CIENCIA, TECNOLOGÍA Y TELECOMUNICACIONES

Third, media producers can deliver a generic, functional product for free, and charge for any extras that the user may want. In this scenario, the extras are generally small additions that provide added functionality, cosmetic improvements or, in the case of games, additional content, items or characters. The purchases – called micro-transactions – are often small and effected quickly and conveniently through pre-verified banking or credit card details, and allow the user to buy the desired content often at just the click of a button. This model benefits from quick impulse purchases made at low cost (and low risk) to the user. The product that is sold is content that is made artificially rare by its cost and its role in the game or software.

University

Of Cape

105 Some of the best-known games to use micro-transactions are EA’s Battlefield Heroes and Sony Online Entertainment’s Everquest and Everquest 2 (ZergWatch, 2009). Battlefield Heroes is completely free to download and play, but users can spend small sums on in-game items that create cosmetic modifications to the players’ avatars, but have no gameplay benefits as such; this is a positive approach because it doesn’t allow richer players to ‘buy’ themselves an in-game advantage (ZergWatch, 2009). The Everquest games are MMOGs that require monthly subscription fees, but that include an extra layer of micro-transactions for purchasing bonus items and content. Micro- transactions can also be decidedly ‘macro’ in scale. The popular online game Second Life has seen some of the largest purchases of in-game digital goods ever recorded. Second Life is blend of simulation game, social networking space and the largest virtual economy in the world, with transactions equalling over $1 billion thus far (Net Imperative, 2009). One of its crucial features is that it allows gamers to take an active role in creating aspects of the media they consume, a critical factor in today’s online media culture (Benkler, 2006: 136). It has a tiered payment system: free membership nets the player an avatar and access to the world but little else; $1 allows the player to receive 250 Linden Dollars, the in-game currency that allows the player to purchase digital goods such as clothing, accessories and even land; Premium membership for $10 gives the player additional features. Above these costs, players also pay rental fees for the virtual land that they own, as much as $295 a month for a private island. Virtual real estate purchases themselves can easily eclipse thousands of real-world dollars (Hof, 2006); island purchases can be in excess of $10,000 (Kindle Review, 2009). The fascinating result is that gamers are willing to pay significant amounts of money to purchase rare but completely virtual goods, but may not be willing to buy actual digital media (games, music etc), preferring to pirate it (Kindle Review, 2009). Of course it could be argued that those who pirate would not spend money on these types of virtual goods, but this example still indicates that creating a system of scarcity and value (for example, limiting the number of available islands in Second Life) gives the virtual goods a very real inflated status and worth.

A related concept that is similar to micro-transactions but distinguishable is the freemium model, where a free version of the software is available to all, but privileged subscribers are given access to more powerful and useful applications. Freemium is a portmanteau of ‘free’ and ‘premium’, and indicates that both types of product are available in one package. Here, the product is increased functionality and value-adding benefits that are not free for the company to provide (for example, server storage for a higher amount of content, or greater processing power). For a web-based product, as few as 1% of the users subscribing to the premium membership can support the entire product and turn a profit (Anderson, 2008). Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons Online, a popular MMOG, has recently converted to the freemium model. Players can download the game client and play for free up until they reach a certain character level; after this, free content gets ‘sparser’ and additional content

University

Of Cape

106 and the game’s best items must be paid for through the VIP subscription plan (Turbine, 2009). Virtually all other subscription-based MMOGs, including World of Warcraft, offer the potential subscriber a free grace period of play (usually 10 to 14 days), during which the player can try the game and decide if they like it; they count on the addictiveness of the play and the time investment already inputted to draw new subscribing players in. This model allows curious gamers to try out the game without any unnecessary investment, and later decide if the premium package is worth the cost based on the enjoyment of the experience; as the survey above indicated (see section 5.5), trying- before-buying was a reason for pirating a game for 63% of respondents. The freemium model legitimises this practice by making the initial download and experimentation process legal. Its greatest advantage is that it can cater to a wide variety of users and needs without compromising on quality and service.

Mobile gaming has exploded into popularity recently, since the advent of powerful and feature-laden cellphones and PDA devices like the iPod Touch, iPhone and BlackBerry. Of these, Apple products have dominated due to the company’s innovative and highly usable App Store: an online marketplace where iPod Touch and iPhone owners can browse for, purchase and download small, quirky applications and games for their devices. The store contains hundreds of thousands of applications and games, all generally ranging in cost from free to around $10. In addition, virtually all the products available are made by private users with no affiliation to Apple: the company simply offers them a platform for distributing their applications, and charges a percentage of the final cost as a hosting fee. The ultimate convenience of the model – users can simply search for what they want, purchase with one touch of a button, instantly, from their devices, and download immediately over wireless internet – has ushered in a wave of imitation services. For example, Amazon operates a similar model for the Kindle ebook reader, and it has now become accepted that any high-powered mobile device should have its own application store. None have yet rivalled Apple’s offering. This can be explained due to the immensely powerful corporate brand of the company, the widespread proliferation of its devices (especially iPods) and the multitude of features incorporated in its devices – touch screens, accelerometers, wireless internet receivers – that make it easy and interesting to create applications. By all estimates, the iPhone is the most widespread gaming device in the world (Kohler, 2009).