards So if it's a static kind of £6 spend, it's kind of a no brainer, it's just people who support the community. When it's a £350, £400 spend, just hypothetically, it's this representation of like, I'm rich in my personal life or I'm better than you.
00:07:58
Bdizzle
And just like how designer clothing works, right? That's why that kind of U-curve exists in terms of the people that buy really luxury goods, which is people that are either incredibly, well, shouldn't be buying it or people that are incredibly rich. And I think that's why it's such a multi-dimensional conversation.
00:08:18
Andrew Wilmot
OK, so I can see, for instance, that if I'm buying a shirt for £20, it might be because I like the shirt. But if I'm buying a shirt for £2,000, there's probably additional elements there.
00:08:30
Andrew Wilmot
But we but in in the context of microtransactions in video games, and specifically with children,
00:08:30
Bdizzle
You might be being taken for a ride. Correct. and
00:08:42
Andrew Wilmot
Because often they'll be in free games. Just just putting my parenting hat on here. you know let's say but Let's say my daughter's playing a game. She's got microtransactions. She's playing it with her friends. And they start spending their pocket money on cosmetics. You you say six pounds is a flat rate. Six pounds to my daughter is a huge, um unfathomably large amount of money. Not really. but without having that, just the ability to then spend that in game does become a social separator.
00:09:16
Bdizzle
Yes, correct. And that's exactly why they do it, right? They're they're really cognizant of the market they're appealing to. that's how we should evaluate these types of transactions. In the same way in the UK, we don't allow or the the standard is kind of school uniforms is to actually stamp this out because we realized that wealth kind of status symbols are negatively impacting like young students it's just the same thing but in individuals personal life in a different sphere so I really do think it could potentially have a negative impact in that regard so I can see why that that's a prominent issue Andrew.
00:10:00
Andrew Wilmot
So to flip that on its head, what's the worst type of microtransaction that kids could be getting involved with? It's
Challenges for Parents with Children's Gaming
00:10:07
Andrew Wilmot
got to be the convenience payments, right?
00:10:11
Bdizzle
and I feel like you invited me to be on this podcast because I could potentially be of some insight but I feel like this is a terrible question for revealing. I'm not that smart at all really um um and that's because anything I can say is is already the norm in these companies.
00:10:33
Bdizzle
So a great example is the Skinner box. So if you put a pigeon in the box they press a button 5-10 times and it gives one item of food every time they press it the pigeon gets bored.
00:10:46
Bdizzle
You put a pigeon in a box where ah every 50 times they press it, 50 food comes out and they're addicted. They want us but they they will will starve themselves, live it like just obsessed with pressing this button. So that's the first step. You know, you'd you'd introduce a lot of randomness. I'm sure Andrew sat here being like, yep, that's loot boxes. and So that's the first step. The second one would be you'd Include a element of social hierarchy to it so you can see who's got the best stuff we're all geared for that's why we buy cars we can't afford.
00:11:21
Bdizzle
And that mechanism, unfortunately, is in our kids as well, and which is very present in online games. i And I guess the the third thing would be actual advantage. So you yeah yeah maybe with a nice car example, you can maybe get to work a little bit quicker. Maybe your colleagues think of you a little high in a better way. And in a video game environment, so I always remember mine and Andrew's experience with Roblox, you buy a better gun and that means that you are 10% better than you should be and it just kind of enters this virtuous cycle where you're rewarded for investing more and more financial cash into the game rather than your own let's say ability.
00:12:07
Bdizzle
and I really wish I could offer like something more inspiring here, Andrew, but i I can't because unfortunately there's big teams of people developing this stuff and I'm one person. ah And maybe haven't thought about it so deeply, but everything I could think of is still not only prevalent, but prolific in the current video game market. It's what's dominating game development ah for the last maybe i'd say definitely for the last three or four years is just the ability to leverage these mechanisms to that end point that's seen in the most recent diablo game fortnight obviously roadblocks etc etc i'm not sure if you have anything to add andrew
00:12:50
Andrew Wilmot
just that I think every parent who has concerns over smartphones, who has concerns over addictive design, feels like they're in a constant arms race against ah big tech, to use the scare word. But and that's something that, you know, I'm i'm not an expert on really. I've set this up because I'm passionate about this and want to help educate and spread the word, but we're facing a dilemma in our own house. right So I've mentioned before, my daughter and I, we love Minecraft. We've spoken on this podcast about Minecraft very positively with the one caveat
00:13:28
Andrew Wilmot
But it does have some in-app purchases, some microtransactions. They are sort of tucked away. It's not like with Roblox and Fortnite where it's really in your face with it. And that might be because you have to buy Minecraft in the first place. It's a paid game to begin with. But recently, a Hello Kitty themed adventure has been released.
00:13:51
Andrew Wilmot
And my partner, my daughter's mother, just thinks that she would absolutely adore this. And she probably would, the the experience itself. But for me, when it comes to the sort of parenting, in-app purchases, particularly ones where you have to buy a separate currency. And if you missed the episode on Minecraft, you have to buy something called Minecoins to then buy these items or level packs or cosmetics within Minecraft.
00:14:22
Andrew Wilmot
Particularly once we have to buy a separate currency first, I've been on an absolute red line. And so it's we're we're currently wrangling with this di this this balance of there is some cool content that we really think that our daughter would enjoy.
00:14:39
Andrew Wilmot
and the content itself is probably absolutely fine as far as we can tell, but the manner in which you get it, we have concerns about and are worried about sort of opening the floodgates and it goes from, yeah you you invite that into your home and it goes from, we've we've we've spent money on this one sort of pack, so it's then going to be easier to do, justify it on cosmetics, it's gonna be easier, so on,
00:15:07
Andrew Wilmot
and so forth. I guess you know just a really open question from a psychological safety perspective, where do you start with this?
00:15:17
Bdizzle
I'm starting to regret coming onto this podcast, Andrew, with these questions that yeah you're sending me. So the first element in terms of your concern is 100% well placed, right? Undisputably. So when you sign up for a casino website, what do they do?
00:15:32
Andrew Wilmot
I couldn't tell you.
00:15:33
Bdizzle
you can tell you okay well for what what they tend to do is they'll they'll give you 50 free spins 100 free spins if you place a bet down they'll double it they'll do something right to hook you and it's this kind of foot through the door sales technique that is very very common like across industries so that's basically the initiative right and ah ah in a in a box shell so you're right to be hesitant the flip side of that argument is not all slippery slopes are slippery slopes if that makes sense so although they're like uh
00:16:08
Bdizzle
not necessarily puritanically good. it's particularly tailored towards your daughter and it would bring a lot of value, maybe it's an equal transaction of services, I don't know. I think a wise man in a previous podcast that we spoke to, it really really stuck with me actually, was that and you have to include your kids in the conversation.
00:16:34
Bdizzle
You know, I remember we talked about this and talked about it afterwards and it really stuck with me, Andrew, that maybe if you confront these evils in a conversational manner, so you clue them in, maybe that's the lesson here, is that these products are designed to try to extract as much money from you. And maybe it's a really interesting opportunity to do that. I'm not so sure.
00:16:59
Bdizzle
But I think that's the key problem with this space is that even someone like me and you Andrew that grew up with it. We've been thinking about it for 20 years now, which feels really strange to say if you think about it, but we have been thinking about it for 20 years.
00:17:15
Bdizzle
We don't even really know how to handle these gray areas very, very well. So I think the solution always is communication, transparency. Kids are too smart to lie to type approach, maybe, and then kind of adjust from there, from the reaction. I'm not sure if you have any thoughts, Andrew.
00:17:34
Andrew Wilmot
it's just something that we're gonna muddle through, I suppose. And I've seen, I suppose there's perhaps a comparison to be made between how the English approach alcohol and how we like to think that the French approach alcohol, I don't know to what extent it's true, but the the English approach where you're not having alcohol to a certain age and then you go nuts, versus the French approach of, you know, you have a glass of wine with dinner and you have an open conversation about the drawbacks and benefits of alcohol.
00:18:06
Andrew Wilmot
I've seen similar comparisons actually by people who are very critical of the smartphone free childhood movement, saying that you need to equip children with the skills to handle the internet, et cetera, et cetera.
00:18:18
Andrew Wilmot
And for me, the counter to that has always been, yes, you need to teach a child to ride a bike, but you don't just set them off.
00:18:26
Bdizzle
you don't put them you don't put them on the motorway like that's the key distinction is like you can teach your child to ride a bike you don't you don't just immediately put them onto the a14 or whatever yeah i completely agree
00:18:27
Andrew Wilmot
And yeah.
00:18:30
Andrew Wilmot
Exactly.
00:18:40
Andrew Wilmot
the The motorway is probably an intrinsically more safe environment, because unlike the motorway, there are bad actors that are actively trying to extract value from your children and actively trying to hurt your children.
00:18:54
Bdizzle
Yeah, yeah well well well, thank you for ruining my analogy live on air.
00:18:54
Andrew Wilmot
In the motorway, they're just idiots, but you have to worry about
00:19:01
Bdizzle
But yeah, I completely agree with you.
00:19:02
Andrew Wilmot
No, no, no, I'm saying it's even worse than the setting your kid on the motorway.
00:19:03
Bdizzle
yeah
00:19:07
Andrew Wilmot
But that actually leads really nicely into a a question that I've got.
Identifying Addictive Gaming Behavior in Children
00:19:12
Andrew Wilmot
So this comes from Lauren, who asks us, my six-year-old sometimes gets upset when we say it's time to stop gaming. How can we know the difference between it being normal six-year-old upsets at swapping activities and something to be concerned about?
00:19:29
Andrew Wilmot
It's obviously touching on addictive behavior there.
00:19:33
Andrew Wilmot
How do you know that it's not just an upset kid versus a kid who is struggling with compulsive behavior?
00:19:33
Bdizzle
yeah so so from my standpoint it's the same thing so like at the moment they're they're they're almost interchangeable so you define when you define addiction you define it by outcomes right so if you look at the dsm5 in terms of problem gambling problem whatever it's not about let's arbitrary let's say you spend three hours a day gambling. It's about the impact it has on your life. So ultimately, it's those concepts are always interchangeable. And it's always about from from what I've read about basically consistency. So just keep on what you're doing and reinforcing that swapping activities is part of normal life. That's kind of my knee jerk take on this one. and But Andrew, I'm sure you might have a particular take.
00:20:29
Andrew Wilmot
It's not so much a parenting take, but like as I said, I still enjoy video games. If you came to me in my 15 minutes a day, I get free. I'm joking, but it you know I've settled in for an activity for that. I'm playing my game, and you come along and tell me, oh, by the way, you need to do XYZ. And I wasn't prepared for that. That ruffles me a little bit. ah ah you know in In software development,
00:20:57
Andrew Wilmot
Something that we're always trying to avoid is context switching, because if you're constantly context switching, it introduces, you're you're not able to get properly into whatever you're doing, and it's actually really frustrating.
00:21:09
Andrew Wilmot
and so It can be easy to view, if if you're looking at everything through the lens of addictive design, it can be easy to view any sort of upset as addiction. But, you know, my my three-year-old, he loves trains, absolutely loves trains. It's the first thing he talks about when you wake him up in the morning and he goes to sleep cuddling these die-cast metal trains. It's really inconvenient, actually, he wakes himself up rolling over them.
00:21:36
Andrew Wilmot
Is he addicted to trains? ah Are trains inherently addictive? No, no. The man just loves his trains. But the flip side is, if if I was spending all day, every day thinking about gambling, waking up in the morning, shaking, because I just love gambling so much, then yeah, yeah.
00:21:56
Bdizzle
ah That would be a problem, correct? Yeah.
00:21:59
Andrew Wilmot
So I don't know. I don't want i don't want our listeners to come away from these podcasts jumping at their own shadow with these things. Being aware of the way things are designed doesn't mean avoiding every single piece of tech.
00:22:15
Bdizzle
Yeah, I agree. I almost I've been thinking about this recently, and it might be a bit bold. But it's like, yeah we we said in a previous podcast, it's like, don't study a psychology degree, just become a parent. And I feel like parents job is you're a psychologist anyway.
00:22:29
Bdizzle
i Just try to if you think enough you'll become a good psychologist It almost doesn't matter what we say if you think enough with enough thought with your particular situation You come to a good answer almost I do sincerely mean that from from my exposure for young parents anyway or parents in general
00:22:50
Andrew Wilmot
So talking about addictive design, we we've normally done some recommended reading, but actually today we've got a recommended game. So it's by a digital artist on his website, to Neil dot.fun, and it's called Stimulation Clicker. Brandon and I just gave it a go just now. And it's it's a sort of but you'd call them clicker type games cookie clicker was the first one that came out also at university and it's a really interesting experience because it's simultaneously a parody of all the attention capture techniques you'll see on tick tock you know you have your subway surfers in the background as a as a way of earning more stimulation that the currency in the game is literally stimulation um it's
00:23:37
Andrew Wilmot
It's a really cool piece of art, but also I think would be a very interesting experience to parents who maybe don't play games, who'd have no idea what
Understanding Game Design and Attention Mechanisms
00:23:45
Andrew Wilmot
we're talking about. I actually shared it to a smartphone-free group that I'm in, and parents who don't play games who are like, this is awful. Why do I want to keep pressing the button? I am not having fun. This is not enriching.
00:24:00
Bdizzle
Well, that that that sums up just exactly why that's useful and I couldn't recommend it enough.
00:24:06
Andrew Wilmot
Nice. So, and don't forget that if you've got some questions for us, or if you or your children have been impacted by the issues we've discussed today, that you can get in touch with us on our website, thedopamineslotmachine.co.uk, or find us on the Dopamine Slot Machine Discussion Corner Facebook group. All links can be found in our artist profile, and we would love to hear from you.
00:24:28
Andrew Wilmot
Brandon, to wrap us up, apart from the Neil.fun stimulation clicker, is there any recommended reading that you have for us this week or anything that you've read recently that our readers would find interesting?
00:24:40
Bdizzle
or you sprung that on me Andrew in the moment because I thought we're going for the the web link. the The most important thing I would advise parents to do is just look at Look at maybe anything to do with reaction time and reward networks. Like just go onto Google and start and understanding how these mechanisms work. Because when you watch your son or daughter play these video games, you'll kind of see how that plays out in real time. And I'm a huge believer in foundational understanding. And once you get exposed to that, you'll feel more informed about the decisions that you make. And that's the most important thing.
00:25:19
Andrew Wilmot
Thank
Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode
00:25:20
Andrew Wilmot
you, Brandon. That's all we have time for today, and thank you all so much for joining us. We'd love to have you here with us again in next week's episode, where we're going to take our time going over mobiles, tablets, consoles, and computers, how what you game on impacts your brain. This has been the Dopamine slot machine. Thank you, and see you soon.