14 DAY TRIAL // This week's major debate in the gaming industry has been about microtransactions and how they're slowly infiltrating, or corrupting according to some people, modern games.
Electronic Arts has already gotten a lot of criticism over its new strategy to put microtransactions in all of its future games. While many criticized the company, others defended it and microtransactions as a whole, including former Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski.
While I can see the points of both sides in this argument, I just want to add that microtransactions, when done right, aren't evil and work rather smoothly.
My case in point is Mass Effect 3, the role-playing shooter made by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. More specifically, I want to talk about the game's multiplayer cooperative mode.
When I first heard about an online mode in Mass Effect 3, I wasn't that excited and, when I heard that the multiplayer will also have an in-game store that supports microtransactions, my interest plummeted.
Even so, I tried out the online mode and found one of the most fun and addictive online experiences I have ever played.
What's more, besides its mechanics, the in-game store proves just how microtransactions can work.
You have the option of buying equipment packs for certain amounts of either in-game credits or real-life money.
For example, a Spectre pack can be purchased with either 60,000 credits, which can easily be earned in a successful Gold difficulty match, or with $2/€2.
I have time and dedication so I have yet to spend real money in the multiplayer mode but friends who didn't have time just chose to pay with real cash. The best part of this is that, given the nature of the cooperative mode, everybody wins, as players will have better equipment, allowing them to rack up more points and credits.
As long as EA and BioWare continue using such a system that allows for easy transactions using in-game credits or real-life money, I won't be upset when their future titles feature microtransactions.
In the end, if these companies get more money, they'll produce more and better games. That's what everyone wants, right?