Purchasable Game Advantages
Games designed so players can spend real world currency to gain in-game advantages.
The one-sentence "definition" that should be in italics.
This pattern is a still a stub.
Contents
Examples
Betting games are the most obvious examples of games that have Purchasable Game Advantages. This may that actually money is used as game elements, which happens when friends play Poker, or buy players being able to buy chips for real money at a casino, which is common for how Roulette and Texas Hold'em is played.
Developing characters or acquiring rare equipment in Massively Multiplayer Online Games represent time investments and therefore have some value. This may lead of a trade of game elements which can either be resisted by the developers of game, e.g. World of Warcraft, or embraced and made into a core aspect of the gameplay, as for example Entropia Universe does.
Some games running on social media platforms such as Facebook, e.g. FarmVille and Ravenwood Fair, allow the use of Facebook credits to purchase resources need to complete buildings or quests.
Using the pattern
Game-Induced Player Social Status
Some Game Elements can become Purchasable Game Advantages in Online Games, most often Characters since these are directly linked to accounts whose passwords can be traded. Equipment can also be used but these need to be Tradeables.
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Buying, and selling, game advantages are examples of Extra-Game Actions. Having players be able to purchase advantages can easily disrupt Player Balance as well as reducing the Value of Effort for what other players' have achieved and making Game Mastery less valuable.
Relations
Can Instantiate
with ...
Can Modulate
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Can Be Instantiated By
Equipment together with Tradeables
Can Be Modulated By
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Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
Game Mastery, Player Balance, Value of Effort
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
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