Are Free2Play games dangerous for users?

If you don’t want to spend money, you often fall by the wayside as a player and get the feeling of failure. The media educator sees parallels between the Free2Play concept and gambling. Since many Free2Play games have children and adolescents as their target group, particular care should be taken with regard to possible gambling addiction. But are these types of games actually designed to be addictive and is such a business concept objectionable? SPIEGEL recently published an interview with the experienced media educator Daniel Heinz. It was about the dangers of Free2Play games. This includes, for example, smartphone apps that the user can initially download and play free of charge. In the further course, however, the user is offered the option of purchasing certain additional features. Quite a few children and young people now spend their pocket money on this. So far, there has hardly been any talk about addiction risks and control mechanisms for these game concepts.

The Free2Play concept is extremely successful

There is no question that the Free2Play concept has been extremely successful not only with children and adolescents, but also with adults for a long time. Potential players have the opportunity to actually download and play the game for free. However, sooner or later the developers try to market various paid content in order to increase the player’s performance. This could be a particular sword, extravagant outfit, or other useful item that other players don’t own.

The Free2Play concept is probably so successful because it appeals to a large group of users. After all, the actual game is completely free. Only later do the developers offer the option to pay for certain features. Since every game quickly creates competition and every user wants to be the best, the temptation is great to gain a significant advantage by investing a few euros. In the SPIEGEL interview, however, the media educator points out that only a small proportion of players actually spend money on Free2Play games:

“First of all, you have to realize that five percent of the players in Free2Play titles pay for the remaining 95%.”

Parallels to gambling can be seen

In an interview with SPIEGEL, the expert Heinz points out that the concepts of Free2Play games have parallels to classic gambling.

In the majority of cases, the so-called drop rates are not known, so it is not always clear which added value you can buy for which price. The educator also criticizes the fact that an in-app purchase is usually presented in a complex and visually appealing way – similar to winning a slot machine. Heinz points out that such a presentation can increase the appeal to buy even more.

Expert tip: switch off in-game purchases by default in the mobile phone settings and do not save any payment data (e.g. credit card) on consoles.

Dangers of addiction from Free2Play games

In fact, Free2Play games can be addicting much like slot machines. Children and adolescents in particular are often insufficiently informed about the risks, which significantly increases the risk of addiction. Of course, nothing speaks against the responsible use of Free2Play games. Even against the occasional in-game purchase, there are basically no convincing arguments. However, young players in particular should keep an eye on their budget in order not to invest more and more money in the virtual game just to unlock another dispensable additional feature. Anyone who finds that they can no longer advance in a Free2Play game without having to make an in-game purchase for money should say goodbye to the game as soon as possible. The fact is that you can only spend real money with game apps on your mobile phone and you cannot win anything.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, there is now a large selection of interesting Free2Play games. It is also undisputed that the developers want to bring in the development costs again. So there is basically nothing wrong with the Free2Play concept. However, it is imperative that the developers be aware of their responsibility and ensure that the players can enjoy the game in the long term without making expensive in-game purchases. To avoid spending money on Free2Play games, users can completely deactivate in-game purchases in the smartphone settings. In this case, you should refrain from entering payment data for game consoles. Then there cannot even be an accidental purchase of paid content.