Microtransactions in online games

[Egbert]

I hear that many online games include "microtransactions" that allow you to buy in game items using real world money. For example you may be able to buy an enchanted sword for US$20 and use that sword in the game and have an advantage over people who spend nothing.

I have never played online so this is very much terra incognita for me. How do you feel about these microtransactions in games?
How do they affect gameplay?
How do they entice you to spend your hard earnt money?

[N35t0r]

Affect. Effect is a noun.

[Egbert]

I have now edited my poast to remove e and replace it with a.

[Egbert]

No reply to my questions so far.
Perhaps I should have asked about spelling.

[Wezil]

I've played a couple online "free" games that worked on that model. I end up leaving after a short time because it creates a playing field where you need to keep paying if you want to be competitive, I just have better things to waste money on.

[-Jrabbit]

I used to play Kingdom of Loathing online several years back, and they do similar offers, usually with one-month limited availability.
They tried to do it ways that didn't break the gameplay while still creating an income stream. And mostly succeeded.

It did peeve me a bit, but hey, it was a little home-brew gaming company, trying to make a living in the competitive world of MMOGs, so I was fine with it...

[N35t0r]

I played world of tanks for a while. It didn't really matter, except for some special tanks which you could only buy, most things you could also buy with the in-game currency. Maybe you couldn't buy them for every match, but at least in the low and mid tiers it was perfectly possible to play without paying a cent.

[Dinner]

They all seem to do this now.

[Broken_Erika]

Micro transactions ruined the newish dungeon keeper game.