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I remember the days I had a few bucks to spare and just threw it at microtransactions, like Riot Points or a cheap skin. Luckily for me, I never did it often, but enough that I recall finding out I put a couple hundred dollars into my League of Legends account over the course of a couple years. That always bugged me, seeing how much money I ultimately wasted. I already didn’t care for microtransactions in gaming, but knowing that info put me on a better, much happier path.
My Gaming Wishlist is Dwindling
For starters, I actually have money for other games. My wishlist is slowly, but steadily dwindling because I have that extra $10, $20, $30 that I wouldn’t have otherwise had I burned it on microtransactions. There’s a life hack for you—if you want to play the games on your wishlist, don’t buy microtransactions!
I even go the extra mile to wait for games to go on sale. Sometimes, they’ll cost as much as the lowest premium currency packs you see in games like Diablo IV and Call of Duty. Of course, you’ll have to work on that feeling of FOMO, but it’s worth it in the end.
On that note, the indie scene is chock full of games that are similar in cost to the egregious microtransactions I see in video games. Here are a few off the top of my head: Hades, Kingsway, and Stardew Valley. You can get all three for the cost of a AA game!
My Mental Health is in a Better Place
You know what’s great? Getting a game, playing it start to finish once, maybe twice if it’s really good or replayable, and never touching it again. It’s like reading a good book—once for the joy of the words and a second time to understand why you enjoyed it so much.
I get more value out of my games when I’m not constantly being reminded about content that I suspect was likely cut from the game to make an extra dollar. I’m not being hounded to buy a season pass, a skin on sale, or a shortcut that was artificially created.
When you get so used to seeing it in your games, you never realize just how much noise microtransactions are making when they’re suddenly gone. Once I retreated to games I enjoyed, especially indie titles, gaming started feeling like it was when I was a kid.
I’m Setting an Example For My Kids and it’s Working
Speaking of kids, I have two, and I’ve done my best to instill in them the same mentality toward microtransactions. They like their Roblox games, and I won’t stop that, and yes, they have bought Robux for their avatars. It usually comes from birthday money, but they’re surprisingly responsible with it.
What it took was giving them the knowledge of the predatory and psychologically manipulative tactics the games used on them. And it worked! It also helped to show them that they could support their interests, such as art supplies and more video games.
With results like that, I’m more than happy to ignore microtransactions, and with how my kids treat them, they won’t be bothering with them for very long, either.
