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F2P游戏应如何应对IAP“消费后悔症”?

发布时间:2013-03-18 14:21:43 Tags:,,

问题:

Nicholas Lovell

我玩《Hay Day》已经有一段时间了,并在其中花了一些钱(用于升级我的生产建筑和仓库,这样在我离开的时候它们也能做更多事情)。

这正是让我纠结的地方。我不后悔花钱,而是在花钱中的那段时间我是在喝酒。虽然并不多,只是在家小酌两瓶Kronenbourg,但我玩游戏的频率很高,并且只在喝酒之后花钱。

这其中是否存在问题?这是否意味着F2P正如评论所言具有剥削性,还是说我根本是无事生忧?

Do Not Purchase Regret(from cabot.net)

Do Not Purchase Regret(from cabot.net)

回答:

Richard Firminger(Flurry)

在我看来,如果你喝点酒之后,只是小小地放纵一下——例如在仓库中投入的花费在6美元以内,那事情就并不算太糟糕。

要不然只能去看精神病医生,让他来解决你酒后花钱成瘾的问题。

Eric Seufert(Grey Area营销主管)

冲动消费式的电子商务并非免费增值游戏(F2P)独有的现象。我曾经看都没看,就在喝了些酒之后,在亚马逊买了一套雪板,所以我认为你的担忧是多余的。

Mark Sorrell(Hide & Seek开发主管)

我觉得有个现象很有趣,许多F2P开发者都为自己在这类游戏中花钱而感到羞愧。我们难道不该为F2P而骄傲吗?

我并不认为F2P就意味着它们具有你所说的那种剥削性。

我已经在《Clash of Clans》中花了10英磅,也很高兴自己这样做了。但我仍然觉得有必要解释这种行为的合理性,就像我现在所说的。

Teut Weidemann(育碧在线专家)

我曾在清醒状态下在《坦克世界》中花了500多欧元。

Nicholas Lovell(Gamesbrief主管)

我得澄清一下,我并不是担心自己在其中花了太多钱,或者担忧自己在喝酒时花钱。

我更担心的是自己因为酒精的驱动而产生“社会允许”的心理。无论这是一个道德问题,营销问题还是设计问题,这就是我所观察到并希望讨论的问题。

不过我也很高兴大家都认为我没必要太紧张。

Martin Darby(Remode工作室CCO)

这种情况时有发生。我已经数不清过去几年自己酒后误食了多少可疑的食物。但是我发现自己的同事曾在一个酩酊大醉的晚上之后,买了一台3000英磅的Macbook pro,我突然间觉得心里舒坦了。

Stuart Dredge(《卫报》记者)

我认为酒精可以成为你做任何事情的放松剂。例如,我在1月份曾在喝了几品脱苹果酒之后买了Fitbit设备(讽刺的是,这让我从此下定决心不再喝这么多苹果酒)。所以我对此并不感到担心。

谈到IAP,我这周末在《实况赛车3》中花了一些钱,但你注意到了吗,游戏计时器长度急剧减少。原来从头号玩到尾需要6小时的游戏,现在就缩短到了15分钟就能完成了。

我觉得这真是一个典型的响应反馈/活动,游戏不可能在第一部份就呈现巨大的计时器长度。

Patrick O’Luanaigh(nDreams创始人)

我想知道这里是否存在以下情况:

有多少人在实体商店或Steam购买传统付费游戏之后,产生负罪感或者对自己有点失望?

有多少人在F2P游戏中进行IAP消费后产生了同样的心理?

我知道有许多玩F2P游戏的人,都曾面临一个心理挑战,不断地告诫自己“不要花钱,坚决不花钱”,我认为以上的第二种情况出现比例高于第一种。

如果有更多人承认确实存在以上第二种情况,那么这是否说明我们的F2P设计有问题?

我们是不是太像推销人员了,以致让大家在购买IAP时都要面临这种心理压力。我们是否出售了太多在游戏中并没有立即兑现好处/奖励的物品?我们是该庆祝他们购买了更多东西,还是更开放地让他们了解情况?在F2P游戏中花钱看似一个心理学问题,我不知道这是为什么……

Ben Cousins(DeNA欧洲游戏工作室主管)

我一般不参与关于F2P游戏的“消费后悔症”的问题,因为:

1.F2P游戏部分与营销有关,而营销则是劝服/诱使/刺激人们花钱;

2.F2P中的消费后悔症并不比其他用户消费品或服务领域更严重;

3.我在过去几年曾买过许多过后让我觉得很后悔的主机和PC游戏。我想这也正是盗版以及二手游戏存在市场的部分原因。

对我来说,消费后悔症并不仅仅针对F2P游戏,因为这是所有商品和服务的共性。

Harry Holmwood(Marvelous AQL Europe首席执行官)

这听起来就像是某人喝了几杯之后,莫名其妙花了500英磅而后悔不迭的样子。我想我们不必如此紧张,如果我们需要检讨一个晚上酒后所买下的东西,那么早在几年前就该把烤肉串禁止了。

至于消费者后悔购买IAP的情况——我只能说,出售那些会让人们后悔的IAP并非F2P模式的长久之计。最出色的F2P会给予人们美好的回忆,以及那些将持续给他们带来快乐和价值的收集物品。

Emily Greer(Kongregate产品、营销和财务高级副总裁)

虽然我并不认为你的消费行为有何不妥,但还是觉得这里面有些情况值得讨论,我们似乎在一定程度上做错了什么。一个问题就是,你有足够的精神抵抗力,以免自己陷入那种放松戒备的购买欲。尽管我对IAP没有任何排斥,也在许多游戏中买了东西,但我一开始还是会抱有不在游戏中购买任何东西的念头和决心,即使要购买的数量很少,并且可以让我获得价值也不例外。

另一个问题就在于,任何一次消费交易都应该让购买者觉得物有所值,自己得到了实惠,否则他们下次就再也不会掏钱了。虽然没有人会拒绝你的6英磅,这种小额消费对开发者来说也并不会积累成巨额收益,但我怀疑开发者有10%以上的收益是来自那些终身价值不足10美元的消费者。游戏中真正的收益基本上来自那些长期投入游戏,并且会重复购买的玩家。我们分析Kongregate游戏收益情况时会发现,几乎所有的高营收游戏都有极高的ARPPU(每付费用户平均收益),这并非来自消费金额较高的玩家,而是交易次数较多的玩家。如果玩家不是自我感觉良好的话,他们不会如此反复消费。

要让玩家在消费后还能留下良好感觉,这其中有许多学问:比如当时的社交情境?如果其他人也在花钱(游戏邦注:并且玩家知道这一点)那可能就更容易解决第一个问题。至于他们消费后的感受如何则要取决于游戏设计与平衡。要让他们感觉这种消费会给他们在游戏中的地位带来明显变化,否则他们就会觉得不值当。但如果让他们太轻易获得这种变化,也会显得过犹不及,这也同样是个问题。

我在Kongregate平台的《Bloons TD 5》中购买了一些道具以便获得一些徽章,这在购买的时候感觉良好(我已经算过如果通过刷任务来获得这些道具更不划算,因为这并不值得我花那么多时间,反而觉得花钱更实在),但使用它们的时候感觉却很糟糕,因为游戏瞬间变得太容易了。我下子就获得了想要的徽章,但却为这种捷径而感到失望。为了证明我自己也可以不花钱就获得这些徽章,我甚至通过切换帐号来玩游戏,只为证明自己确实做得到。这真是一种玩家在消费之后的糟糕感觉,我现在不但不会在BTD5中花钱,也不会再为之后出炉的BTD6买单。(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

[Gamesbriefers] Is alcohol-enhanced spending a problem?

By Gamesbriefers

Question:

Nicholas LovellI’ve been playing Hay Day and enjoying it. Level 32 if you’re interested. I’ve even spent money (2 sets of £2.99, which I spent on upgrading my production buildings and storage so they could do more while I was away).

That’s where it gets troubling. I don’t regret spending the money but the only time I have spent money, I had been drinking. Not a lot, just a couple of small bottles of Kronenbourg at home. But I have played the game a lot and only spent money after alcohol.

Should I be troubled by this? Is this a sign that F2P is as exploitative as the critics say, or am I worrying over nothing?

Answers:Richard Firminger FlurryYes definitely a spat my coffee back out moment

Chill Nicholas, drink a-plenty and let loose a little – if spending less than £6 on storage is all you do I’d say things are fine and dandy in the Lovell household

You might recall years ago a cricket fan fell asleep after a big night out with a premium-rate cricket score service live on his phone and racked up over a £1000 by the morning…

Otherwise a visit to the psychiatrist might help cure you of your addictions!

Eric Seufert Head of Marketing and Acquisition at Grey AreaImpulse e-commerce isn’t unique to F2P games; I once bought a set of
skis on Amazon, sight unseen, after a few beers. I think you’re worrying over nothing

Mark Sorrell Development Director at Hide & SeekI do find it amusing how much F2P people tend to be so utterly ashamed of spending money on F2P games. Shouldn’t we be proud of it?

I’m not so sure that this means the games are manipulative so much as your feelings suggest that you think they are

For the record, I’ve spent £10 on Clash of Clans, and I’m happy to have done so. But I still feel the need to justify it. Like I just did.

Andy Payne CEO of AppynationTry going Racing Nicholas. Always best never to drink, but there is no correlation in my world between not drinking and picking a few winners.

‘Everything in moderatio, including moderation’ could apply to F2P.

Ben Board Senior Product Lead at Boss AlienNo correlation.  Any forthcoming deal to cross promote CSR Racing with Special Brew is purely coincidental.

Teut Weidemann Online specialist at UbisoftI am sober. And I spent way over €500 on World of Tanks.

Nicholas Lovell Director of GamesbriefJust to be clear, I am not worried about how much I spent, or spending when I’ve had a bit to drink.

I’m more worried that I had to have the “social permission” to do it that alcohol provides. Whether this is an ethical issue, a marketing issue or a design issue, it’s something I’ve observed and hence wanted to discuss.

But I’m pleased that you all think I should just relax.

Martin Darby CCO of RemodeThis happens a lot.  I have lost count at the amount of dubious food I have eaten over the years after drinking.  However once I found out that my colleague (Tech Director) bought a £3k Macbook pro after a boozy evening I suddenly felt very tame.

Stuart Dredge Journalist at The GuardianI am seeing some kind of educational poster-ad campaign to warn against drunken IAP with Nicholas slumped on a sofa ;o)

I think alcohol can be a loosener for all kinds of things you want to do but haven’t, for one reason or another. I bought my Fitbit gizmo in January after a couple of pints of cider, for example (and ironically it’s helped me stop drinking quite so much cider since). I wouldn’t worry about it.

Talking of IAP though, I paid some money in Real Racing 3 this weekend, but have you noticed a DRASTIC decrease in the timer lengths? It was 6hrs+ for a full tune-up at launch, but now it seems to be 15mins tops.

Classic responding-to-feedback/activity, I sense. Either that or the huge timer lengths are only on the first section, which seems unlikely.

Patrick O’Luanaigh Founder of nDreamsI wonder if there is an underlying point here:

How many people feel guilty or slightly disappointed with themselves when they buy a traditional paid game from a store or from Steam?

How many people feel guilty or slightly disappointed with themselves when they’ve made an in-app purchase in a F2P game?

I know quite a few people who play F2P games with an internal challenge to ‘try not to spend any money’, and I suspect the second answer would be higher than the first.

If more people say yes in the second instance, is this because we’re not doing it quite right yet?

Are we sounding too much like a salesman, so people feel like they have ‘given in to pressure’ when they purchase? Are we selling too many things that don’t have an immediate in-game benefit/reward? Maybe we need to congratulate people on their purchases more, or be less sneaky and more open about them? There seems to be a psychological difference spending money in a F2P game, and I wonder why…

Ben Cousins Head of European Game Studios at DeNAI generally don’t get into discussions about the ‘purchase regret’ issue with regards to free to play games, because;

1. F2P game design is partly about marketing and marketing is about persuading/enticing/hyping people to spend money

2. Purchase regret isn’t any more prevalent in F2P games than any other consumer product or service

3. I have personally bought an incredible amount of console and PC games over the years that I absolutely regret buying. This is partly the reason for the existence of piracy and the used games business

For me there is no argument or discussion, beyond a general conversation about purchase regret in all products and services.

Harry Holmwood CEO of Marvelous AQL EuropeSpeaking as one who once spent £500 on a pantomime horse after a few drinks, and who hasn’t regretted it for a moment, I think we can relax. If we needed to regulate things you regret buying after a night on the lash, kebabs would have been banned years ago.

In terms of buyer regret of IAP – selling IAP that people regret buying is unlikely to last long as a business. The best F2P games will give people memories, social encounters and collections that will continue to give them pleasure and value.

Emily Greer  SVP Product, Marketing and Finance at KongregateWhile I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your purchases I think there are a couple of interesting things going on here that do suggest that we are doing it wrong to some extent. One issue is that you had just enough mental resistance to the idea of purchasing that relaxing your inhibitions helped. Even though I absolutely have no philosophical objections to IAP, and have bought things in many games, I still start out with the idea/intention that I want to try to achieve what I can without buying anything to the extent that I resist purchasing even when the amount is trivial and I value the good.

The other issue is that after every purchase the buyer should feel good about what they bought or they are unlikely to spend again. While no one is going to refuse your £6, small impulse purchases like that are not adding up to significant revenue for the developer, I doubt that they get more than 10% of their revenue from people who spent less than $10 lifetime. The real money is in repeat purchases from players who engage heavily with a game over a long period of time. When we break down high revenue games on Kongregate nearly all of them have high ARPPUs that are driven not by high prices but by high # of transactions per buyer. That’s not possible unless the player feels like they’ve invested well, and that it’s worth spending again.

There’s a lot that goes into leaving a player feeling good after a purchase: what’s the social context? If other people are spending (and the player knows it) that helps a lot with the first problem, probably more than anything else can. But how they feel after the purchase is very much about game design & balance. They need to feel like the purchase made a concrete difference in their position in the game or it doesn’t feel like a good value. But if it makes things too easy, makes too much of a difference, that’s also a problem.

I bought some items in Bloons TD 5 on Kongregate while working to get the hard badges and felt fine about it at the time of the purchase (I’d calculated out exactly how I would grind to get those items, and decided that it wasn’t worth my time and felt comfortable with the time/money trade-off) but felt terrible once I actually used them because suddenly the game was too easy. I got the hard badges in one run but felt disappointed, that I’d taken a short-cut. To prove to myself that I could have done the same without buying I even went and earned the hard badges on an alt account without the purchases, just to show I could. And that’s the worst possible state to leave a player in post-purchase. Not only am I not likely to buy again in BTD5, I’m unlikely to buy anything when BTD6 (inevitably) comes out.(source:gamesbrief


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