Problems in Game Land: IAP Fees Get Gamers Up In Arms

05. The Simpsons: Tapped Out - EA Games

Having The Simpsons land on this list is actually sort of painful to us. Because it happens to be of our favorite games in the freemium grinder category. In fact most of the staff here in the SuperCheats Bullpen play it. Not only that, but we actually wrote the walkthrough guide for it.

Now in our defense, our WTG was written from the perspective - and heavily oriented - towards playing this game without actually doing any IAP at all. So at least in that respect our hands are clean and our conscience clear.

The fact that Tapped Out is all about playing with your favorite characters and is set in the home town of the Simpson family - entertaining cartoon fun that we have known and loved for over a quarter century and, what is more, is instantly identifiable to literally generations of kids, and well...

That said, we can TOTALLY see how poor impulse control or - God forbid - a younger gamer somehow gaining access to the account password -- would really infuriate a parent.

The ability to approve IAP in the game -- and the fact that this would rather quickly head for a seriously painful crash in the wallet, because mates IAP in this game? It happens to be on the expensive side.. Well yeah, this may be justifiably a nightmare game to have that happen in and with.

A major reason for that is down to the timers in the game, and the ease by which serious progress can be made by any gamer with access to the in-game currency / premium currency which is Donuts. Big. Pink. Tasty. Donuts!

While there are in fact relatively reasonable options in the IAP department for the game for purchase of Donuts, there are a couple of issues that tend to nullify the chances that those economical choices will be made.

Basically the IAP includes a Boatload of 2400 Donuts - no, seriously, that is really what it is called - a Boatload of Donuts. Which costs $99. Then there is the fact that the Donuts can be used to purchase the in-game dollars (that are required to purchase upgrades and other things) to the tune of 1,600 Donuts for what seems like a really great deal - $5.2 MILLION in-game bucks.

But the in-game currency you buy with Donuts is not the real serious source of trouble in the game. That is down to the Premium Objects like buildings, characters, decorations, and vehicles - which is a real issue for a lot of younger gamers, especially since they not only can visit the towns that their friends are creating, but easily end up having adult friends who, naturally, spend what they want on the game.

So these younger gamers SEE all of the cool premium objects and, naturally, they want them too!

Now add to that the fact that the game actually attaches exclusive activities TO that premium content - like special missions and quests, or the ability to unlock special characters, and you should start to see how this can be a serious draw for younger gamers AND adults, and how more money could end up being spent - real-world money - than might be considered entirely wise.

Now, when we mull over the fact that these massive amounts of real-world money are being used to purchase digital goods that according to the game's ToS the player does not actually really OWN, and whoa! This looks grim indeed!

The Simpsons: Tapped Out actually earns more money annually for EA than their entire video game sales for console and PC combined. So naturally they are not only going to want to make spending money as easy as possible in the game, they want to create lots of things that the players will WANT.

Because let's get this straight right now, these digital objects upon which players are spending lots of money are not necessary to play the game. The players are not buying them because they NEED them, they are buying them because they WANT them! And that makes all the difference in the world.

While there are plenty of ways that the players can earn in-game dollars the ability to earn Donuts just through game play is severely restricted - so the need for some care to be taken in just how far (and often) a player indulges their want of new content is the foundation point for this issue.

All that considers, even though we don't want Tapped Out to be on this list, we totally understand why it is.