skip to main content
opinion

Ask the players! Player-centric principles as guidelines for ethical microtransactions

Published: 08 August 2024 Publication History

Abstract

This viewpoint paper synthesizes the author's previous work with players on their experiences and perceptions of problematic microtransactions to provide a set of values for ethically designing microtransactions. As such, it provides a practical starting point for any reader with an interest in implementing good practices in microtransaction design and regulation.

References

[1]
E. Petrovskaya and D. Zendle. 2021. Predatory monetisation? A categorisation of unfair, misleading and aggressive monetisation techniques in digital games from the player perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 181 (2021), 1065--1081.
[2]
E. Petrovskaya, S. Deterding, and D. I. Zendle. 2022. Prevalence and salience of problematic microtransactions in top-grossing mobile and PC games: A content analysis of user reviews. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1--12.
[3]
E. Petrovskaya and D. Zendle. 2022. “These people had taken advantage of me”: A grounded theory of problematic consequences of player interaction with mobile games perceived as ‘designed to drive spending’. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 2022, 1 (2022), 1260174.

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Ethical Games: Toward Evidence-Based Guidance for Safeguarding Players and DevelopersGames: Research and Practice10.1145/36852072:2(1-11)Online publication date: 19-Aug-2024

Index Terms

  1. Ask the players! Player-centric principles as guidelines for ethical microtransactions

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image Games: Research and Practice
    Games: Research and Practice  Volume 2, Issue 2
    June 2024
    149 pages
    EISSN:2832-5516
    DOI:10.1145/3613575
    Issue’s Table of Contents

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 08 August 2024
    Online AM: 29 June 2024
    Accepted: 17 May 2024
    Revised: 03 May 2024
    Received: 10 September 2023
    Published in GAMES Volume 2, Issue 2

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. player experience
    2. microtransactions
    3. ethical design

    Qualifiers

    • Opinion

    Funding Sources

    • EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence (IGGI)

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • Downloads (Last 12 months)189
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)21
    Reflects downloads up to 16 Feb 2025

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    Cited By

    View all
    • (2024)Ethical Games: Toward Evidence-Based Guidance for Safeguarding Players and DevelopersGames: Research and Practice10.1145/36852072:2(1-11)Online publication date: 19-Aug-2024

    View Options

    Login options

    Full Access

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Full Text

    View this article in Full Text.

    Full Text

    Figures

    Tables

    Media

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media