作者：Ethan Levy

在准备前往芝加哥与家人一起共度感恩节之际，我决定把几乎没用过的Android平板电脑也装进行李中。尽管我是为了手机游戏测试才购买了7” Galaxy Tab，但考虑到自己已经拥有了许多iOS和Android设备，所以我决定放弃它。我在上面下载了一些电影，游戏和应用，将其带给我的祖母，想说看看自己能不能教会一个从未拥有个人电脑，智能设备或电子邮件帐号的女人去使用平板电脑。

在过去1年半时间里，我是作为盈利设计顾问致力于免费游戏的内容编写和演讲等工作，我也逐渐成为这一业务模式的公共倡导者。而在教祖母玩我自己大肆赞扬的游戏时，我可以看到设置应用内部购买关闭按键是否合理。

在试运行那天，我事先确认了居民们能否通过无线网络访问电子邮件，Facebook以及Netflix，结果是肯定的。我想要为祖母进行一次有关平板电脑的培训课程，并观察她是否感到愉悦，或者是否感到困惑。如果实验成功的话，我便会让她自己继续体验。

我认真阅读了手机游戏的目录并挑选了一些自己最喜欢的休闲游戏。我希望这台平板电脑不仅能够取悦祖母，推动她与家庭成员联系，同时还能帮助她理解我作为游戏设计师是做些什么。我决定让她尝试一些热门游戏，如《高尔夫纸牌》，《宝石迷阵闪电战2》以及其中一款《Mystery Case Files》寻物解谜游戏。对于《宝石迷阵闪电战》和《Mystery Case Files》，我购买了全部内容，而对于《高尔夫纸牌》，我在进入游戏前使用IAP去打开所有内容。

fairway-solitaire(from bigfishgames.com)

《高尔夫纸牌》是我在发表有关免费游戏设计的演讲时所列举的最显著的例子。这款游戏能够在较短的游戏过程中满足玩家，突出了较高的产品价值，提供给玩家许多免费内容同时也具有购买机制。但这是因为这一特殊的功能设置让我意识到这款游戏不适合祖母，因为我需要将设备与自己的信用卡绑定在一起才能实现购买。

在教祖母使用平板电脑的时候，我也注意到了许多高级用户功能，微妙的互动以及让人困惑的信息。当我打开《高尔夫纸牌》时便清楚地注意到这些。我发现在教她玩游戏的同时我会说“只要忽视它们就好，”“不要按压它们，”“现在不要担心那个按键。”我注意到她因为一个模式的出现感到困惑，并意识到这些内容都是与IAP捆绑在一起。

这是我第一次意识到如果手机游戏的选择菜单上能出现一个IAP关闭按键该多好。这不会破坏基本的体验，只是界面上用于隐藏所有要钱的按键和UI元素的开关。我真心提倡能够关闭一切这些内容的开关。

如果没有这样的开关，我的祖母将会对《高尔夫纸牌》感到困惑。任何带有IAP的游戏都是不适当的。我想如果是将同样的游戏装在平板电脑上并递给年级较小的孩子，情况也是相同的。我知道这是许多游戏开发者不会愿意执行的功能，除非是应用商店或法律这么要求。尽管UI上有许多面向初级用户的信息，我看得出来，《高尔夫纸牌》是我能够与祖母分享的一款游戏。

（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）

The case for an IAP off button in mobile games

by Ethan Levy

While preparing for a recent Thanksgiving trip to visit my family in Chicago, I decided to pack a mostly unused Android tablet. Although I purchased the 7” Galaxy Tab for mobile game testing I could easily part with the device given the number of iOS and Android devices I owned. I plotted to load it up with movies, games and a few apps, bring it to my Grandmother in the assisted living home, and see if I could teach a woman who had never owned a personal computer, smart device or email account to use a tablet.

Over the past year and a half that I have worked as a monetization design consultant writing, lecturing and working on F2P games, I have grown to be a vocal, public champion for the business model. Yet teaching my Nana to play games I publicly praise, I saw firsthand how valuable it would be to have an in-app purchases (IAP) off button.

On the day of the test run, I called ahead to see if the residents were able to access Wi-Fi for potential email, Facebook and Netflix use, which they were. I wanted to give Nana a training session with the tablet and determine if its presence would result in delight not confusion, happy emails not frustrated tech support calls. If the trial was a success I would leave it for her to keep.

I mentally perused my catalog of mobile games and picked out some of my favorite casual titles. My hope was that the tablet would not only entertain Nana and allow her to connect with her family, but also give her some level of understanding of just what it is I do as a game designer. I decided to start with tried and true hits: Fairway Solitaire, Bejeweled 2 and one of the Mystery Case Files hidden object games. Bejeweled and Mystery Case Files I purchased outright and in Fairway Solitaire I used the IAP to unlock all content before heading out for the visit.

Fairway Solitaire is one of the games I hold up as a shining example when lecturing on F2P game design. The game is satisfying in short sessions, features high production values, gives the player plenty of free content and embodies my mantra to make purchasing present. Yet it was this very feature set which made me realize it was not an appropriate game for Nana given I needed to tie the device to my credit card to enable purchased content.

While teaching Nana to use the tablet, I could see just how many power user features, subtle interactions and overall confusing information was present. This was especially true when I booted up Fairway. I found myself saying “just ignore that,” “don’t press that,” “don’t worry about that button right now,” repeatedly while teaching her the game. I noticed a pattern emerging in the elements she found confusing, and with much chagrin realized that they were all tied to IAP.

Not having kids, this was the first time I recognized that it would be ideal to have an IAP off button in the options menu for mobile games. Nothing to break the fundamental experience; simply a toggle in the interface that hides all buttons and UI elements that are asking for money. An off switch for everything I advocate publicly.

Without this sort of switch, Fairway was simply too confusing for Nana. Any game with IAP would be inappropriate. I recognize that I would feel the same way about these games if I was considering putting them on a tablet for a small child. I know this is a feature that any game developer (myself included) is unlikely to implement unless required by app stores or law. But it is a shame; despite the overwhelming amount of information in the UI for my extreme beginner audience, I could tell that Fairway was a game my Grandmother and I could have shared.(source:gamasutra)