Capitalizing on affect: Social networks and micro-transactions in mobile video games applications .

Micro-transactions (MTX) are becoming an increasingly important business model for mobile games developers. Rather than charging a given price to download/play the app, developers are more and more relying on a “free-to-play” model. This free-to-play model can rely on both “in-game” micro-transactions, and advertising from third-party groups. Micro-transactions will take the form of the purchase for real money (as opposed to in-game currency acquired by playing the game) of elements required to play the game, such as chips for a poker game, players for a football team, or building materials for an amusement park. On the other hand, advertising can take the form of banners of commercial messages in-game, or offers from partners (such as: “obtain x amount of chips if you subscribe to netflix”).The viability of this business model is dependent upon some kind of multiplayer features. The user does not simply play the game by him/herself, but will play within a community of players. If competitive multiplayer features are not implemented, the user can always compare him/herself to other players, or visit their virtual city. And in order to overcome the anonymity of “traditional” multiplayer gaming, all these app are synchronized in some way to social networks. For example, the apps will synch. with the user’s Facebook account, and allow him/her to play against friends, or compare their record to theirs. The case of MTX in mobile gaming illustrates how mobile game developers are building upon the gratuitous act of play, and turn it into a competitive form of “gaming”. It is this shift in affective patterns that allows them to capitalize on the user’s desire to perform, and thereby ensure the success of this new business model. This presentation will build upon the theoretical insights of the works of Deleuze and Guattari on affect, and the capitalist recoding of desire. The case of mobile gaming perfectly illustrates what Deleuze and Guattari referred to as the deteritorialization and recoding of desire in capitalist societies. Mobile devices allow the user to be continuously connected to both social networks and the game. By introduction a comparative or competitive dimension to this connectivity, mobile games developers can create a space in which the user will be drawn to continuously invest time and money into these apps. Our study will focus on a set of three applications that illustrate these points: “World Series of Poker”, “Theme Park” and “Fifa Superstars” (EA mobile). These three apps all display in a different manner the way in which play has been recoded, and how the desire to play had been shifted into a desire for gaming.