There are three magical words that I love hearing and those three words are “free to play”. Before you click away, hear me out (and if you do, perhaps check out one of my other blog posts). This is just for me personally as a super casual gamer. Extra emphasis on “casual”.
But I think that the concept of free to play games as a whole isn’t all that bad. There are sadly some bad apples that tarnish the free to play genre. But as long as you know what to look out for and what be cautious of, you (and your budget) should be okay and free to play (pun totally intended).
Why I love free to play games
Reason #1: They are commitment free
When it comes to spending money, I am a bit of a commitment-phobe. Buying a car will take forever, choosing between jobs is anxiety-inducing, and even debating which bottle of ketchup to buy is unnecessarily difficult. Every purchase to me is not just a purchase, but a financial investment.
I also know myself well enough to know that I go through phases. I get super into one thing, go all in, and just as quick as I am to fully commit to a hobby/interest, I am quickly over it and onto the next thing.
And this is why free to play games are perfect for me – because they are commitment free. You’re not invested in it, so you can give it a try and if it’s not your cup of tea you can just quit without any qualms. And if you end up enjoying a game but later the excitement and interest starts to fizzle out, then it’s the same thing.
Reason #2: They are great to explore different genres of games
Honestly, the only reason why I even started playing Genshin Impact was because my boyfriend told me that it was free. It was not the type of game that I had usually enjoyed playing but I still gave it shot because it was free.
It’s a great no-commitment way to test out different types of games. You can use free to play games to figure out whether you enjoy puzzle or story-based games. Or see if you gravitate more toward strategy games or action adventure games.
The downside of free to play (for the casual or new gamer)
Where free to play games start to go downhill (for the casual and new gamer) are the same reasons why free to play can kind of have a bit of a bad rep to some. And I think part of that is the paywall that they tend to contain. Basically this is when a game has numerous ways to get you to pay (even though it’s free) to unlock certain things/areas/content etc.
I think the paywall aspect of free to play games can be broken down into two main areas:
Gacha games
Short for gachapon. You may not have heard the term gachapon but you most likely have seen one before. You know those vending type machines where you put in a quarter and you hope for a certain Peek-A-Pooh and you end up getting the one item that you didn’t want? That, my friends, is a gachapon machine or known to some as a capsule machine.
Essentially it’s a way to enhance gameplay through random draws. You earn a certain amount of credits through regular free gameplay and if you’ve earned enough, you can do a pull for a special perk (ie. a new playable character, a new weapon, etc.)
You may not have the best characters or the best weapons but it’s still playable. After all, you haven’t actually put any money into it. But if you really wanted to get the preferred pulled item, you could spend some money to get more pulls or more chances to get the amazing perk/benefit that you are hoping for.
As annoying as gachapon components can be to a game, it isn’t the worst because you can still play and enjoy the game for the most part.
My only piece of advice here is to avoid watching videos of whales unless you have strong restraint. If you’re prone to suffer from FOMO, this may make it worse especially if you are trying to play for free.
Which leads us into…
In-game purchases
I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories of adults downloading free games on their phone or tablet to give a kid to play and then somehow get a bill for hundreds of dollars. You guessed it, in-game purchases. This is the reason why you now get “are you sure you want to purchase?” followed by a verification of credit card.
The types of in-game purchases vary and go from increased odds or more chances to win in a gacha game component to purchasing special skins or features.
Most of the in-game purchases that I’ve come across in my free to play ventures are usually ways to speed up a perk that is time based (for example you could wait another 12 hours to perform this action or you can pay $0.99 to have that time reduced) or to have no ads. In these situations, it’s a way to purchase quality of life gameplay – which otherwise can be incredibly tedious or just plain annoying (especially when a game makes you sit through a minute of ads every 2 minutes).
I’ll be completely honest, this is where I usually draw the line for myself personally. I’ve only ever done an in-game purchase one time. And it was $5 because I thought, why not? Did I regret it? Not really. Do I ever think about how that $5 could have bought me a sandwich? Constantly.
Conclusion
But despite the bad rep free to play games could get due to a few bad apples in the bunch, I still like them as casual time passers. They’re great for waiting in line at the store and something to play while waiting at an airport. But ultimately, I think they’re great for exploring and trying out different genres of games without the financial commitment.
Considering a game on a console or PC could run you anywhere from $15-60, I’m perfectly content with my little free games for the time being. At least until I’ve decided on a game that I’ve determined is worth the investment.
Ultimately, whether a game costs $60 or nothing at all, the most important thing is that you’re having fun. There are some S tier games that fall all across the spectrum of price points. Some of the most popular games right now are free to play games.
And remember that not every game is for every person. So enjoy finding the perfect game for you!