EA is not the only player in the free-to-play market, but it is notable that its Dungeon Keeper game has been slapped by the British Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA will no longer allow EA to advertise Dungeon Keeper as free-to-play due to its use of timers and in-game transactions.
“The ASA noted that the game software was available to download for free, and that it was possible to play the game without spending money. However, we understood that several mechanisms within the game took a significant amount of time to be completed, and that these would only be speeded up by using the premium Gem currency. We noted that, although some of these actions could be done simultaneously, there was a limit to how many actions could happen at the same time and that the length of the countdown timers increased according to how far the player had progressed in aspects of the game. We therefore regarded it as extremely likely that players would reach a position where they would be unable to take any further meaningful or progressive action in the game until a timer had finished or been skipped, and that these periods would become longer and more significant, and the cost of skipping increasingly higher, as the player progressed. Although some of the features in the ad did not require waiting for a timer, we noted that these were either incidental or brief (such as ‘slapping’ the imp characters) or were dependent on other actions that were gated by a timer.”
Keep in mind that the ASA’s ruling only regards how the game is advertised not how it is monetized. EA will most likely appeal the agency’s decision but in the meantime will have its marketing department rework the ads so that it can continue to market Dungeon Keepers and other games.
With so many games using the free-to-play scheme, especially on mobile platforms, it will be interesting to see if this decision has any further ramifications. Even console and PC games like Warframe and DOTA 2 use the free-to-play model and this decision may impact how they market their games. It is too early to tell if it will have any affect on how in-game transactions are handled but it may be something to keep an eye on.
Being a cheapskate, I enjoy playing free games but find some aspects of the free-to-play model aggravating, if not stupid. When a “free” game has an in-game $100 purchase available, I take serious question as to the legitimacy of the game being “free”. Perhaps you always have to be mindful of the fine print and watch what you are getting yourself into. As much as we chide our government officials, maybe they are on our side every once in a while.
Paul Novak is a self described Polish ninja toiling away as an IT professional but more into gaming and writing. Physically existing in the west side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet existentially flowing with the ether of the Internet. Found here at What’s Your Tag? and on the Twitter @dudewantshisrug. Game on with Team XBRO!
What's Your Tag? 
Certain games do free-to-play well, like when you can earn everything in-game the old fashioned way. Hearthstone and Warframe are perfect examples. Warframe may have a $100 bundle for in-game currency, blueprints, weapons, etc., but you never have to buy them to unlock everything on your own.
I think a better example that’s more along the lines of what EA is experiencing are many of the mobile/tablet games that are quoted as free-to-play, but in order to play more than X amount of times you have to go beyond the pay wall.
I think the contention came down to the timing aspect and how it gradually lengthened through out the game. I thought of Clash of Clans when I saw this news and questioned how it compares but it doesn’t seem to change how fast you earn currency(elixir or gold) but rather how much items cost.
Yeah, F2P will always be a tricky subject to tackle.
It is still relatively new though, so it has time to evolve. I’m ok with people making money off of me but I don’t want to be ripped off. That is reasonable for any player to ask for.
Absolutely. As consumers, we’re always going to feel ripped off whether it be by microtransactions, or terrible full-priced retail games like Watch Dogs or Thief. It’ll take some time before F2P reaches a comfortable stride, but thankfully there are already a handful of games out there that have set the standard of what we should expect.
The problem is that Dungeon Keeper was a really good game and actually had mechanics and none of that plus sign nonsense over the resources. They took a very well known and well thought out game and ruined it. EA why do you suck so badly?
-Kaxzc
EA is unfortunately known for being greedy and sometimes shady. At least they got called out for it on this occasion.
and it’s about time that happened too. EA was voted the worst company either last year or the year before in an internet poll.
-Kaxzc
I think they may have had that distinction several times.