The Sickening Truth Behind Cosmetic Gaming Microtransactions

There's perhaps no aspect of modern video gaming more contentious than microtransactions - that is to say, the means through which game publishers generate added revenue by charging small fees for additional virtual goods.

This typically comes in the form of "pay-to-win" microtransactions which grant paying players a leg-up on the competition, or as supposedly "harmless" cosmestic micotransactions for aesthetic items.

Though it's little secret that the pay-to-win model is widely loathed by many gamers, cosmetics are somewhat more divisive.

For some, the assumption is that if they don't alter the ones and zeroes of the core gameplay, or give anyone a clear tactical advantage, then they're not really causing any damage at all.

But is this really the case? Paid microtransactions as a whole speak to an industry with an extremely unhealthy relationship between publisher and customer, especially given that many of the latter happen to be children.

If cosmestic MTX are so often seen as a compromise which minimises harm, this isn't really true at all.

Paid cosmetics may not be as immediately, obviously damaging as pay-to-win, but they're still indicative of a wider, insidious sickness rife in an insatiable, greed-driven business...

It wasn't that long ago that players simply scoffed at the prospect of paying real-world money for extra digital skins and other "intangible" cosmetic objects in video games.

But with a 2018 report declaring that 69% of gamers now find cosmetic MTX acceptable, times have certainly changed, and it's all part of an industry-wide effort to effectively railroad players into opening their wallets.

For starters, publishers would love to have us all believe that cosmetics and character customisation aren't in fact a core part of the gaming experience, and so by carving them out only to sell them back to us later, the player isn't actually being deprived of anything.

Except, anyone who's played at least a few video games in their life can appreciate the enormous personal satisfaction and added emotional investment which comes with tailoring a character's style to your own preferences.

Simply put, cosmetics are far more closely linked to gameplay than publishers want to admit, which isn't only a disservice to players, but also the artists who work so hard creating all the assets.

Given that online phenomenons like Overwatch, Fortnite, and so on are centered around players personalising their avatars, to at once deem that disposable while also commodifying it for a premium is crass at best, if not offensively manipulative.

Indeed, even at their most "unnecessary" and "harmless," cosmetic MTX feed into a system designed to change how you think...