Pay to Skip
Spend money to avoid waiting for a timer to expire.
There are a number of ways that this dark pattern can be used, but they all rely on spending money to skip over something in the game that you don't want to do.
1) You may have a limited amount of "energy" or "turns" that you can use before you are no longer allowed to play the game. You then have to wait for that energy to recharge, or you can pay to instantly recharge it.
2) You may start an activity in a game (building, researching, hunting, etc) and the game starts a timer that indicates how long it will take for this activity to finish before you can collect the rewards. You have to wait, or you can pay money to skip the timer and collect the rewards right now.
3) The game show you advertisements, but will allow you to spend money to skip the ads. This is how you can trade money for your attention.
In these examples, a game designer intentionally puts an undesirable blockage into the game that prevents it from being played unless you wait or pay money. This causes the player some discomfort which can be overcome by paying money. If the player chooses to wait instead, this turns into a different dark pattern called Wait to Play.
1) You may have a limited amount of "energy" or "turns" that you can use before you are no longer allowed to play the game. You then have to wait for that energy to recharge, or you can pay to instantly recharge it.
2) You may start an activity in a game (building, researching, hunting, etc) and the game starts a timer that indicates how long it will take for this activity to finish before you can collect the rewards. You have to wait, or you can pay money to skip the timer and collect the rewards right now.
3) The game show you advertisements, but will allow you to spend money to skip the ads. This is how you can trade money for your attention.
In these examples, a game designer intentionally puts an undesirable blockage into the game that prevents it from being played unless you wait or pay money. This causes the player some discomfort which can be overcome by paying money. If the player chooses to wait instead, this turns into a different dark pattern called Wait to Play.
Citations and Sources • Dark Patterns in the Design of Games
• You Shall Not Pass! The 4 Types of Paywall in Mobile Games
• You Shall Not Pass! The 4 Types of Paywall in Mobile Games
Examples
Talking Tom Gold Run"Buying bombs to open boxes"
AdVenture Ages"You can pay to let your resources accumulate instantly."
Ping Pong Fury"In the game, you'll find Loot Boxes referred to as 'Pods' with different rarities. Where you'll have to waut for them to open anywhere from 10 Minutes all the was to 3 Hours."
Magic: The Gathering Arena"They allow you to exchange gems for XP on the season pass. Some events can only be paid by gems and are basically paywalled. The most consistent way to gain gems is by spending gold in Drafts, which at best takes multiple drafts and at worst depletes you of your gems. Some of their value packages, however, are direct purchases. Getting gems and actual packs from their Starter or Explorer deals respectively. They also sell wildcards, their much more limiting version of dust, for money directly."
MONOPOLY GO!"Skipping to Until Your Dice are Replenished"
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links"I hate gem packs"
Weed Inc: Idle Tycoon"The game forces you to idle if you are unwilling to pay"
Ronin: The Last Samurai""Onigiri" is the currency of the game that allows you to enter and play levels. These can be purchased in-game with real money."
Doctor Who: Lost In Time"you can spend premium currency to fast forward time on "waypoints""
Train Conductor World"In-app purchases to skip tasks."