作者：Benjamin Sipe

免费游戏仍然是一种新型业务模式，其发展还不够成熟。早期的采用者习惯使用各种技巧去获取玩家的金钱，还有一些开发者则创造了所谓的“付费获胜”体验，即如果玩家愿意付钱便有可能获得胜利。这些策略将有可能为开发者和市场带来更多利益，但是随着业务模式的日渐成熟以及玩家期待值的不断提高，玩家将越来越不愿接受这些策略。而对于今天的开发者来说，他们最迫切需要做的便是设计并执行更加精明的游戏。以下我将列出可能导致免费游戏开发者遭遇失败的5种策略：

让玩家向好友发送垃圾邮件

我知道这一策略在Facebook游戏中非常流行，但是我们必须停止基于游戏中的“好友”数而提供内容的机制。游戏中不应该再包含像“邀请好友”或“进行应用内部购买”等机制。玩家不希望游戏在他们向好友发出邀请前而隐藏各种内容。有些开发者可能会觉得向好友传达游戏内容在手机领域将不再起作用；不过因为我在最近的一些新手机游戏中仍然看到了这些机制，所以才决定将其包含在这一列表中。

开始远离心理技巧或设置隐藏按键

免费游戏中总是会频繁出现衰退或消失机制。基于主题来看，衰退和延迟机制非常适合这类型游戏，但是现在的玩家慢慢开始讨厌这种消失机制了。特别是当这些机制与一些创造内容相关时，如玩家饲养宠物。就拿《卡通农场》来说吧，如果玩家的动物死去了或者他们不登录游戏去饲养动物，那么这款游戏还会受欢迎吗？

另外一种机制便是呈现出一些很难找到或按压的按键。就像有些游戏隐藏了X按键让玩家以为他们必须购买相关内容才能看得到；或者故意将按键的颜色调暗而让玩家觉得只有将游戏进程“分享”到Facebook上才能进入下一个页面。这些战术到底是正确还是错误呢？对此并不存在准确的答案，但是如果不涉及金钱的话任何结果也不会多可怕吧。而作为开发者的你必须问自己，是想通过一些技巧或错误的战术从玩家身上获得盈利，还是创造出一款让玩家愿意与别人分享或花钱的出色游戏？不管做出何种决定都是取决于你，但是对我而言，我更愿意选择那些玩家认为是对的，或者是符合道德的方法。

设置愚蠢的广告

停止使用带有侵略性的广告解决方法！也就是所谓的横幅广告。我知道，开发者会以添加广告解决方法将蚕食他们的IAP收益为由进行辩解。的确，这会对你的IAP收益造成影响，但那是因为你未能有效地设置广告。下图便是巧妙使用广告的表现：

screenshot（from gamasutra）

那些不愿花钱的玩家还可以通过其它方法为开发者做出贡献。那些愿意花钱的玩家将会继续花钱，而不在乎广告的存在。但是如果开发者所添加的广告阻碍了玩家的视线或让他们的游戏进程变得更加困难，那么不管是付费玩家还是非付费玩家都有可能选择离开游戏。这也是我为何不喜欢“花钱移开广告”机制的原因。这便是赤裸裸地向玩家承认你在发送垃圾信息！

在一款基于玩家对抗玩家（PvP）模式的免费游戏中添加付费获胜机制

如果你认为“所有PvP免费游戏都是基于付费获胜机制”，我将告诉你这是错的。有些游戏关于付费获取胜利，也有些游戏是关于付费获得竞争优势。让我们以下图为例：

guns（from gamasutra）

对于刷任务所获得的武器而言，攻击范围是在3至12之间，防御范围在4至9之间，而对于付费所获得的武器则具有112的攻击力和100的防御力。这是一款完全受统计驱动的游戏，也就是购买了武器的玩家总是能战胜所有对手，非付费玩家永远只能束手就擒。

让我们着眼于另 一款PvP免费游戏，即《星球边缘2》。这是一款第一人称射击游戏，玩家可以使用付费货币购买不同的武器和装备的升级，但同时他们也可以通过刷任务去实现，只是后者需要花费更多时间。

guns（from gamasutra）

有些武器更强大，有些拥有更快/更慢的重新加载速度，还有些拥有更精确的汽车追踪能力。但是拥有更大的破坏力，攻速，加载速度等都不意味着你便能够赢得战斗，因为这些性能只能弥补你在游戏中的本能。

stats（from gamasutra）

每种武器或级别都拥有明确的升级功能，能够带给玩家一定的好处，如减少反冲，赋予玩家更多的生命值，提高相关能力，延伸武器的攻击范围或夜视能力等。玩家只能使用次要货币（cert points）去购买武器的升级功能，但是这些point却是用钱买不到的。虽然玩家也可以通过花钱去提升获得这些point的速度，但是这仍需要花费一定的时间。为什么这一设置如此重要？因为玩家可以花钱获得符合自己游戏风格的枪支，但是他们却不能立刻完善枪支或提升角色的能力。不管你是否喜欢游戏，我们都不能反驳它们在执行稳定的PvP免费游戏体验的事实。

让玩家花钱游戏

最近我在平板电脑上下载了一款新游戏。一开始我是因为喜欢游戏体验才投入其中，但是在进入游戏后的1分又30秒后，我便用光了所有能量和钱。我在游戏中面对着3个任务，但是我却不能成功地完成任何一个机制或行动，除非我为此投入金钱。延迟机制，阻碍，摩擦等等都是免费游戏中经常使用的盈利机制，但是我并不是打算在此劝说你们不要使用这些机制。我认为真正出色的游戏不会在玩家等待各种延迟时鼓励他们离开。例如《Clash of Clans》。从第2关到第6关期间，我需要投入30天的时间才能完善市政厅。不过我也可以花费5美元去获得另一栋建筑，并提高建造效率，即可能只需花费20天时间；甚至我还可以砸下100美元（或者500美元）而立刻完成建造。它们都是使用相同的延迟机制，但是这款游戏并不只是关于建造城市和加强防御。除了建造城市，玩家还可以攻击其它村庄。真正的战斗以及军队训练需要花费玩家20多分钟的时间。显然，训练更高级的单位也需要花费更多时间，而如果玩家愿意的话，他们甚至可以每隔20分钟去攻击其它村庄。这种次要机制或第二种核心循环能让玩家在等待建筑升级的时间里（游戏邦注：可能是几天或者几周）去执行一些其它任务或目标。

显然，这里所列出的机制都是受收益/市场营销驱动的游戏机制。我的意思并不是这些机制会阻碍你的游戏赚钱，而是说随着市场的成熟，玩家的期待以及游戏设计必须随之一起成熟。对于开发者而言，只有在今天创造出更加精明的游戏才有可能赚取足够的资金去创造之后的游戏。

（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）

5 Ways to Fail Freemium

by Benjamin Sipe

The freemium or free to play (F2P) business model is still new and in an immature state. There are some early adopters that have used exploits or tricks to squeeze money from their players, while others created what we call a “pay-to-win” experience where you’re almost  guaranteed to win if you pay money. While these tactics may have generated a lot of revenue for these developers, as the market, business model and player expectations mature, these tactics will become less and less accepted by players. They probably won’t go away all together, but it’s better to get ahead of the curve and start designing and executing smarter games today. Here are examples of 5 of these tactics:

Making players spam their friends

I know this was a popular tactic in Facebook games, but stop gating content based on the number of “friends” one has in the game! Things like “friending” or “making an in app purchase” (or IAP) should complement the experience and not be required. Don’t hold content back from me until I’ve recruited enough friends. My assumption was that developers understood that friend gating content would ultimately not work in mobile; however, I’m still seeing this in new mobile games that released in recent months so I’m compelled to include this on my list.

Start steering away from psychological tricks or hidden button placements

Decay or extinction mechanics are widely used in freemium gaming. Decay and delay can be natural fits depending on the subject matter, but players have started to dislike the extinction mechanic and it’s becoming less and less popular. Especially if they’re with something that you can create a bond with like a pet for example. How popular would Hay Day be if your animals died if you didn’t login to feed them?

Another mechanic, that if implemented may be considered a deceptive business practice, is making some buttons difficult to find or press. I’ve seen games try to hide X’s so people thought they had to purchase something or greyed buttons out so players thought they had to “share” on Facebook to get to the next screen. Are these tactics clever or misleading? There’s no right answer, but it probably feels less terrible if it doesn’t involve money. However, as a developer you have to ask yourself, do you want to increase monetization and k-factor from player mistakes and tricks, or through making an awesome game that people naturally want to share or pay money towards? The decision is up to you, but in a grey area, I would try to stay closer to what seems right or ethical in your players’ eyes.

Advertise Unintelligently

Stop using intrusive advertising solutions or being lazy with your implementation! I’m looking at you… banner ads. I understand the first argument a developer usually has is that adding advertisement solutions will cannibalize my IAP revenue. It’s true you can impact your IAP revenue, but only if you don’t advertise intelligently. W3i conducted a study and blogged about it earlierhttp://blog.w3i.com/2012/10/31/its-official-offers-dont-cannibalize…. Take this screenshot for an example of how to advertise intelligently.

People who aren’t going to pay have another way of contributing towards the developer. Players who want to pay will continue to pay since they don’t care and/or aren’t looking for the advertising anyways. However if you obstruct their view or make things difficult then you’re driving players away and it could be both paying and non-paying players. That’s why I’m not a fan of the “paying to remove ads” feature. You’re spamming your players and admitting it to them. It doesn’t have to be like this.

Design a Free to Play Player vs. Player (F2P PvP) game to be pay-to-win

If you’re thinking, “but all F2P PvP games are pay-to-win,” I’m here to tell you you’re wrong. There’s pay to win and then there’s pay for competitive advantage. Take a look at this screenshot for example…

Attacks range from 3-12, and defenses 4-9 for grinding currency weapons, but for a premium weapon… well you get only 112 ATTACK AND 100 DEFENSE. This game is purely stat driven so buying this weapon clearly allows you to win over everyone else, and there’s nothing a non-paying player can do to win against paying players unless they pay too.

Now let’s look at another PvP F2P game called Planetside 2. It’s a first person shooter (FPS) that allows you to buy different weapons and vehicle upgrades with their premium currency (station cash) or you can grind to unlock them, but it’ll take some time.

Some are more powerful, some have faster/slower reload speeds, and some are more accurate or have lock-on capabilities for vehicles. However, just having a higher damage output doesn’t mean you’ll automatically win a battle. Same with fire rate, reload speed or any other characteristic because these stats only complement your natural ability to play the game. But wait… there’s more.

Each gun, class and weapon has specific upgrades that can do a magnitude of things like reduced recoil, grant more player health, improve class abilities, and add scopes to weapons or night vision. These class or weapon upgrades can only be purchased through the secondary currency (cert points) and these points cannot be purchased. You can pay to speed up the rate of earning these points but it’ll still take some considerable time to earn those points. Why is this important? Players can pay to get the guns that match their play style, but they can’t immediately deck out their guns or characters with enhancements. Regardless if you like the game or not it’s hard to argue against the fact that they executed a really solid F2P PvP experience.

Makes players pay to play

I recently downloaded a newer game on my tablet. I starting playing was enjoying the experience, but I ran out of energy and money (following the tutorial mind you) 1 minute and 30 seconds in. I had 3 quests and couldn’t complete any of them or complete any action in the game unless I converted. Delay mechanics, choke points, friction, whatever else you may call it, is a commonly used monetization mechanic in F2P games and I’m not here to tell you not to use them. However, the most brilliantly designed games don’t encourage the player to leave while they wait for these delays. Take Clash of Clans for example. In order to improve my town hall from level 2-6 it could maybe take 30 days. I can pay $5 for another builder and increase construction productivity so maybe it now takes 20 days, or I could drop $100 (or maybe $500) and get it now. They use the same delay mechanics, but the game isn’t just about building a city and reinforcing defenses. That’s only half of the battle. The other half is about raiding other villages. The actual battles last minutes and to train basic armies usually takes 20 minutes or less. More advanced units obviously take more time to train, but you can be out raiding other villages almost every 20 minutes if the player so chooses. This secondary mechanic or second core loop gives players something to do or goals to achieve while they wait for the days (or possibly) weeks it’ll take for a building upgrade to be completed.

Obviously the mechanics outlined here can be the main revenue/marketing driving mechanics of your game. I’m not here to say these will stop making you money. I’m simply saying that as a market matures, so will game design and players’ expectations along with it. It’s better to start making smarter designs today so you’re not scrambling to change or squeeze the last pennies out of your game tomorrow.(source:gamasutra)