Premium Currency

Exchange rate between real money and in-game currency disguises the real price of items.

One of the most common Monetary Dark Patterns is the use of premium currency. This is when real money is exchanged for in-game currency. It could be gems, tokens, crystals, coins or anything else specific to the game. This in-game currency is then used to purchase items, upgrade weapons or otherwise play the game. Usually, no limits are placed on the amount of premium currency that can be purchased, which can lead to some addicted players spending huge sums of money on the game. In the industry, these types of players are called "Whales" because of their big spending. Historically, less than 2% of a game's players will spend money on a free to play game with premium currency.

There are several reasons why this is a Dark Pattern:

First, the exchange rate between real money and the premium currency often disguises the real price of items that you purchase in the game. This is compounded by the fact that purchasing larger bundles of premium currency often gives you a better exchange rate. Because the true price of the in-game item is disguised by the variable exchange rate, player's aren't as aware of how much they are spending, and end up spending more.

Second, because of another dark pattern called Waste Aversion, people are reluctant to leave a small amount of unspent premium currency. Game developers know this and they often price items in such a way that you will always have some unspent currency. For example, you may only be able to purchase gems in bundles of 1000, but items cost 80 gems inside the game. This means you'll have 40 gems left over and may feel like you need to purchase more gems to try to even it up and get down to zero.

Third, some countries have laws against gambling, which would make it illegal for the game to sell Loot Boxes for real money. Because premium currency isn't real money, game developers can claim that loot boxes aren't gambling and they can get around the laws. Loot boxes are a powerful money-making technique for game, so using an intermediary currency to get around the law allows games to continue to including gambling in their games when they would otherwise be prohibited.


Examples

Chuzzle 2 Chuzzle 2
"you can buy in game coins, but the game doesnt push it and the coins are easy to obtain through normal gameplay"

Hideaways -Spot the difference Hideaways -Spot the difference
"You can buy hints in the app"

Shadow Fight 3 Shadow Fight 3
"you can buy gems and offers"

SimCity BuildIt SimCity BuildIt
"For simcash only"

Kawaii Home Design Kawaii Home Design
"You can pay for Premium, and as a reward you get free currencies everyday and you access a lot of material that's usually only accessible during special events."

Food Street - Restaurant Management & Food Game Food Street - Restaurant Management & Food Game
"Money for gems and coins"

Zombie Frontier 3: Sniper FPS Zombie Frontier 3: Sniper FPS
"Coins and gems"

Sonic Dash Sonic Dash
"You can spend money to buy rings, red star rings, or gems."

BunnyBuns BunnyBuns
"You do earn coins in game but the amount you earn is so small compared to what you need to spend to progress that you either have to save up for a very long time, watch ads or complete ad offers to get more coins, or buy coins in the shop with real money. You can also spend coins on a lot of aesthetic changes but you would have to buy coins because the cost is so high that it would take forever to save up."

Baseball Superstars 2020 Baseball Superstars 2020
"you can pay to get gold and diamonds to buy items or summon more trainers."