Mobile gaming is convenient and fun. There are many thousands of free mobile games that we can download from App Store and Google Play Store. However, there are some consequences with playing free games. Here are things that may annoy when playing free games:
- Too many ads: Developers spend money to make games and they need to pay employees as well. When distributing free games, their only way to generate income is by blasting users with so many advertising messages. When you download a free game, you should expect to see some ads. In fact, some developers make games as advertising platforms, instead of making actual games. It doesn’t matter whether a free game is good or bad, developers need to earn money. Advertising is acceptable, but too many games will have real impacts on the quality of mobile games. Some developers could purposely make the experience annoying to urge people to pay and get an ad-free experience.
- Gambling elements: Developers incorporate gambling elements in mobile games to entice players. Many mobile RPGs have random events that allow players to low powerful weapons, spells and hero characters. There could be wheel of fortune or lottery inside the game. However, players will be asked to pay to get some kind of coupons to participate in this disguised gambling mechanism. Players may spend $50 for coupons and they have less than 5 percent chance for getting powerful weapons or epic hero characters. With that amount of money, players may buy a popular triple-A game for PC or gaming console.
- Microtransactions: Developers cleverly integrate microtransactions to make them feel like natural parts of the game. When you are playing a free-to-play mobile game, you will get all the features, but progress will be tedious and slow. Motivated players may spend thousands of dollars on a free mobile game to purchase in-game currencies, hero shards and resources. When the competition is intense, paying microtransactions will always feel like a cheat. People love to cheat, especially if they have some money to spare. In just six months, the amount of money you spend for microtransactions can be more than what you spent when buying the smartphone. If you refuse to pay, it could be frustrating to see that you barely progress in the game, because you are being clobbered by paid gamers.
- You are not really playing: There are many idle games today. The idea is that the game will play itself and it is convenient when you don’t really have time to play. About twice a day, you can log in to watch ads, collect rewards and see the progress. Before you know it, you may already have a dozen of idle games and you are not really playing. It’s the laziest way to play game and you will get bored in no time.
- The game is suddenly dead: After countless events, new heroes and major updates, the game suddenly gets killed. It could happen when interests for the game are declining sharply and the developer has other more profitable games. It’s expensive to operate multiple servers for a mobile MMORPG and developers will pull the plug, if it’s no longer profitable. This could be heart-breaking for some dedicated users of the game.
