Artificial Scarcity
Limited time offers with unnecessary urgency.
One psychological trick that pushy salesmen use all around the world is artificial scarcity, and they often combine this with an unnecessary demand of urgency on the buyer. This is why you often see items listed for sale saying something like "Only 4 left in stock. Order now!"
Game developers use this technique to trick you into spending more time and money on their games. This often takes the form of limited time offers. The only reason for the short time limit is to make you rush into making an uninformed decision and prevent you from comparing the value of different items.
Games may also advertise items by saying that there are only a certain number available, "Hurry, only 47 magic daggers left in our inventory!" In a game where all the items are digital, there is no reason to artificially limit the supply of an item. In fact, often these numbers aren't even real and they may sell far more than the stated limit. The only reason for emphasizing the scarcity of the item is to make you hurry up and make a purchase before you think better.
Game developers use this technique to trick you into spending more time and money on their games. This often takes the form of limited time offers. The only reason for the short time limit is to make you rush into making an uninformed decision and prevent you from comparing the value of different items.
Games may also advertise items by saying that there are only a certain number available, "Hurry, only 47 magic daggers left in our inventory!" In a game where all the items are digital, there is no reason to artificially limit the supply of an item. In fact, often these numbers aren't even real and they may sell far more than the stated limit. The only reason for emphasizing the scarcity of the item is to make you hurry up and make a purchase before you think better.
Citations and Sources • Dark Patterns in the Design of Games
• Seven Psychological Sins of SimCity Social
• Seven Psychological Sins of SimCity Social
Examples
The World of Magic"There's an event about once per year that rewards you with a 1% chance of success (without the item being broken if failed) as long as you spend 2400 usd on said event"
Pokémon Sleep"They have special offers time to time"
Angry Birds Friends"Tournaments"
GraalOnline Era+"Like I said, they put limited items that are op, at random times, so they can keep players on."
GraalOnline Zone+"Like I said, they put limited items that are op, at random times, so they can keep players on."
Zenless Zone Zero"The game has rate-up offers for characters and items that last around 20 days."
Flutter: Starlight"The shop often have cycling limited time subjects."
Albion Online"The usual, cosmetics and skins."
SOULS"Daily popups with limited time offers"
Zombie Tsunami"There are Events on certain Holidays"