Player concerns about MMORPG monetization

Abstract

This master’s thesis is about monetization in video games, focusing on two games from the MMORPG genre, Lost Ark and RuneScape. These two video games are the basis of the research, and the research is a text/game analytical study, where the focus has been to describe, examine, compare – and contrast the two games, monetization models. Current research on monetization in video games is mainly about how monetization is negative for players and how it affects players. This project has aimed to discover nuances that can enrich current monetization research by researching players' insight on monetization and gameplay. Lost Ark and RuneScape are similar in that multiple game versions exist. There is the Western version of Lost Ark, but the main version is the Korean version. RuneScape instead has RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape, which was brought back for players that missed the old version of RuneScape before the changes made for RuneScape transitioning into RuneScape 3. These versions have overt differences in game mechanics and monetization models, and these differences are discussed. The project's primary goal has been to analyze and discuss players' concerns and what players have to say about the monetization of the two games, specifically, how players associate monetization with the gameplay elements of Lost Ark and RuneScape, with the use of the social media system Reddit, which is commonplace for discussing the games, and is the basis and the data for seeing what players say. This means the project showcases many comments by Reddit users, explaining what they convey and analyzing it to the monetization models and gameplay with which players associate their comments. Where the general audience believes monetization is hated because it costs money, is seemed predatory, or can be tied to gambling, the findings show that players in some cases do not hate the monetization systems because of that; instead, because the monetization models are poorly implemented and intertwined with the gameplay aspect of the games, such as players' progression on their character, monetized cosmetics being tied to player characters strength, additional benefits tied to subscription being necessary for every player to play the game efficiently, and having to play another game mode to escape from monetization. The conclusions found are that game companies deliberately create monetization systems for their games to earn revenue, but at times, the scope of how it might affect the gameplay is unclear to the developers, and because of that, some player's problem with monetization is that it can affect too much of a game's gameplay.