Modern gaming has taken many forms, but the live service game is perhaps the most prominent and lucrative of them all. The reason is pretty clear, too. These are the games where the use of video game currencies thrives, so publishers are naturally keen on funding games that can incorporate that.
From GTA Online’s Shark cards to Fortnite’s V-Bucks, there’s a colossal economy entirely built using in-game currency to spend on cosmetics, packs, game boosts, and more. Because this often involves paying real-world cash to earn in-game cash, there should be some caution about how and what you spend real money on. This article revealed a few of the ways players might be scammed when it comes to video game currency.
There’s plenty you can do to make the most of your video game currency, avoiding the temptation to blow it on the kinds of things that ultimately won’t do much to enhance your enjoyment. Unless you’re in the throes of a volatile live service game early in its life, your in-game currency isn’t going anywhere. It’s very easy to feel like you can’t let it just sit there in your account, that it will suddenly just run away when your back is turned (and hey, given how the industry can be, that’s not an entirely irrational fear!).
Before spending your hard-earned for some sparkly in-game baubles, take a second to think about what you’re buying. In Call of Duty, for instance, you can easily rack up a bit of a bill purchasing skin packs, but unless you’re into Warzone, they don’t carry over game-to-game. Sure, it’s great to run around looking like Rambo, but if it’s only going to be usable for a few months in the part of the game you play, is that the best use of your real-life and in-game cash? Likewise, is spending loads on player packs in EAFC 25 going to be useful to you when you only have to start all over again in 12 months anyway?
Such things can lead to certain people taking advantage of the situation to scam players with offers of cheaper currency, free packs, and the like. It’s a risk not worth taking as one way or another, you’ll probably end up paying a heavier price down the line.
If you’re not playing a game intensely, but enough to make significant progress, then a Battle Pass/Season Pass usually offers a decent return. They will usually chuck you some extra in-game coin for your trouble alongside XP boosts and cosmetics. Keeping that video game currency aside for those one-off in-game purchases such as skins and characters you want is like a nice present to your future self, and if you don’t see anything you fancy right now? Well, you could always reinvest it in the next Battle Pass.
Likewise, many games offer up challenges with in-game rewards that can include in-game currency. While there is a certain aggression to implementing microtransactions in live service and annual games, it can be avoided somewhat, by doing your best to play your way to more rewards instead of spending big to acquire something right this second.
There’s nothing inherently wrong in spending big on video game currency in your favorite games. After all you are the one who determines if it’s giving you any additional enjoyment, and yes, it’s your money. But it can be very easy to lose the value in what you add to your game if you don’t put a bit more thought into what it is you’re buying. There’s always a compromise to be found with smarter spending on video game currencies.
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