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The Art of In-App Purchases

What drives people to make an in-App purchase, and how do you pull them off?

In games ranging from Clash of Clans to Bounzy, the devs integrate in-app purchases in some way or the other. So, what exactly pushes people to make these purchases?

One major factor that contributes to this is time. A company has to ensure that the user stays engaged for at least 10 minutes, in which they get far enough into the game (In their eyes) that it drives them to come back. Clash of Clans does this, by making buildings take 10 seconds in the beginning, but slowly building the time, it makes people feel like they are far into the game, at least to far to give up. If you can hold their attention, and make them feel accomplished within the first time they sit down with your game, you will make them come back.

Another factor to making people purchase, is abstracting the currency. Make it obtainable in small amounts without paying, but not enough to get anything of substance. By purchasing things with “Gems” instead of dollars, it doesn’t feel like you're spending 10$, it feels like you're  spending 100 gems. Because you don’t feel the money leaving your hand, it doesn't feel like you're spending as much money with a credit card, now they add another layer. An interesting ted talk on this topic is “The 10,000$ game of Monopoly” by Adam Carroll.
But, even if you did both, not a lot of people will bite. Which is why you must establish a large player base. Out of every 100 people, 1 will make a purchase, but if you have 10 million people playing your game, 100,000 will donate, and that 1% will account for 50% of your profit. Usually these are the most compulsive people, and will spend 100s of dollars to speed things up a bit.
But this brings up a moral question, is it moral, to abuse someone's compulsiveness for profit? To suck their pockets dry? Is it also fair to give somebody who pays an advantage? Is there a better way to go about this? Please, give your opinions in the comments. Soon I'll make another post on the ethics of this issue.

P.S, I have a new donate button in my sidebar! Also clicking the Atwar button and making an account will give you 100 free Strategy points to start out! Add me as a friend and I'll be happy to play a round with you.

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