MMO players looking for a hot-button topic often have to go no further than dredging up discussion concerning pay-to-win and its alleged affect on online games. We have talked about it plenty here on Massively OP, although the difficulty of pinning down a universally agreed-upon definition keeps the argument in flux.
In a think piece on Gamasutra, an examination of pay-to-win’s practices in online MMOs are given a closer look with the following hypothesis: While pay-to-win is still present, it is not nearly as onerous or disliked among players as it used to be, mostly due to changes in monetization design and gradual acceptance. Titles such as Age of Wushu and Clash Royale are pulled out as examples of how pay-to-win is impacting games and their communities.
“Similarly, as free-to-play has gained acceptance, so has the idea that you can either spend time or you can spend money,” the author argues, “and that, as long as things aren’t too biased in favor of the spenders, it’s all part of the experience.”
Give it a read and let us know if you agree or disagree with it in the comments below!
