作者：Mikkel Faurholm

当游戏中不再免费提供内容时，其玩法就会出现十分紧凑的计算时间。你无法再获得免费宝石了！目标的成本骤然上升，导致玩家无法再不购买任何通关IAP的情况下使用破货币。

让玩家在游戏的首几个环节中躲过时间门阀是一项十分讲究的艺术，要尽量令玩家到达他们觉得在游戏中获得自主权和投入足够时间的程度。但当一切结束时，玩家就要被迫投入硬货币以继续避开时间门阀，从而继续玩游戏（并保持乐趣）。

其中的秘诀相当明显。在过去数年中，游戏已经“完善”了我们令玩家着迷/成瘾的方式。这正是为何你有时候会觉得自己好像之前玩过了这款游戏。 但也有一些糟糕的例子。

让我们看看某些游戏试图令玩家习惯投入硬货币，但却操之过急的做法。某些游戏的此类做法可以说是诈骗，而有些时候游戏则会因此而丧失玩家和潜在收益。

这其中一个例子来自《Clash of Clans》，我将其称为“情节驱动式鼓励”使用硬货币。

“快点，坏蛋正在靠近。我们需要一些防御工事来阻止他们。”

Clash of Clans(from gamasutra)

你建造了一个大炮来保护自己，你看到该防御工整很快就会到位。但游戏中的“助手”却弹出来告诉你不要如此吝啬，舍不得花掉数分钟前游戏所提供的500个免费Gems。由于每个Gem价格较低，建设所需的1分钟时间将快速跳过，你就可以做好打战的准备了。我敢打赌交、100%的玩家都曾听从这个慷慨而乐于助人的女十的建议，并花掉了一个Gem。

但如果我拒绝了会怎样？如果我只是等待这一分钟结束并将宝石留着以备后用会怎么样？没错，你猜对了，什么都不会发生。除了要多等一分钟之外，拒绝这种加速过程并不会产生任何后果。当然不会发生任何后果，为什么？因为该游戏绝不会在游戏早期冒险让玩家吞下苦果。

假如大炮并没有如期完成，小镇上的妇孺皆被虏走，只剩下一座被烧成废墟的空城——那么玩家就会重新开始吗？就已经不再是玩家可以一笑了之并继续进行的事情了——等待1分钟或者直接跳过。

但有更少的游戏不幸没有在此方面获得成功。让我们看看Social Point的《Monster Legends Mobile》。

《Dragon City》的创造者令该游戏看起来像一个续作。《Dragon City》取得了巨大的成功。但在《Monster Legends Mobile》中，他们将一些事情看得太理所当然了。这方面的一个例子就是在新手教程中，首次要求玩家去孵化一个恐龙蛋。屏幕就会出现以下画面：

Monster Legends Mobile 1(from gamasutra)

你可以花少量的钱购买一个宝石（硬货币）迅速完成孵化过程——但如果你决定等待，也只需要4秒就能完成。这是我根据《Clash of Clan》这类游戏的经验得到的推论。

其硬货币通常可以比游戏的建议发挥更高效的战略性作用。我知道这是带有硬核风格的休闲游戏。但请看我所、在《Monsters Legends》的宝石隐藏处在这一点上仅提供5颗宝石。

我只能选择花掉20%的硬货币或者等待4秒时间。这并不是什么很难的抉择，所以我只是等待4秒并得到了自己的回报。在等待数秒之后，玩家就会注意到4秒倒计时并不算什么倒计时。它没有改变什么。于是这就会让你很恼火，我得使用硬货币。

说实话，这只是一种糟糕的游戏设计、用户界面设计和用户体验。我对游戏试图迫使我花掉硬货币并没有什么意见，花一个宝石来孵化一个恐龙蛋听起来也相当划算，但这款游戏却是在假装我实际上没有的一项选择。

Monsters Legends Mobile(from gamasutra)

这款游戏预期用户行为的方式，将会对认识到这一点的玩家产生极为消极的影响。这当然只是一个非常简单的例子，多数玩家甚至都不会注意到这一点，因为他们只是遵从其中橙色箭头的指示。粗心的游戏设计只会随波逐流，对他人的做法亦步亦趋，而不会实现成本vs等待时间之间的平衡。

采用这种类型的硬货币使用可供性会迅速产生反效果，玩家更情愿被迫花掉硬货币而不是傻到去相信自己有所选择。所以不要再对玩家说谎了，要如实公布你的安排，并谨慎对待你向玩家呈现的选择或者无选择状态。

我们可以见到大量这种游戏设计类型。要在F2P游戏领域中成就一番作为，需要游戏设计与盈利机制之间的共生共存与互助——不可偏废其中一者。（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）

Forcing the Hard Currency in F2P Games

by Mikkel Faurholm

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.

The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Depending on the game, a very closely calculated time in the gameplay comes, when the give-aways stop. No more free Diamonds for you Sir! The cost of objectives are getting too high to allow the player to keep spending hard currency without having to purchase any through IAP.

Letting a player dodge the time gate in the first few instances of the game are very deliberate, trying to engage the player to a level where they feel a combination of ownership and a good portion time invested, for that specific game. But when it ends, players are forced to invest in hard currency to keep avoiding the time gate, keep playing (…and ‘have fun’)

The recipe is fairly clear. Over the last few years, games have ‘perfected’ the way the get the player engaged/addicted, which is why, independent of theme, you’ll sometime feel like you’ve played the game before. But there are those who swing and miss.

Lets look at some examples where games, in their attempt to get the player used to spending the hard currency, forces it too much. In some of the games it is just entertaining to call their bluff and sometimes, the game potentially looses players and revenue instead.

An example could be what i’d like to call ‘plot-driven encouragement’, to use hard currency like you see in Clash of Clans.

“Quickly, the bad guys are approaching. We need some type of defensive structure to hold them back”

You build a cannon to protect yourself, and you see that the structure will be about a minute under way. But the ‘helper’ pops up and tells you to stop being so stingy, with the 500 free Gems the game provide you with, a few minutes ago. For the small price of one gem, that minute of building time will go away, and you’ll be ready for the attack in time. I would bet close to 100% of players listen to the generous and helpful lady and spend the one gem.

BUT HOLD ON!?

What happens if I refuse? What if I just wait the full minute and save the gem for later? Yep, you guessed it, absolutely nothing happens. The choice to decline the speed-up has no consequences, except waiting the minute. I’m tempted to say, of course nothing happens. why? Because the game would never risk introducing consequences this early in the game.

Say the cannon did not complete in time, the women and children were stolen, and the town was burned to the ground – and the player was asked to start over? naaah, right? Their bluff was called, and I don’t feel cheated, because the cost was so low. So this actually ends up being something that the player can faintly laugh about and move on – waiting the minute or not.

Lesser games unfortunately didn’t succeed in doing so. Lets have a look at Social Point’s ‘Monster Legends Mobile’.

The creators of Dragon City, have made what feels like a sequel, and why not? Dragon City had huge success. But in Monster Legends Mobile, they took a few things for granted. An example of this is the first time the player is asked, during the tutorial, to hatch a Dragon Egg. The screen below appears.

Finishing the hatching process can be instantly completed for the small fee of one gem (hard currency) – but it will be completed in 4 sec if the player decides to wait. or will it? My thought process was this; (based on the prior experience from games like Clash of Clan)

The hard currency can often times strategically be used more efficient than what the game suggest. This is some hardcore casual gaming, i know. But looking at my provided gem stash in Monsters Legends at this point is only 5 gems.

Spending 20% of my hard currency or waiting 4 seconds. Not the hardest choice I have had to make, so I’ll just wait the 4 seconds and claim my reward. After a few seconds of waiting, the player will notice that the 4 seconds countdown is not a countdown. It does not change. Then it hits you. I have to use the hard currency.

Honestly? This is just terrible game design, user interface design and user experience. I have no problem with the game trying to force the spending of hard currency on me, and paying a single gem for the hatching of a fire-breathing dragon sounds pretty damn cheap, but this game is simulating a choice that I don’t have.

Let me quickly fix

your game design Social Point.

The way Monsters Legends Mobile expect user behavior, end up having a very negative effect for players that realize this, myself included.  This is of course a very simple example where, again, most players won’t even realize is there, because they just follow the orders of the orange arrow. Sloppy game design that just rides the wave of ‘what everyone else did’, but not balancing the cost vs. the waiting time.

Implementing this type of affordance of the use of hard currency can quickly backfire, and players will much rather be forced to spend hard currency than being fool into thinking they are making a choice. Stop lying to the players, and just be honest about your agenda and be careful with the choices, or non-choices, you present to your players. You might end up robbing yourself.

There are loads of examples of this type of game design, where the hard currency was too much in focus. Making it big in the world of F2P games requires the game design and the monetization to co-exist and help each other – you can’t focus too much on one or the other. Do you have examples of games trying to trick you into spending? Let me know.（source：gamasutra）