this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Gaming
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So... this is going to come across as a weird suggestion, given that the company providing it is actually evil, but... I'm actually getting good usage from Google Play Pass at the moment. A £5/month subscription gives access to a wide range of Android games with absolutely no in app purchases and no adverts. I'm not sure if any MMOs are included in the catalogue: there's like a thousand games in the program and I've tried out 4 so far. Because that's the thing I've really noticed. With no in app purchases, I play a game for longer as I don't run up against demands for money, adverts, or difficulty walls that are intended to get you to pay. So I just keep playing until I've done everything I wanted to do.
If you can tolerate the evil that is Google, it might be worth getting the free trial month and see if there are any MMOs.
Stop tempting me! 😂 Seriously though, I keep looking at the Play Pass and considering it. The game I previously played I was playing for three years and the developers just got greedier as time went on. But because it was the only game I was playing, I didn't need it. Now I'm looking for something new, I may end up there.
The offerings are usually a mix of premium or semi-premium games as well as your typical predatory games. They all have had every bit of monetization stripped out of them (no dlc, no ads, no paid currency). I don't think I've ever seen a mmorpg on play pass but there are many high quality games. If you setup family sharing you can share the subscription at no extra cost. Good discount for annual renewal too.
So how does that work for the games that had monetization stripped out? Do you just get the reward for free since you're paying for the subscription? Or do you just not have the option for that "purchase"?
Good question
most of the f2p offerings are games with energy systems limit play. And in those cases you simply have unlimited energy, or the entire energy system is removed. For other types you have ever jigsaw puzzle etc that was ever available for the game. Sometimes you need to go in and claim the dlc and it'll then be active for you for as long as you are subbed (and as long as the game in question is part of the program) Usually the games that have heavy p2w and FoMo built into the core gameplay loop and mechanics don't show up. I assume it's because it would be way too much work to make the game fun to play and that they don't want to give people a way to avoid the monetization.
2 examples I can remember easily: The Battle for Polytopia has every single faction unlocked from the start. Titan Quest is based on the earlier version that only had the first expansion, so the 2 more recent expansions are for sale in the ingame menu, but since you have play pass you just hit "download" on them and get them.
I wouldn't expect to see a lot of clash of clans or raid shadow legends -types of game there, because "real money" is an important and significant resource in those games.
The amount of effort spent to convert the game to play pass varies, but in almost every game it's not a detractor.