Now, the items that give advantages need to be small advantages and not to the point where it's totally gamebreaking... You may even get away with just selling high end items that can be earned in game as well. But I'm positive that powerful items that can't be obtained in game will sell the best.

Yes, you will have a vocal minority that complains *A LOT* but the end result will be a huge increase in profit. People have misunderstandings when it comes to what "free to play with cash shop" actually means. It means "if you want to play this game seriously or on any sort of competitive level, you're going to have to pay to get there". For most people who just want to play for free, they are fine with knowing that they are at a slight disadvantage to those who pay. You get what you pay for. Too often people just assume "free to play" means "I should never have to pay for this game and should be able to get everything I want/need without paying".

To further strenghten this, I would point you to Astrum Nival, GPotato and the game Allods Online. This is the best example of an awesome game being destroyed by a cash shop tweak. And this damage cannot be undone, no matter how much you try. I admit this situation is specific, as the game was oficially still in beta while cash shop became very expensive -- the producers must've hit themselves hard on the head to pull off something like that .

Considering how relatively new Microtransactions are and the trends that are emerging, I wouldnt say there isn't a best way to implement them just yet. I see opportunities to implement microtransactions in very creative ways, not just Cash Malls for advantages. You seem to have a good starting point TechnoGoth and including them as part of the core game design is good foresight. The only question I have for you is how far are you willing to push them outside the current trends to find the best way?

I think they should be confined more than most people state here.

In my opinion, it's best when they don't give bonuses that let them surpass other, free players. Zethariel said:

the paying, and thus working, people may catch up to the free people due to their time limits. It makes sense to me. And if you have a tight schedule at a job and want to play more, you just buy additional time.[/quote]
I disagree. It pretty much ends up being like this: "You're buying the game rather than playing it". If you don't have time to play it, make time, don't buy extra stuff and say you played it. It's not worth it. Games are supposed to be for fun or relaxation, not ... paying money. They're made to be played.

I think micro-transactions should be limited to graphical, appearance-changing items rather than gameplay-changing items, such as more powerful weapons. Guild Wars released a set of costumes, which only alter appearance, and within the next day everyone was wearing one...besides me, because I thought it was useless. Why pay to look like everyone else? But that's not the point. The point is that it worked for a huge sum of the playerbase.

I also think it would be good if the micro-transaction items could also be earned through free play. For example, an MOFPS game that only has PvP. If it makes players pay G-ShalamaCoins or whatever they feel like calling it (it's cheesier every time), then it's annoying because other players can't use it at all. They're blocked out from part of the game's content and most of them, such as myself, will always be blocked out because they aren't foolish enough to pay money for it. That is an entry of anti-design: an implementation that cripples or downgrades your game design.
My solution would be to offer them for both G-ShalamaCoins and in-game coins (which would probably be Garudos or some other made up word instead of 'gold'...)

Anyway, this is the end tag of my rant, I guess... </rant>

limit customization and create a vanity shop for everything. Allow players to buy skins for weapons, characters, armors, pets, and maybe player owned houses and skills. Also, you can offer some options for people that work, like maybe a afk system that would be equal to doing quests for x amount of time. Also, you might want to do expansions, you can lock certain areas for expansion buyers like lotro. All of it comes down to how you implement it and how you execute it. Study your audience well, and if people don't like something and it causes you to lose a mass of players, ROLLBACK.

Yes, you will have a vocal minority that complains *A LOT* but the end result will be a huge increase in profit. People have misunderstandings when it comes to what "free to play with cash shop" actually means.

Quoted for truth. But then again, since they don't pay you, let them complain. It's impossible to run a game without 2% of the community making a noise like 200% of a community.

Except when you publish an update, in that case 50% will be complaining that you ruined the game. Another exception is if you tweak the game so it gets harder, that will also make 50% of the community complain. And if you revert the change, the other 50% will complain. No matter what you do, you are always a total sucker who doesn't listen to what your everyone wants, and you only want to ruin the game.

[quote name='Acharis']This does not make sense to me, if you have money it means you work so you don't have much time to play... Shouldn't shop system be made for those who work and not play a lot so they have a chance to catch up with free players who play all day?[/quote]
The opposite is the case, actually. The people who do not pay for the game will play all day if you allow them. They consume the greater share of server resources (CPU and bandwidth). So, not only do they not pay you, they actually cost your company money.
Add to this that not few of them are the 2% that produce the most noise, and not few might be goldfarmers.

It therefore makes sense to limit the F2P players in a timely manner. For a paying customer, it does not matter how long he is playing. First, he won't play all day anyway, but more importantly, he is giving you money, he keeps the bills paid. For everyone.

Plus, a paying customer is less likely to be abusing, cheating, scamming, because having his account banned means losing the "invested" money. For a F2P player, the worst thing to happen is to lose something that was free in the first place and reopening another account with another throwaway email.

Plus, a paying customer is less likely to be abusing, cheating, scamming, because having his account banned means losing the "invested" money. For a F2P player, the worst thing to happen is to lose something that was free in the first place and reopening another account with another throwaway email.

That doesn't always work in practice though. For example, Runescape says that a lot of the goldfarmer P2P accounts they discovered were using fake or stolen credit information, so it actually cost them money.

Here's a talk made by Ben Cousins (general manager for Easy at EA)

http://www.slideshare.net/bcousins/paying-to-win

Where he goes into detail about how Battlefield Heroes was suffering as a vanity only cash shop game, and how they increased profits by double/triple by adding in items that gave slight advantages. He also talks about how the vocal 2% forum base had hundred page threads complaining about the release of "pay 2 win" items, and revealed that the forum base actually spends 10x more than anyone else who plays the game...

Which means that the people complaining the loudest are the same people who are spending the most money on your game anyway.

The video is a must-view for anyone looking to implement micro transactions into their game.

Accelerators and Boosters - Essentially players pay in game currency to speed up the game experience. Level faster, teleport to locations, get better item drops, reduce elapsed time.

Premium Gear - The best gear/items/and abilities are only available to player who purchase them.

Dehandicap - Essentially the free experience is so limited that the player feels handicapped and the only way to get a decent experience is pay to unlock features.[/quote]

Ok, ok, its safe to say we all have good idea of the current trend. However, there has to be other ways to employ Microtransactions in our games that have yet to be discovered. As a Independent Game Developer, I believe we can be a little more creative with our implementations. How about a Brainstorm Session to find other ways to utilize Microtransactions? Maybe something new and trendy will surface. To help facilitate the thought process, I'll post a phrase. For this phrase, generate as many answers as possible no matter how off-the-wall, with NO regard to players. Afterwards, we can can go thru the answers, fine-tune their definitions, analyze potential advantages/disadvantages, then decide to save or delete them. To participate, just quote the The Brainstorm Session Phrase, followed by your answer(s).

Are you ready to play? Ok, here we go.

[color="#FF0000"] [color="#FF0000"][color="#0000FF"][color="#000000"]The Brainstorm Session Phrase: [size="4"]How many ways can you sell everything in your game, over and over again?

I wasted a small forture on Battleforge. I enjoyed collecting the cards (units/spells/buildings) and what not. Similar to Magic the gathering in that respect I guess (never played it though). I still have loads of points there that I've never spent (no longer play it), never once felt ripped off.

The Brainstorm Session Phrase: How many ways can you sell everything in your game, over and over again?

1. Asset Creation (Textures, Meshes, Audio) for In-Game Advertisements
2. Advertisement Runs In-Game (Time-Limited)
3. Advertisement Runs Website (Time-Limited)