作者：Evan Selleck

之前，Taylor Martin曾简要概述手机游戏的虚拟交易活动。他在文章最后询问你们：亲爱的读者们，你们是否会在自己喜欢的游戏或是在任何游戏中购买虚拟内容。这不足为怪，你们中很多人坚定表示，自己在购买游戏后绝不会在游戏中进行任何消费。对此我毫不惊讶，因为在我看来，这难以控制，因此我自己也放弃采用这样的模式。

对我来说，这是相当大的一步。

之所以是一大步是因为我清楚开发者来自何处。更重要的是，我清楚这对他们来说是富有意义的模式。更糟的是，这具有可行性。是的，确是如此。虽然我们都坐在这儿谴责整个模式，但这并没有改变如下事实：大家喜欢以较低价格购买游戏，接着在后续阶段掏钱购买“更多内容”。

Dead Trigger from phonedog.com

“更多内容”通常意味着“更多资金”，这对各市场来说并不新颖。这之所以令多数玩家感到不快是因为开发者希望从中赚取收益的内容（游戏邦注：属于“更多内容”范畴）对核心游戏来说非常重要。显然，你无需这些内容也能够通过游戏，但若1）开发者认为你会掏钱购买这些内容；2）你认真考虑掏钱进行购买，这必定是非常棒的内容。

Dead Trigger 2 from phonedog.com

这唯一缺乏可行性的时候是，开发者完全封锁内容，要求玩家在此投入额外资金。Taylor引用一个完美例子：《Dead Trigger》，游戏不久前刚于iOS平台发行，最近开始入驻Android平台。现在我要告诉你，我自己是《Dead Trigger》的忠实粉丝。我非常喜欢玩这款游戏，尤其是进行快速冲刺。但这部分内容需要玩家掏钱购买。

更糟的是，玩家只能通过真钱购买M4以及其他武器。你无法在随后解锁M4内容，或是通过你在游戏中收集的数字货币购买这一内容。没有可能。是否想要M4？花点现金，这就是你的。但如果你不愿意支付现金，开发商Madfinger Games为什么要向你提供商品？

简单答案就是，你已掏钱购买游戏。虚拟交易活动因开发者的过度自负而遭受阻碍。我想要M4，但我不会掏更多钱购买。我有信心用杰出的短枪而顺利通过僵尸的袭击。但这并不意味着，若我不用游戏货币购买M4，那么我就不会这么做。

但这胜过购买枪支或配件。你可以购买金钱。是的，你可以支付99美分购买价值4万美元的游戏货币。这显然是个庞大数目，这足够支撑你在游戏中走很远。但这无法给你带来M4或是其他枪支（游戏邦注：你只能通过现金进行购买）。

购买资金非常荒谬，但这并非仅出现在《Dead Trigger》中。在《宝石迷阵闪电战》之类的游戏中，你可以购买更多的金属物件，或者甚至是更多硬币。就如我之前提到的，这类内容对《Dead Trigger》来说并不新颖，但Madfinger Games的这款新作堪称虚拟商品购买活动的荒谬极限。

虚拟交易模式是否存在故障？没有，但它遭到曲解。它严重偏向于就过去完全基于趣味性的内容进行创收。游戏应给开发者带来创收，这点毋庸置疑。但我们丧失了过去的游戏趣味。说点题外话，不妨玩玩《战地风云3》，这样你就会明白我的意思。开发者开始迎合那些愿意掏钱的用户，而弃其他用户于不顾。

虚拟商品交易模式，尤其是在手机游戏领域，有失偏颇地对待了普通用户，但重点是普通用户才是这些手机游戏所应瞄准的群体。这些是和Taylor一样本身不玩电子游戏的玩家，这些用户希望在有机会时，能够体验些许内容，打发一天的时间。

不要用这些会限制游戏（若你没有掏钱购买）的小型虚拟商品挫败他们。这缺乏趣味可言，而游戏正需要富有趣味。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

In-app purchases are ruining mobile games

By Evan Selleck

Yesterday, Taylor Martin offered you up a brief summary on in-app purchases, related to mobile games. Near the end he asked you if you, Dear Reader, are apt to purchasing in-app content for your favorite games. Or any game, for that matter. Not surprisingly, many of you were pretty adamant about how you wouldn’t buy anything in a game after that initial purchase. I’m not surprised by this because I am someone who thinks that it’s getting out of hand, and therefore I’ve almost completely stopped doing it myself.

And for me, that’s a pretty big step.

It’s a big step because I understand where the developers are coming from. More to the point, I completely understand that this is a model that makes sense to them. Worse, it’s working. Yeah, it is. While we can all sit here and decry the model as a whole, it doesn’t change the fact that people seem to like to be able to buy the game for a far cheaper cost out-right, and then at a later point spend a bit more to get “more stuff.”

“More stuff” is usually always connected at the hip with “more money,” and this isn’t new to any market. The reason it just rubs most people, or more specifically most gamers, the wrong way, is because the things that the developers want more money for, what falls under “more stuff,” is generally pretty important to the core game. Sure, you can go through it without those things, but obviously it must be pretty cool if, 1) the developer thinks you’ll pay for it and, 2) you seriously consider paying for it.

The only time it really, really doesn’t work is when the developers completely lock out something in favor of having people pay extra for it. Taylor used a perfect example: Dead Trigger, which launched for iOS not too long ago, and most recently made its presence known on the Android platform. I’ll tell you right now that I’m a big fan of Dead Trigger. I really like playing it, especially in quick bursts. But it is hindered right out of the gate by in-app purchases.

It’s made worse by the fact that you can only buy the M4, along with other weapons, with real money. You don’t get to unlock the M4 at some later date, or get to buy it with the digital money you collect in-game. Nope. You want the M4? Spend a bit more cash and it’s yours. But if you’re not willing to pony up the dough, why on earth should the developer, in this case Madfinger Games, be willing to provide the goods?

Well, the simple answer should be that you bought the game. You see, in-game purchases are hindered by the sheer overconfidence of the developer. I want the M4. I do. But I’m not going to pay more to get it. I’m content enough to stick with the very engaging shotguns, and making my way through zombies in that way. But that doesn’t mean that if I couldn’t buy the M4 with in-game cash that I wouldn’t. Because I would. You wouldn’t even have to dare me.

It gets better than buying guns or accessories, though. You can buy money. Yeah! You can spend 99 cents to purchase $40,000 worth of in-game money. That’s a pretty hefty some to be sure, and it would probably get you pretty far within the world. But it doesn’t buy you the M4, or any other gun you can only “purchase” with a real purchase of real money.

Buying money is ludicrous, but it doesn’t just happen in Dead Trigger. You can buy more spins, or even more coins in titles like Bejeweled Blitz. Like I said earlier, these types of things aren’t new to Dead Trigger, but it would seem that this new title from Madfinger Games is just reaching for the stars as to the most ridiculous situation for buying in-app objects.

Is the in-app purchase model broken? No, but it is skewed. It’s skewed heavily towards the monetization of something that used to be based entirely on having fun. Games should be making money for the developer, that’s obvious. But we’ve lost the way that we used to have fun with games. A little off topic, but go play Battlefield 3 now, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Developers are catering to those who will pay money, over and over again, and leaving everyone else in the dust.

The in-app purchasing model for games, especially mobile games, is a skewed disservice to the average gamer, and here’s the kicker: the average gamer, the average consumer is exactly who these mobile games are supposed to be tailoring to. The people who don’t necessarily play video games all the time, like Taylor himself, but who just want something to pick up and play throughout the day, when they have a chance.

Don’t beat them down, or anyone for that matter, with these bite-size purchases that actually limit the game if you don’t buy them. It isn’t any fun, and games are supposed to be fun.（Source：phonedog）