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Years ago, y'all would buy a game for an agreed upon corporeality of money, and that was the end of the transaction. Then, horse armor happened. Paid downloadable content (or "microtransactions") has just gotten more popular in the games industry since then, culminating in the current raft of costless-to-play and heavily monetized "premium" games. The at present-mutual "loot boxes" might not be the ultimate form of microtransactions. Activision has been granted a patent for a organization for encouraging in-game purchases that sounds positively game-breaking.

activision

The patent, titled "organisation and method for driving microtransactions in multiplayer video games," was filed in 2015, but has only recently been granted. It's basically a mode to reward players who buy content and subtly punish those who don't via the game's built-in matchmaking algorithms.

Let's say you lot haven't been buying content in a shooter that stresses the importance of loot crates. According to this patent, a game could be designed to put yous in matches with higher-level players or those who have been ownership content. Thus, you lot become crushed and think, "I should buy some upgrades."

Activision besides proposes several ways a game could incentivize players who have just paid for an upgrade. The get-go part is merely the flip-side of the above scenario. When you buy content, yous might be matched with lower-level players, who you could soundly stomp. Alternatively, after getting an upgrade, the game could place y'all in a match where that particular weapon or detail was highly effective. This all reinforces the satisfaction you get from buying the upgrade, making information technology more probable you'll purchase more than in the time to come.

Destiny, on the PS4

Destiny has been criticized for relying heavily on microtransactions.

Some less-pitiful features of the patent also call for tracking player purchases and attaching that data to profiles. For example, if you lot never buy certain types of items, the game could begin crafting a more enticing set of offers that might go you to buy more content. It's essentially automatic marketing driven by thespian choices.

The result of all this could be more money in a game developer's pockets, but a slap-up deal more frustration for players who simply want to play a game without being nickel and dimed constantly. Activision has released a argument confirming none of the features of this patent have been implemented in its games. It's all theoretical for now, but you can bet gamers volition exist watching for this sort of beliefs and calling developers out for any advent of venial.