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BUT
Let's suppose this is serious:
Seems to me it is your job as a parent is to teach your children: the value of money and hard work to obtain it and things they want (rather than give give give from the mommy/daddy bank), the value of patience (vs instant gratification).
a. Nothing sold in the in-game store bought for moonstones is needed to progress the game - they are all cosmetic items that are pets(not even as good as the pets available in normal free-play), clothes (there are tons of better outfits rewarded for free-play), and furniture/houses that again are only cosmetic re-skins of the free-play house and extra furniture not needed.
All things needed to progress game quests or open areas are earn-able by just free-play methods such as farming pumpkins, mining, crafting... Even the periodic big events can be played without the premium path which if you do buy just opens cosmetic rewards.
b. They give you 50 moonstones a day so if a child (seriously just because it's Disney doesn't mean a child should be let run wild in the game with no monetary supervision and personally I think mostly adults or YA play) wants to earn a store cosmetic item they can be patient and collect them over time.
c. As to what you as a parent are willing to contribute to a child playing online games: perhaps you should have a clear allowance and your child if old enough to spend money on game items should understand your family finances and their personal allowance budget.
My parents did these things: we knew we had a relatively big family for my fathers income (7 kids) and by 11 I was babysitting and delivering newspapers too at 13 then I also started working food service as soon as possible as well because I wanted to buy things that would not be in my allowance - the same with ALL my siblings) It took me so long to save up for the game Fallout 2 that I was able to get it for $5 in a used bin at the game store LOL - it is still one of my favorite games of all times.
Just my opinion/thoughts: are the prices here that high really? I play phone games for fun and they have monthly events where the minimum you spend is 15$ for a cosmetic item and our club leaders spend hundreds of $ for temporary bonus items so the club can earn special competitive event rewards - and that just is a phone game with no world or quests! For me a phone game is played for a few months then forgotten. In the early 90's it cost $75 to buy good games (like dnd goldbox releases on floppy disks) and $75 in the 80's and 90's was relatively a lot more than now.
So basically on the first day of access I bought the Disney Dreamlight valley for Ultimate edition price of $70 - note: less than I paid for a game in the 90's!!!!! Got a ton of moonstones with it that with all the freebees I've yet to use up and I've bought the premium path on every Event as well as a few store items (that were disappointing tbh). I've gotten 370ish hours out of this game so far mostly playing when they release new content now but well - I consider that good game value for the money.
TLDR: This game has Good Value for the price and additional Moonstones only buy cosmetic items and are completely skipable without impacting game play.
I stuffed my face so hard with pickle flavored chips. So do you think it should just be like a normal raunchy game and like gta5 and soo 6 to be a buy game format vs internal buying but only like for premium shop cause accessories and stuff sell and are worth the moonstones. I could run away and go off grid and still be able to play is priceless.
one day be holding a copy of it in my hands, its cool game. Part of the beauty is ability to play offline like a normal game. You could be on a disney dream cruise and still play! in the middle of uncharted waters!
At least in my experience as an adult, I bought the cheapest option and have no problem doing everything I wanted in the game. I knew going in that I was not the target group that would buy up the premium cosmetics. I have been able to do all the starpath events and even get the premium items for those and my moonstone balance is still flush. (Over 6,000 moonstones currently)
So I do not really see Gameloft as being predatory or greedy in any sense. They probably know, from research and studies done on other In App purchase games that there will be predictable number of players who will be willing for fork over regular contributions to get the store stuff. For the rest of us, we just collect our blue chests and maybe spring once in a great while for something special offered.
I guess the alternative would have been to bundle the frequent updates into semi-annual or annual DLC. However Gameloft gets paid, they deserve to be paid for their work. They picked a method and for me it is great. I have no problem with other people funding my enjoyment of the game. I am not sure my interest in the game is sufficient that I would have been willing to pay for DLC....maybe after a year or two once those go on sale for $2 or $3 a pop.
So I get OP wishing they had picked a different method to fund the game. I disagree that they are doing anything predatory or being greedy in the process. If anything, so far they have been very generous to the EA users.
I will quit playing if things change, but right now I am not sure why OP is so upset.
I think you are misunderstanding OPS point that the games main monetization strategy is to profit off the give give give from the mommy/daddy bank demographic.
Which as you agree is a very toxic and damaging but also prevelent and addicting phenomon.
And this corporation is trying to train that and preticipate that behavior to kids. Which, is probably not weird, I imagine mobile gaming is a cesspit of similar or worse strategies to exploit bad behavior of parents and their kids. Fortnite is an example I can think of.
Im usually all for games doing cosmetic only microtansactions to preserve the balance of the game. (This isn't a pure cosmetic only cash shop but that's not my concern in this non competitive game where the progress you get only costs the time or money you put into it, which doesn't affect anyone elses game. )
But this is objectively bad monetization scheme, BECAUSE it is directly targeting, precipitating and sustaining negative behaviors of kids and their parents. It might be super prevelent in the market already but that doesn't make it ok, especially tarnishing a brand as powerful as Disney which will create larger ripple trend setting effects. The "not that bad" is understandable but also shortsighted. "Not that bad" with no negative reinforcement will not address or fix the problem, and over time it will only get worse.
The industries monetization schemes are all focused on pushing the boundaries of what predatory plots are seen as acceptable enough to be profitable without huge pr backlash.
It is sad to see part of that major IPS like Lord of the Rings and Disney jumping into the action when their IPs are big enough for these predatary schemes to be completely unneccessary, they could already make millions from name recognition alone just releasing a bad quality game. (The game has sold 122 million copies already and it is a pretty cheap seeming game to develop, meaning they have made almost 5 BILLION? (am I doing the math wrong this is obscene) alone without any microtransactions.
Edit: I forgot to mention, that 1,200 moonstone pack is $4.99 and the 1,500 moonstone cosmetic is a set of backpacks. They think two VIRTUAL backpacks are worth... (does some math)... I'm just going to guess... $6.25? I can buy a real backpack for less than that.
So Gameloft is predatory AND greedy.
See: RAGE coins, Helix credits, Shark Cards, and so on.
Disney Magic Kingdoms has gem packs that are used for magic packs.
My Little Pony: Magic Princess has a mountain of microtransactions. Way more expensive than DMK.
I wish people would take the time to actually comprehend what is being said so I don't have to keep explaining myself. This is the second time in this same thread.
An earlier post I had made that was deleted, talked about how microtransactions were handled for a mmo that was free as the premium shop was added in later.
But it didn't keep the game going very well as many were more interested playing the game, rather than spend real money on virtual items.
There were other issues as well. All led to the game closure.
Little kids? Seriously? I know one game was marketed for such group, but the actual players were adults.
Kids will play what they want. There are ones who played Fortnite, instead of those many family friendly games.
This isn't on mobile, and there are many F2P PC games out there.
A family license? That's as funny as a Christian company getting a license to make a violent game.
Disney Bucks? Was this from Fortnite V-Bucks?
Video game are time wasters. Even simulation games are far worse due to real time waiting to do things.
You have no idea what gaming is, clearly. Gaming has, sadly, evolved. That is because it's boomed in popularity. (Thanks....) and companies learned they can milk people who 'have a life', but still feel they are entitled to the same level of progress as someone who does spend time playing said game. A good documented example of this is the sheer amount of hackers in Pokémon, all because, "Breeding isn't important to competitive play but they force me to do it."
Bethesda was heavily criticized for this.
Sadly, MTX are here to stay. What is more problematic is the fact that companies are now intentionally trying to snatch the attention of people prone to certain types of addictions. A degree in Psychology is a valuable thing to have in the new gaming world. (Example; Something cost 550 gems. There is a MTX pack that sells 500 for $x, then 1,000 for $x^. This is a common predatory practice...)
Made for kids, and designed to be kid friendly are, in fact, two different categories. This is true. However, any game that intends to be 'kid friendly' should still be subjected to normal regulations when it comes to kids. Especially when those games employ psychological tricks that steer it's users into paying any amount of money.
The costs are insane when you stop and realize it is a product that, once designed, can be produced without limit. That does not mean I believe the items should be free. But I earnestly believe the value of the digital goods are being bloated. (Despite mathematics saying a lower cost would garner more purchases and higher net profit. But Economics is hard to grasp I guess..)