Social pressure (gifting, guilds, asking friends)
The game uses your friends, family or team to keep you playing and paying.
Caution · Built to push spending
Friends become a sales channel and a source of obligation, so quitting means letting others down.
What it does to the fun
Quitting stops being a private choice. Friends are waiting on a gift, a team needs you for tonight's run, or your progress depends on favours you have to keep returning. It feels like a weekend sports side that has to forfeit if you don't turn up, even when you'd rather stay home. Playing with friends is one of the best parts of games; the trouble starts when the game turns that loyalty into a chore.
What you're actually buying
Not a purchase, but a reason to keep going. Progress may depend on friends visiting, gifts you're expected to send, or a guild that expects you to turn up. The cost is your time and your friends' goodwill.
How it works
Facebook opened its Platform to outside developers on 24 May 2007, letting apps post into your news feed, so every friend became a free ad channel and every gift request became a chore from a friend. FarmVille turned friends into marketing, and waiting into something with a price. In persistent worlds, guild politics and the gear and people you would leave behind made quitting costly. In play-to-earn games, guild managers lent characters and took up to 75% of earnings.
When it's fine
When playing with friends is optional and nothing is lost if you don't help or don't turn up.
Where it came from
In 1980s online games, guilds and persistence became part of the grind. On Facebook (2007), apps could post to the News Feed; FarmVille launched on 19 June 2009 and peaked at 83.76 million monthly players in March 2010, and Facebook banned the spam in 2010. In subscription online worlds (MMOs), guild politics and gear you'd hate to abandon made quitting costly: quit, and you left your gear, your guild and your people behind. Dance Dance Revolution turned bystanders in arcades into the next paying player. In Axie Infinity, guild managers took commissions of up to 75% of earnings.
Historical prices and revenues are in US dollars at the time unless marked A$.
By the numbers
Facebook opened its Platform to outside developers on 24 May 2007, letting third-party apps post to the News Feed and notifications bar.
Facebook banned apps from posting to friends' news feeds and notification bars in 2010 after a spam backlash.
Axie Infinity players who couldn't afford the entry cost borrowed Axies from guild managers, handing back commissions of up to 75% of their earnings.
Games that use it
Find games without social pressure (gifting, guilds, asking friends)
Related badges
Covered in Video Games & Money: Ep 22 · Social, Ep 16 · Sub mmo, Ep 35 · P2e, Ep 8 · Arcade versus.