The Glorious, Profitable, Inescapable Art of Addiction
I've thought about this a lot. Every way to monetize a game will be interpreted with hostility.If you sell games for $60 upfront then your marketing will be perceived as a scam in the face of any failures or shortcomings in your game. You're trying to hype people up and sell them something bad.If you sell attempts, or lives, like an arcade or candy crush, then when players lose a level they think you're extorting them for money.If you sell time, like a subscription, then players think you are trying to force them to grind to pay moneyIf you sell in-game items, like weapons or maps, the players think you are intentionally weakening the free items in favor of the power you can buy.If you sell in-game cosmetics, like skins, which have no impact on gameplay, the players think you are trying to make every look stupid and you have to pay to look cool.Video games are inherently manipulative in the sense that the game is designed for you to behave in fun ways and do fun things. Once monetization is in the picture it completely poisons the whole dynamic. It doesn't help that the audience skews young.If you want to make a game just for the passion of it, if you want to have a healthy relationship with gamers, you are literally not allowed to monetize. You have to give it away fully for free.