After having taken a look at Net Neutrality and briefly considering to choose Question 2 (cyberspace and democracy) as my essay question, I decided to go with Question 3 instead, focusing on how the freemium model dominates the mobile gaming industry, and whether that's a good or bad thing.

For the essay, I plan to explore aspects of psychology used to entice users in freemium games. Tactics like giving new users free boost help get users hooked onto the feeling of instant gratification when they manage to finish a level they weren't able to before.

From a marketing perspective, it's also important to take a look at other potential strategies to engage users. Games which use advertisements funded by a third party are very common in the market at the moment, with users being able to pay for an escape from the ads by buying a premium version.

Finally, I'd also want to go back to the game designer's perspective and see how new information can help them create better games. Freemium boosts or advertisements often end up cluttering the screen and inhibiting the user's experience, so ideally by the end of the essay, perhaps some form of compromise can be found to balance good content with profitability.

Looking through the strategies that mobile game developers employ to entice players to pay for upgrades, I couldn't help but wonder about what safety measures are put in place to prevent children from making purchases on phones which already have credit card data stored in the App/Play Stores. Here's what I've found out:

In early 2014, Google decided to change the way "freemium" apps were listed on their Play Store, in an effort to curb users into being misled about the app. They also set guidelines for developers, in order to change the way that approval prompts are shown while using the apps. At the time the article was being written, Apple came under fire at that time for not putting in efforts to prevent children from being targeted for in-app purchases.

Later that year, Apple was forced by the Federal Trade Commission to refund at least $32.5m to parents of children who had made purchases in the App store without their knowledge or permission, after the agency said that it had received “at least tens of thousands of complaints” from parents regarding unauthorised purchases. As a part of the agreement, Apple had agreed to change its app purchasing process. Previously, after the password was keyed into the app to approve a purchase, there was a 15-minute window where other purchases could be made without typing the password again.

The security flaw has since been remedied, and Apple now gives user very detailed instructions on how users can set up parental restrictions for when children are using their devices

All in all, I think it's safe to say that platform providers play a crucial role in ensuring that game developers produce better games and children don't end up the target of freemium-purchase bombardment. However, parental controls should also be put into place, and children under a certain age shouldn't be left to use mobile devices for extended periods of time unsupervised.


References:
Holpuch, A. (2014). Apple to pay $32.5m over practice that let children make in-app purchases. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/15/apple-practice-children-make-in-app-purchases [Accessed 19 Dec. 2016].

McCarthy, J. (2014). European Commission chastises Apple over misleading 'free' apps. [online] The Drum. Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/07/18/european-commission-chastises-apple-over-misleading-free-apps [Accessed 19 Dec. 2016].

West, G. (2014). Google to change the way 'freemium' apps are listed from September. [online] The Drum. Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/07/20/google-change-way-freemium-apps-are-listed-september [Accessed 19 Dec. 2016].

The word "Freemium"  comes from combining the words "Free" and "Premium". Its is primarily used to describe products or services which reach a large audience by giving users a free but limited service, and advertises premium or better features for an additional fee. The costs of providing the free service to most users is often paid for by the profit from premium users. An example of a service that uses this model is Dropbox, which offers users 2GB of cloud storage by just signing up. Once the user uses up this 2GB, they will be offered to upgrade to a premium account with 1TB of storage for 9.99 USD a month or 99USD a year.

If you take a quick look through the App Store (or Play Store) on your phone, you'll notice that they tend to prioritise showing you apps which are free. And who doesn't like free stuff?

Screenshot of my own phone Play Store as an example

However, once you start downloading and playing these "free" games, they often have their own in-game currencies which help you unlock new chapters or boost your chances of winning. The more you play, the harder it will get to progress the game without these boosts, and the game will try to target ads at you to improve your score or give you another chance at a level for just a small bit of their in game currency. Welcome to the world of Freemium games.

Examples from the mobile games I play lol

Use real money to buy fake plants!

Pokemon Go is an example of how it gets harder and harder to progress as you level up.

Part of their strategy is to start off gifting these boosts to you. For example, when begin playing Pokemon Go, they gift you free Incubators, Lure Modules and Lucky Eggs every couple of levels, but as you continue playing the game, it takes longer and longer to level up and you end up using up the free gifts. Once players get a taste of how much easier the game can be with the boosts, they get tempted to spend money. Another trick is to make you use real life money to buy in-game currency, and then use the in-game currency to buy the boosts. The extra step creates a bigger detachment between the purchase and real-life money, thus encouraging them to spend more than they realise. Many popular mobile games use this tactic, including Candy Crush, Clash of Clans and Dragon Quest.

However, many users still cling on to playing games without paying for in-game boosts. In fact, many games rely on a small percentage of users who pay a lot. These users are called "Whales"(Psychguides.com, 2016), and games target these big spenders more than the usual player.

While  Freemium model has is supporters and detractors, it definitely seems like it's here to stay. Users prefer being able to download and use an application before putting any money into it, and many users are able to live with the incessant advertisements that come with a freemium game.


References:
Jacobs, H. (2016). Gaming guru argues why 'freemium' is the best business model for gamers and developers - Business Insider. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.my/sean-plott-explains-why-he-thinks-freemium-games-are-the-best-business-model-for-both-players-and-developers-2015-3/?r=US&IR=T#fFBeJGvtwvmIxiKH.97 [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].

Psychguides.com. (2016). The Psychology of “Freemium”. [online] Available at: http://www.psychguides.com/interact/the-psychology-of-freemium/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].

Blog.helpshift.com. (2016). Why Most Freemium Games Fail. [online] Available at: http://blog.helpshift.com/blog/freemium-games-fail/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].

Crush the Castle

Angry Birds

I'm still a little on the fence about finalising an essay topic choice, so I've decided to explore a few keywords that are related to some of the essay topics. First up is Net Neutrality, which honestly sounds like a really boring term. Hopefully by the end of this blog post, whoever reads this won't be bored to tears.

What
In the simplest terms, net neutrality is just that - the Internet should always be neutral. No content should be less important, or harder to access compared to others.

Who benefits?
Net neutrality laws are put in place to prevent internet service providers from charging a premium fee for users to access some sites compared to others. One example is a case in the United States, where Comcast reportedly cut down the download speeds (Reyes, 2016) for Netflix, an online streaming company, while negotiating for Netflix to pay them in order to allow Netflix users a smoother experience. The reasoning of internet service providers is that Netflix users end up using a lot of bandwidth to stream their videos, so they think Netflix should pay for part of those upgrades to service towers. However, a bill passed on the 26th of February 2015 (Federal Communications Commission, 2016) now requires all internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally (in the United States).

Why does it matter?
Netflix was able to reach amenable terms (Wyatt and Cohen, 2016) with Comcast by agreeing to pay a premium, but other, newer startup companies might not be able to fork out the money for it. This creates a barrier to entry for the industry, encouraging monopolies instead of healthy competition. Even if you're not planning on starting a video streaming site, net neutrality should be something you care about, because Malaysia is absolutely NOT net neutral.

Yeah, Governments need to be held accountable as well
Even though we don't live in places that are more known to be regressive and utilitarian such as China or North Korea, Malaysia has its fair share of blocking websites from users. Working under the banners of preventing people from "sowing hatred towards the government" and "disseminating lies", the MCMC (The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) has banned news sites like The Malaysian Insider, The Sarawak Report, as well as Medium, which is not even a local new source but a site that reposted (Nambiar, 2016) and refused to take down some content that was in The Sarawak Report.

Oh and they also block porn sites because it's soooo haram. -_-|||

Context: This blog is part of an assignment in my degree course. I'll need to update it with things relevant to the course, but I'll still write as though I may have a reader besides my lecturer who is obliged to (at least pretend to) read this.

Quick Quips: I'll start the blog with a series of short, general thoughts on each of the 6 potential essay questions. They probably won't be included in the marking criteria, but hey I actually enjoy writing, and these musings can help me generate more ideas Now without further ado..

1. Investigate a major controversy that unfolded online. Discuss its relevance to creative professionals.

Off the top of my head, the only recent design-related controversy I can think of right now is the recent plagiarism claim (McEleny, 2016) against Leo Burnett's Rubber Boy short film. Local filmmaker Tan Chui Mui claims that Leo Burnett used a story she had pitched to the company previously, without having credited her. But then again, I wouldn't really consider this a "major" controversy. Perhaps this could be linked to the problem of the ownership of ideas in the design world, and how it is influenced by the growth of the internet? I've seen somewhat-famous YouTubers claim that big companies like Buzzfeed steal their video ideas without having given any credit.

2. Cyberspace is vital for protecting and spreading democracy. Explore this idea and question its effectiveness.

I'd say this essay topic would definitely need to take into account terms like net neutrality and the freedom of the press. The cyberspace has allowed those who were formerly silenced to be able to gain a voice. Community sites like Huffington Post and Mothership.Sg allow everyday readers to post their own thoughts and viewpoints. But then again, the fact is that a lot of the content we see goes through a filter to suit our preferences and political leanings. Facebook (Baer, 2016) has been attributed as a reason why many American voters were blindsided by Donald Trump's victory in the past elections. Filter bubbles end up creating an echo chamber in which people only see the views that are not that different from theirs, and as much as people will prefer browsing within their comfort zones, it may cause problems with people being unable to empathise with the perceived "other".

3. How did mobile devices change the way people use the internet? Consider its consumer impact and relate them to a specific creative industry/ profession.

Mobile devices have definitely had a strong impact on how people interact with the internet and information in general. As much as I'd like to imagine most people use their smartphones to access the vast resources of information now available to them, a more realistic probability is that it made everyone glued to playing the mobile game that's currently on trend. The sales of handheld consoles created by companies like Nintendo have taken a big hit (Keating, 2016) in recent years. This has created a rising market for designers who are able to design fun and engaging game apps. However, even the most addictive game has its lifespan, and games like Candy Crush and Angry Pigs struggle to maintain relevance in this fast-paced industry.

4. Compare and contrast how two different communities or social groups use a specific social media platform. Which of the two groups has more to gain from it and why?

I'd say this is a tricky question. I'd need to define what I choose to be "two different communities or social groups" - whether I'm going with age group, social class, gender, or using geography as the defining "difference". There's bound to be overlap and exceptions in each group, and the final part on "which part has more to gain from it" is very subjective. Probably ruling this one out of my consideration.

5. Malaysians are so uncreative that they cannot even make ‘dank’ memes. Argue for or against the statement.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha... I really wonder at what the essay question writer was thinking when he/she decided to assign this as an essay question for us. I suppose I can try to talk to local people I know who are in fact, making very "dank" memes. But damn gosh I sound like an old person trying to get into young person lingo. This would be an interesting essay question to ponder into what makes a meme "dank". Why do things go "viral"? and ugh PPAP still gives me nightmares.

6. Identify a figure  who is generally known to have played a major role on the internet. Evaluate if his/her contributions are justified or mythologized.

When I think about the internet, for some reason I can't immediately attribute its current state to specific people. Perhaps I could talk about the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green are two amazing people who have worked hard in the past few years to create a community in which they attempt to reduce "world suck" (I didn't make this up I swear). Together they have created education channels, helped explain complex world issues, and even sang about the inevitability of death. These two are really awesome, but they're technically not "a figure", and I don't want to have to choose between them :(


But yeah, I know this post isn't properly Harvard Referenced, and might not count in the 5 submissions I am required to write for this blog. But that's okay.

Signing out,

A Tired Cat Mom


P.S. Bonus points if you find all the memes :)

Baer, D. (2016). The ‘Filter Bubble’ Explains Why Trump Won and You Didn’t See It Coming. [online] Science of Us. Available at: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/11/how-facebook-and-the-filter-bubble-pushed-trump-to-victory.html [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
Keating, L. (2016). Gaming On-The-Go: The Future Of Mobile Gaming vs. Consoles. [online] Tech Times. Available at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/57048/20150604/gaming-go-future-mobile-vs-consoles.htm [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].
McEleny, C. (2016). Leo Burnett faces plagiarism claims in Malaysia for Petronas ‘Rubber Boy’ film. [online] The Drum. Available at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/06/28/leo-burnett-faces-plagiarism-claims-malaysia-petronas-rubber-boy-film [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016].