Hello,

Been a while since I’ve posted on Mr. Cosmia’s blog eh? guess it’s time to change that. It’s Spartan for those who don’t realize this yet. Gaming has been a large part of my identity and I can’t imagine my life without it. If I didn’t pick up that PS2 controller back in 2007 and stick with it as a hobby, who knows where I’d be? certainly not creating this post as gaming is what led me to meeting Mr. Cosmia in the first place. But even with the positive benefits of gaming, there are some certain, scummy aspects to it that have become more prevalent in recent years. And one of those is pay-to-win games.

What are pay to win games, for starters? The Urban Dictionary defines it as “”Pay-to-win” or “P2W“, is a pejorative term for a game that offers any advantage that can be obtained faster or exclusively via commercial transactions over gameplay rewards or the impact of the player’s own performance.” (Urban Dictionary)

What it basically boils down to is you using real world cash, be it dollars, dineros, krone, euros, you name it to buy some digital benefit for said game. Do note that this is drastically different from cosmetics like skins and outfits, as those only change the appearance of a character/object and not the attributes. I’ll provide two examples of games with microtransactions and the differences between them.

Sea of Thieves: NOT Pay-to-Win

Easily one of the most popular online games, and one that I’ll admit i’ve sunk a few… hours into on Steam (I’ve always wanted a sailing game alright, no judgement!). This game allows you and 3 friends to sail the seas and fight skeletons, sea monsters and other players. You’re given plenty of choices in clothing and tool skins to personalize your experience, some of which can be paid for with doubloons (in game currency). You’ll earn a small amount of them from certain quests but you can shell out real cash (or steam credits if you’re not going to put in your credit card info like I do) to gift you a hefty amount of them to spend as you wish. However, the skins are just that: cosmetics. They don’t enhance the experience aside from visual aesthetics and looking cool, and everyone in the game has access to them. No player has any direct advantage over another aside from skill and tactical use of the games mechanic, so while it has microtransactions, it is not pay to win.

Star Wars Battlefront II: (Used to be) Pay-to-Win

Oh boy, here we go, probably going to make some enemies here but nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.

For the longest time, Star Wars Battlefront II WAS pay-to-win, and pretty egregious at that. Now I’ll fully admit I am not a Star Wars fan (though if it finds its way into KH IV, i’ll have to dip my toes in the metaphorical pool whether I like it or not) but I have basic knowledge of how things work. This game though, did not work on inception. See, it’s one of those team games like Valorant and League of Legends, where you’re trying to take down everyone on the opposing side. But the way you progress through the game isn’t through constant practice and a level up skill tree oh no no no, it’s slots.

Yeah, to get good you need to have your lucky rabbits foot on hand because you’re not getting what you want unless lady luck is smiling your way. This basically meant that you’re going to gamble with money in order to power up your favorite characters to survive the multiplayer aspect. If this was all for skins or cosmetic weapons it’d be fine, but no. This was pay-to-win at its worst, and everyone knows it. It’s amazing how EA backpedaled on this decision, given their stringent history

Unfortunately, this seems to be a growing trend in the gaming space, and that really sucks. I don’t mind skins being available with in game currency or earned through quests, but I shouldn’t have to shell out cash to play a game I already bought.