F2PMMO News Game Dev
Fair Game: Designing F2P Monetization Players Don't Hate
On F2PMMO, fairness is a quarter of a game's score. Here's what players reward, and how the best MMOs let free players earn their way.
Step away from the cash shop for a minute, designer. Your players are watching it closely.
Free to play pays for most of the MMOs on our lists. It's also the part of a game players argue about most. Get it right and they'll defend your game for a decade. Get it wrong and every review starts with two words: pay to win.
Why should a designer care what we measure?
Because players do. When we checked our Best F2P MMOs list on September 30, every game's Power score was built from four parts:
- 40% community rating
- 20% activity this week
- 25% fairness (how pay-to-win players say it is)
- 15% how often it updates
A quarter of the score is fairness. You can't market your way past it.
Which games are the fairest?
That's up to players, and they haven't finished voting. Our Least Pay-to-Win list was still empty when we checked: no game had enough ratings yet.
So here's a call to arms. If you play an MMO, rate it on its page and set the pay-to-win meter. Rating a game earns VOID, and the lists move the moment a vote lands. If you make MMOs, watch those meters. They're your players talking.
What do players call pay-to-win?
Players rarely object to spending. They object to losing to a wallet. The red flags they name:
- Power you can only buy, or buy far faster than you can earn.
- Paid advantages in PvP.
- Progress walls that only money climbs.
- Random boxes that sell stats instead of looks.
How do the best MMOs let free players pay their way?
They build a trade loop: paying players buy something, and free players can earn that same thing by playing.
- EVE Online: PLEX can be bought with money, sold to other players for ISK, and spent on Omega time. Free players can pay their subscription with in-game currency.
- Guild Wars 2: gems trade for gold and gold for gems, both ways.
- Old School RuneScape: Bonds bought with gold on the Grand Exchange turn into membership.
- Warframe: Platinum moves between players in trades, so free players earn it by selling what they find.
- Albion Online: Gold, the premium currency, can be bought with silver on the Gold Market.
The paying player saves time. The free player gets premium for time. Nobody buys a win.
What should you sell instead?
- Looks, not levels. Skins, mounts, housing and emotes are the safest things in any cash shop.
- Honest time-savers. If you sell boosts, say exactly what they do, and don't make the free game slow on purpose to sell the cure.
- A clear premium tier. A membership that adds content, like Old School RuneScape's, is easier to love than a hundred small nudges.
How do you keep the trust once you have it?
- Show the odds on anything random.
- Skip fake urgency. A timer on every offer teaches players to ignore all of them.
- Ask first. Test a monetization change with your community before it ships.
- Keep the promises in your store page. Players screenshot them.
