[Nothorized]

I recently changed my relation with video games. I used to play a lot of FIFA (or Football Manager), which are games who are just here to entertain yourself, but there is no backstory at all. Now I see video games as reading a book, or watching a great movie: focus on the story, the art design, the sound design, and the experience in general.

I still play a bit of FIFA, but I reserve it to my social time (even though I find that FIFA create a lot of tensions, while Mario Kart is funnier to play, and the level to be competent is lower).

The problem with most of IAP games are that they are in the same category than FIFA or FM. There is little backstory. While paying upfront for a game (on mobile, a dozen of great games exists, and you can play some of them during short period of time like Limbo...) create a sense of connection with the game, because you invest money in it, and you are ready to really invest time in it. On the opposite, IAP are games where the goal is to make you play as much as possible, to pay as much as possible.

[StavrosK]

There are different kinds of IAP, some are free demos and you unlock the full game with an IAP, some let you buy extra content in the form of DLC, some remove ads, and some just want to get thousands of dollars out of you. I call the latter "bullshit" to differentiate from the former, which are OK to me.

[soylentcola]

Games that follow the old shareware model (free to try out, choose whether or not to pay for full game/disable ads) are my preference for sure.

I don't mind paying $5 (or more) for a good mobile game, but with so much crap out there, it's tough to justify unless I am lucky enough to run across a trusted review or it's something from a developer that has earned my trust through previous offerings.

Looking back, the games I buy/unlock tend to be the ones where I get to try them out first. If I play the first 10 levels or 1/5th of the story and really enjoy it, I'm eager to pay in-app to continue the game.

[pdpi]

I'm in a similar place. A corollary to this is: I'm pickier about how the stories are told. Games are neither books nor films, and I'll pay a premium for games that find a way to tell their stories in ways that are distinct from those mediums.