As microtransactions are becoming increasingly opaque these days, the PCGaming Wiki – a huge project that addresses the needs of PC gamers – has announced a major undertaking: they want to change their database detailed information on monetization expand all PC games.
In the future you will find a new section called "Taxonomy" on the subpage for the individual games, which should explain the microtransactions neutrally and extensively.
How much is a game monetized?
The wiki will be seven each Categories to describe monetization introduce and another seven that explain the nature of the microtransactions. Since the project is entirely in English, we will explain the terms, how you will find them on the page, and what they mean.
Monetization
- Ad-supported: Games funded by advert ising that is not a natural part of the game.
- DLC: These titles have smaller paid additional content such as horse armor or new characters.
- Expansion Pack: Extensive addons that increase the game time substantially. One example is the Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
- Freeware: Games that you can download completely free of charge and use in full without microtransactions.
- Free-to-play: Titles that offer you free access to a large part of their content, but also include subscription mechanisms or microtransactions.
- Player trading: All those games in which you can trade currency or items with other players.
- Subscription: These titles require a subscription to be played or offer paying users additional features. These include titles such as World of Warcraft or Fallout 76.
Microtransactions
- Loot box: You can buy loot boxes from which you can get randomly selected items of various rarity levels.
- Cosmetic: It is possible to buy skins or decorative items that do not have a significant impact on the gameplay.
- Unlock: With the use of real money you unlock various content that affect the gameplay. This includes things like characters, maps, levels, weapons and so on.
- Boost: In exchange for real money, you can speed up your game progress, for example by leveling up faster or getting a higher chance of rare items.
- Currency: There is an in-game currency available for real money.
- Infinite cap: The game has microtransactions that are not limited and can be bought an infinite number of times.
- Pay-to-skip: You can earn rewards, but at the same time there is the option to skip the gameplay with a payment.
In addition to this general listing, each title also receives a new text box that explains and also explains the micro transactions of the respective game in detail highlights potentially problematic monetization tactics.
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The project is looking for support
Since the endeavor to list the micro transactions of all PC games is extremely extensive, project founder Andrew Tsai asks your help. Above all, you are looking for new editors who add new information to the subpages of the games.
At the same time, feedback on the layout, the categories, their naming and definition is also desired. The project accepts suggestions on the official Discord channel in the chat room »#projects«.
At GameStar, we were already prepared for this development in the video game industry in 2018 and therefore changed our rating system. Since we devalue gamesif they have microtransactions that negatively affect the fun.
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