Free is a Four Letter Word
The release of Plants vs. Zombies 2 this week seems to have ignited a small Internet fervor over the games’ price (free) and the “freemium,” free-to-play model of selling a game. This is, probably, a vocal minority, and most of these comments seem to be coming from the comments sections of game enthusiast websites or from gaming forums like NeoGaf (PvZ 2 is getting very good reviews otherwise). After spending a few hours with the game, I haven’t encountered a spot where I’ve even considered an in-app purchase. The game is incredibly well paced and balanced, more-so than the original. New plants and zombies actually force you to think up unique strategies, something the original game really only did once every world. I can see myself playing through the entire game without spending a cent. According to Popcap, the game’s developer, that’s exactly the way it was meant to be. Then why isn’t it sitting right with some people? And why is there a little voice in the back of my head telling me there’s something wrong?
Yup, it’s definitely Plants vs Zombies. Just ignore your desire to spend all of your money
Before I delve deeper, I’d like to address the fact that a lot of people who are complaining haven’t played the game. I read some one-star reviews on the App Store declaring as much. That said, there’s a weird and dirty vibe surrounding free to play games. Zynga and King have made a killing with games like Farmville and Candy Crush Saga. Innocuous-looking free games that pick at a player’s brain trying to trigger a gambler’s compulsion. Those are two egregious examples, the first forcing a player to stop playing unless they pay to continue, even if they’re enjoying the experience, and the second becoming so throw-my-phone frustrating that the only option is to spend money on “power-ups.” These games have become wildly popular and incredibly successful, but for those used to playing a flat-fee for a game, with no punishment for failure, something feels completely wrong and exploitative about this model.*
I feel dirty just looking at this game
That’s not to say free-to-play hasn’t been done in a completely non-intrusive manner. League of Legends has several characters available from the start, along with the free base game, allowing players to have a full experience without spending any money (and allowing them to spend for new characters). Valve one-upped them with Dota 2, making the dozens of in-game characters playable for free, and only charging cosmetic changes to the game, like player skins or announcer voice-overs (something Valve experimented with when they made their popular shooter Team Fortress 2 free to play). The free to play model is in its infancy, and people are still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
But even Valve doesn’t get away clean with their business model. The freemium model works because it employs very specific psychological hooks. Treasure chests spawn in Dota 2 and require keys to open. Keys that must be purchased. The item in the chest could be a worthless piece of crap for all you know, but you still need to spend money to find out. This blind purchase model isn’t new. It’s how kids have been collecting baseball cards for close to a century and is still seen today in paper games like Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh. It’s the gambler’s compulsion. Exploiting the urge to get lucky and giving people a false sense of adventure. It’s also incredibly weird to think about how in a free to play game, if you choose to put no money in, other players are completely bankrolling your experience. It’s similar to casino. They exist because they’re built on the backs of the poor schmucks trying to break their losing streaks. So try to not let that depress you too much the next time you get comped a breakfast and tickets to Blue Man Group.
Where does Plants vs Zombies 2 fall on the spectrum? In this weird, uncomfortable middle cushion, sinking between the couch. It’s still comfortable, but there’s some icky feelings involved.
So far, I’m somewhere deep into the second world of PvZ2 and haven’t felt the need to pay for anything. You complete the first 11 “main” levels, and hit a literal gate. Pay 15 stars (one of the currencies in PvZ2) to advance to the next world. To do this, you can either pay 5 bucks to completely skip it, or you can go back and replay levels with new layouts and restrictions to earn them. These star levels are actually a lot of fun and are surprisingly challenging. They force you to constantly rethink your strategy. I’ve failed a few times, but I’ve never felt overwhelmed by them. In fact, they usually just compel me to try again. Some special plants and items are also locked behind gates which needs “keys” to open. These keys randomly drop during gameplay, or like the Star Gates, these locked paths can be opened with money.
Without Kurt Russel OR Richard Dead Anderson, I think EA and Popcap really dropped the ball with this Stargate Reboot
This gating was clearly designed to get impatient players to cough up some money. It has the interesting byproduct of forcing the designers to come up with new and interesting play styles for those who don’t want to pay to proceed. You could have a long chicken and egg argument on which came first, the design or the gates, but in the end it doesn’t matter because it works. Sure, those gates are there, in a way slowing my progress, but I’m enjoying playing every other aspect of the game. The scenery isn’t changing, but the levels and gameplay certainly are. If the game is enjoyable, challenging and free, and others have the option to spend money to advance, I don’t see much a problem.
Work harder or pay money!
The defense of the model get a bit tougher with the plants put behind paywall. More than likely, fans of the original game will find at least one of their favorite plants locked behind a paywall. When I first saw the Snow Pea, a staple plant in my house’s defense in the first game, I got worried. Same with the Squash, a plant I used to account for holes in my defense. But, the interesting by-product is that it’s forced me to try new strategies and plants out. While the basics of gameplay remain the same, I’ve noticed I’ve been experimenting with different plant types more and more. However, it feels slightly wrong that I can’t experiment with those plants, unless I’m willing to spend money on them.
The infamous Plant Paywall, with my beloved Snow Pea and Squash locked away
The final area of monetization are for permanent items and power-ups. So far, I’ve seen these permanent items in the game, already expanding a slot to hold an extra Plant Food power-up. There are other fun touch-screen centric power-ups too, like pinching the screen to squeeze zombies’ heads. Plant food appears in each stage and is often in abundance. I often find myself burning through plant food because I can’t hold anymore and there’s some to pick up on the stage. As for the other power ups, they use coins, which have no other use. Still, I haven’t used any of these power-ups, save for the time my fat finger missed planting a Wall Nut and bought the lightning power-up. Free to Play games are no friends to sausage fingers.
The game is certainly playable without shelling out cash, but there are plenty of enhancements to purchase if you’re into that sorta thing
Of course, you can buy coins too, and here’s where it feels most exploitative. As it is in these games, options go from buying a few dozen coins for 3-5 bucks to buying a metric shit ton of coins for $100. The game is free, I could certainly see myself buying something in the 3-5 dollar range. But $100? That option is only there because somebody is silly enough to blow the money on it and EA and Popcap are allowing them to do it.
This screenshot makes me want to take a shower with all of my clothes on. I can’t…get…clean
The value of games is a moving target, and with length and amount of content varying wildly, nailing down a game’s “worth” is almost impossible. But there’s something very, very wrong if players are paying nothing, and some are plunking down a C-note so they can swipe more zombies off the screen.
In the end, I can’t be upset with Plants vs Zombies 2. It’s an impeccably designed game and I’m having a lot of fun with it. Also, it’s completely free. I thought about buying something small just to show support, but there’s not one purchase I’m interested in making that I don’t think will muck with the balance of the game. Popcap did a tremendous job making me feel like I didn’t have to pay a cent if I didn’t want to. I have a fully realized, great game to play while waiting for the train or lounging on the couch now.
But, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable that my enjoyment of the product is predicated by someone’s possible financial ruin. Free to play games are here to stay, though. Hopefully these are just growing pains and a nice balance will be found, between a need to fund a project and a gambler’s exploitation. But until then, I’ll have to begrudgingly enjoy the experience.
*A caveat: I worked for a social game company for a little under a year, as a creative director. So yes, I’m probably part of the problem. I’ve spent hour pouring over MAUs, DAU and average spend. It’s not something I was ever very excited about, but I did find it fascinating and oddly compelling.