Hats off to you: Team Fortress 2 Mann-conomy Analysis

For the 5 remaining pc (or Mac) gamers who have not heard of Team Fortress 2, Valve recently released their latest update to the never ending game. The Mann-conomy update added something never before seen in TF2, using real money to buy items.

The Mann-co shop allows gamers to spend Valve points (aka real money) to buy a variety of items, from cosmetic items to class specific goodies. One important detail is the "polycount" sets, basically class specific collection of items that if they are all worn will give the player a specific buff. One required item in each set is a hat to complete it, as it stands right now you have two options (with crafting as third on the way supposedly) you can either play the game and hope that it drops or spend $17.50 per hat.

To put it simply a lot of the fan base of TF2 were not exactly thrilled at this prospect. The whining on the TF 2 forums reached epic levels as whiners were whining about the whiners who whine about having to spend money (that was more annoying to type then I first thought). For today's entry I'm going to talk about why I don't have a problem with this.

Awhile ago I talked about my feelings on micro transactions in games and the balance that goes into it and without pimping my blog too much I would suggest you read it just so you have a basis of my thought pattern for this topic here. Also I'm going to link to my entry on progression as I will be talking about that concept too.

Back when Team Fortress 2 first came out in the year 1584 the only progression in the game was skill based. Doesn't matter if there are 15 soldiers on your team, each one will hit the same and take the same amount of damage. That changed with the inclusion of the medic achievements and the first introduction of items. At the start you could unlock different items for the medic by completing enough achievements; each item was a variation of existing medic equipment.

From there on each class would receive a similar update including both achievements and weapon unlocks. As more and more items were added to the TF2 universe a backpack was added to allow players to store all those items. Eventually Valve changed things and including a second way of unlocking items, as you play you'll have a chance of finding items allowing you to score items from achievement unlocks earlier.

During this time Valve also released cosmetic items in the form of hats which could be used to further customize your characters. The final big update to the item system before the mann-conomy update came in the form of crafting. What you could do was take all those extra items you had and combine them to create new items. Along with the inclusion of more hats expanded the TF 2 universe further.

Before I talk about the mann-conomy update I want to stop here and summarize TF2's progression pre store update. With the inclusion of the items TF2's progression changed, it was no longer just skill based and now time was part of the equation. Being an expert player would not give you all the items, you would need to play the game to get the needed materials, lucky drops, or get the achievements completed to get everything. Skill however still plays a huge role, just having the items unlocked don't mean much if you can't hit anything.

The main criticism I keep reading about the mann-conomy update is that it transforms TF2 into a micro transaction game and this is where I don't agree. First is the fact that everything is un-lockable in game without spending money, right there in my opinion it renders that argument moot. Every game I've played with micro transactions you could not acquire the additional items without spending money. So the chance of the item dropping is incredibly low, it's still the same way it was one day before the update was release, the only difference now is that there is another option.

I think the issue people have with the high price of the items is that they feel that it ruins the game-play of TF 2. Going back to my point on progression I feel that they think that money is now the main form of progression in the game and I have to disagree. Skill is still the main factor however instead of money replacing anything it now shares the same slot as time. Meaning that either I can spend the time to get the item I want, or I spend the money. I agree with Valve about the rationale for the high price hats, they want the player to work for the item to make it meaningful. Whether the player will spend time to get the materials to craft it or find it or to spend money is up to them.

Another complaint I hear is that people feel that the set items will destroy the balance of the game and will allow any newcomer to beat a pro and this I completely and utterly disagree with. TF 2 is still a skill based game, I can honestly tell you that if I bought the polycount set for the spy it will not transform me into the world's best spy player, I will still horrifically suck as the spy and until I get better at it the items won't do anything for me. Now the next statement I'm going to talk about I know I'm just opening myself up to attack but I have to say it.

On the subject that if two players of equal skill play each other, one with the complete set and the other doesn't should it be fair that the former player has the advantage? In my opinion yes, it is completely fair. The reasoning for me comes down to progression, let's say on a scale of one to ten, one being horrible at the game and ten being godly both players are at 7 with skill progression. Player A doesn't buy any items and just crafts them so we can rate his progression at TF 2 for time at a 3. Player B bought the entire set and his progression with money is at 5, put it together and player A rates at 10 and player B rates at 12 which is why B has the advantage.

Now I know that last paragraph sounds really depressing for us cheap players, but you have to realize that while time and money are factors in TF 2, skill is still the determining factor in success. So what if soldier has a resistance to sentry damage, he'll still fall in one head-shot from my sniper rifle. I don't care if that sniper can't be head shot, a fully charge body shot works the same way. The success of the items and the store in my opinion is that it adds both personalization and customization to TF 2, two very important tools of re-playability.

The only complaint I have about the store is on the introduction of crates and keys. Crates are drops found while playing but the only way to open them is by spending money to get a key from the store. This is where I have to disagree with Valve, don't introduce something free that can only be used by spending money. Give me some other means to open these crates and will be peachy in my book.

I am very curious to see how this pans out with an in game store. I wonder if this will open up the idea for more community members to start pitching item ideas and once again TF 2 is poised to once again grow further as a game.

Josh * who has yet to have a single hat drop for him.