Gaming
How Pay-To-Win Games Ruin Player Experience
Players willing to pay money to gain an advantage create a massive power difference between them and players who just want to play the game to enjoy.
Introduction to Pay-To-Win Games
There can be many frustrating things game developers implement into their games. In my experience and opinion, I believe the pay-to-win aspect is the most frustrating.
Pay-to-win (P2W) is term players use to refer to games that allow players to purchase in-game resources with real money.
Some examples are high-level items, abilities, more powerful weapons, additional health points, character progression, and in-game currency.
The addition of P2W to any game usually disappoints many players since it usually creates a very unbalanced and unfair overall experience.
Players willing to pay real money to gain an advantage usually create a massive power difference between them and players who just want to play the game to earn what they want.
Here is a scenario.
Picture this.
A new online RPG (Role Playing Game) is released, and you’re excited to play through with your friends.
Every day after work or school, you hop online with your friends and play through the game together, slowly progressing your character and acquiring decent gear and resources.
But just as you enter an online PvP (Player vs. Player) game, you get destroyed by a group, wiping out your entire team.
Initially, you just assume they are way better at the game than you and brush it off. Then you realize They have acquired items that shouldn’t be possible to get yet since the game just came out just over a week ago.
You take a peek at their player profile and realize they have already reached the max character level and have acquired additional health points and Best in Slot (BiS) gear.
You think to yourself, “This can’t be right. It should take even the most dedicated player at least a month to reach this level and acquire these items.”
Then it hits you. This game has P2W aspects to it.
No matter what level you are or how long you’ve played, just by using your own real-life money, you can immediately boost yourself to the highest level and give yourself the best items in the game.
I think you understand where I’m coming from.
P2W creates too large of a power gap between players who have money to spend and those who don’t.
It is such a demotivating thing when the only way I ever possibly catch up to other players is to either play the game 24/7 for the next few months or pay for it with my hard-earned money.
The problem is if I keep casually playing these games like i normally would without giving in to P2W, I simply don’t stand a chance in any PvP scenarios.
Especially in mainly PvP-oriented games, this is a major dealbreaker.
Final Words
Pay-to-win can be a disappointing addition to a popular new game. It immediately creates a very unbalanced experience throughout the entire game.
The absolutely massive power gap it creates between players who are willing to pay and players who do not quickly become demotivating for players who don’t want to pay-to-win.
In my opinion, the addition of P2W in any game should be removed. This alone would, in my opinion, create a much more balanced gameplay experience.
What do you think? Is Pay-to-win a justified addition to online games, or does its addition ruin the experience? I’d love read your comments.
Thank you for reading my story. I wish you a prosperous life.
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