predatory monetization
Prices and probabilities for Once Human’s latest lockbox ‘event’ prompt calls for a player boycott
Last week saw survival shooter Once Human put forth its latest update, which Starry Studio said was chiefly focused on the addition of a...
Global MapleStory resolves to ‘follow its own direction’ away from Korean version parity
Western fans of MapleStory have some understandable concerns about the future of their favorite cutesy MMO following news from the Korean version, specifically Nexon's...
Blizzard promises a fix for Diablo IV’s season battle pass ‘dark pattern’ after widespread player complaints
Among the many complaints that players are leveraging against Diablo IV, one of them is arguably far more serious than class nerfs: a bit...
Massively on the Go: Five features location-based MMOs keep using – but shouldn’t
I was hoping to cover a couple of other location-based games besides Jurassic World Alive this month, but as I played them, there were a...
Vitae Aeternum: The uncomfortable truth of New World’s lax monetization
I have a pretty laid back approach to monetization in online games. Bar mandatory subscriptions and a few egregious outliers, I am generally fine...
Vague Patch Notes: You are not immune to predatory monetization in MMOs
This week, I want to expand on something I mentioned in last week's Vague Patch Notes as an offhand thing that bears further examination....
US Senator Ted Cruz and Asmongold could have a meeting over gaming microtransaction legislation
It's said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, and there appears to be no better illustration of that axiom than the potential meeting between...
Diablo Immortal delays its launch in China, sending NetEase stock into freefall
It would appear that investors of the Chinese games giant NetEase were pinning a lot of hopes on Diablo Immortal's launch to China. The...
Vague Patch Notes: The MMO term ‘pay-to-win’ is a red herring
It probably hasn't escaped anyone who has been reading my writing over the past several years that I have something of a vendetta against...
Roblox’s business model prompts fresh accusations of child labor exploitation
For the longest time, we always thought of Roblox as "that kids game with ridiculous numbers of active users." Yet as we reported last...
The Soapbox: Pokemon Unite’s monetization is gross and threatens a competent game
By now, you've probably seen several articles about the poor monetization in Pokemon Unite, often based on Reddit posts or streamer hot takes. Most talk...
GDC 2021: Biometrics, advertising, and charming communities in video games
While other gaming conventions do big game reveals, the beauty of GDC is that we hear about some of the cool tech and practices...
The Soapbox: MMO monetization that complements poor game design makes us all losers
I have a problem: As much as I enjoy games, I can see that many online and multiplayer games are becoming designed more poorly...
