There is one recurring statement that bothers me to no end, largely because it is simply not true. Most of the time if I pursue the player who uses the term, he will admit to using it only to justify his dissatisfaction with a handful of free-to-play games. That term is "free-to-play is pay-to-win." Essentially, the term refers to gaining advantages over other players through one's pocketbook, by buying power. As someone who has played, investigated, talked about or interviewed developers of over 100 free-to-play games, I can tell you that a "pay-to-win" scenario exists in the minority of games, not in the majority as some would have you believe.

Most of the comments from the "pay-to-win" playbook come in more recent times, but that could be because my column has provided a nice, fertile space for everything anti-free-to-play. But I have found the most vocal of the detractors to be referencing recent free-to-play games like Allods Online, primarily because they may have loved it so much, yet did not want to pay a single dime for it -- and because they simply had not played many free-to-play games before that. Allods Online was, essentially, their main experience with free-to-play.

Meanwhile, I am often shown DDO (or now, Lord of the Rings Online) as some kind of "proper" way to do a cash shop. Ironically, Turbine is now not only the largest, but the closest to a true pay-to-win developer. Anything larger would exist outside of North America.

Continue reading Free for All: Turbine's pristine payment plan perfects pay-to-win

Free for All: Turbine's pristine payment plan perfects pay-to-win originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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