There’s no doubt that the App Store is trending towards free to play, and has been for years now. Just a quick glance at the top grossing will show the first game with a price tag associated with it is Minecraft ($6.99) at #50. As the free to play world gets more and more crowded, developers have been forced to find new ways to squeeze money out of their user base, and this morning we stumbled across what is easily the most ridiculous free to play scheme we’ve seen yet: Turning your players into a bitcoin mining botnet.
If you’re not familiar with bitcoin, I don’t really blame you. It’s been a bit of an underground internet currency that’s big use up until recently has been to buy drugs online and for currency speculators to go hog wild with. As a total unregulated cryptocurrency its value has been incredibly volatile and between startups raising money to make bitcoin mainstream and a guy who forgot he bought bitcoins and now discovered he’s rich, bitcoin is at the forefront of the news cycle once again.
Unity plugin developer Icoplay has decided to capitalize on the relative hotness of bitcoin right now by releasing the Icominer plugin. Per an editorial piece over on PocketGamer.biz by Icoplay’s Simon Hill, the Icominer plugin is easily dropped into any Unity project. Here’s the dream they’re selling:
A developer installs the software, and every instance of its game running at any time, anywhere mines Bitcoins using the latent power of the device it’s being used on.
The developer then takes its Bitcoins to spend or invest.
Much like the way distributed computing projects like SETI@home or Folding@home work by using the idle processor cycles of your computer to contribute to crunching numbers in a massive swarm, the Icominer mines bitcoins to funnel into the developer’s wallet. The main difference here, however, is you’re actively opting in to downloading and installing SETI@home or Folding@home, versus having your battery drained to mine bitcoins for someone else on your iPhone.
It’s a scenario that borders on so ridiculous it’s hard to believe, but, competition in the free to play world is really driving developers to crazy lengths to figure out how to maximize their ARPU. Treating players like a botnet you can abuse also seems to be setting a dangerous precedent, and one that I hope doesn’t catch on.
[via PocketGamer.biz]
Duh
I almost never play with sound on. I find most games have annoying sound effects.
With ya on this. Every so often i will turn the sound on to see what its like but then turn in off within 5mins
And it's rude too so mute that ish!
I rarely play with sound. I try it on some games but it gets annoying fast.
98% of people play their games while holding their device in their hands. The other 2%? Well, they are just very talented.
Cleverdicks!
Agreed, if I'm around others I keep it muted, not off just low. On my own I hook it up to a speaker or headphones. The only issue I have with headphones is the jack gets in the way.
Get the small Sonys they've got a 90 degree turn which helps. They're only £8 and have really good sound quality.
You can usually manipulate numbers into saying what you want. A company that makes sound needs positive numbers, hence positive numbers. No one I know plays with sound on. Most often mobile gaming is done in the presence of others, and yes it would be rude. I would be curious on how many ppl they polled for this number, age brackets, ect. I imagine it was something like, hey we polled ppl who downloaded this rhythm tapping game, and 7 out 10 used sound!
I never have sound on.. Most of the time its just annoying anyway..
Yep, not a fan of the headset jack fiddling with my hand while I play. Also, if I'm somewhere public, sound off. On my own, I'd have to force myself to play with sound on [most of the time].
bluetooth headphones!
Same here. Friggin awesome :)
Agreed. Once you find a good set, you'll never go back.
I only play with sound off, if I have 10% or below battery life.
Playing a game without sound is like eating a hamburger without a bun...or something.
It just isn't right.
As a headphone aficionado, the real surprise here to me was how few play with headphones,
A good pair of headphones is the absolute best thing a mobile gamer can buy, other than an iPad Air.
Totally. Why one would neglect such a massive part of the gaming experience is beyond me. Not only are you missing the music, but various auditory cues as well.
Agreed 100%
I always play with the sound on, if I'm out then I usual have headphone in.
Does it know the difference between the sound being all the way down and the mute button being switched? Or the game sound turned off within a game's own settings? I play with the sound on in games where the sound actually adds to the experience. If the music or sound effects are too repetitive, I may start with the sound on and then turn it off once I 'get the idea'. If a game has spoken dialogue though, I usually leave the sound enabled and use headphones if in a public situation.
Headphones all the time. Unless I'm reading.
Game sound is that important
So, 90% of gamers who play with sound on in public with no headphones are rude. Is that weird? Of course not, it's just true: you're not weird for caring about common courtesy. I mean, look at the demographic: young kids, mostly male. Rudeness surprises you? I hate people playing music through speakers on their phone/portable, and hate gamers' doing it even worse since most games' sound effects are so repetitive.
I play with sound on, but low, while completely disabling music, which always gets repetitive and annoying.
I too always play with sound, a game is meant to have sound it's like watching a movie on mute if you don't have it on. Plus sound plays a key role in a lot of games I find it helps you to judge certain aspects like jumping or avoiding something etc..
Hard to believe these stats coming from...oh I don't know...an audio company? Hard to look past confirmation-bias on this one.
Hmm now I wonder if they actually mean, of people that have sound turned on 73% listen at 10% or higher? That's a radically different proposition than 73% of all gamers.
I collected the data, so maybe I can comment: We're collecting the data from all users and from what we've seen 73% of all users have the volume at 10% or higher. The number of people with volume >0 would obviously be higher, but we though 10% would be a more fair estimate of users who can hear audio while playing.
Assholes.
Bastion is probably the only game I ever play with sound.
Oh and if I ever decide to finish Sword & Sorcery I'll use headphones.
TWEWY is also an excellent experience with headphones on :)
At home in my armchair with my iPad - always on.
Out and about with my iPhone - usually off.
Vibration though - always off - and if a game doesn't let me turn off vibration then I'll uninstall it.
We were surprised of the high number of people having the volume so high (I used to play with volume off as well), but this stat was one of the first things we collected before we decided to start building our platform.
I mute mine most of the time unless I'm at home.
Headphones all the time while I'm out of the house. Well, earbuds. You can get a decent pair of Sennheiser that sound amazing compared to the apple earbuds for about £35.
I always play with game sounds on. Sometimes on the bus to work I play a game with sound effects in but music off and a podcast in the background.
Always play with sound on,at max,or headphones,a GAME withou music it's not a game!
Out and about, muted. At home it's usually on, the volume depends on if hubby is watching tv, if I really want it loud then headphones come out.
Use headphones.
It all depends on the game and the situation. But I always play with the sound on when I try a game for the first time, to get the full effect.
I rarely play with the sound on. You aren't alone in feeling it'd be rude. Not to say that I've encountered many people playing with sound in public.
The statistics don't say where they play there games.
So if the play at home then there is no real reason to mute a game.
En that might just be the case.
I always have earphones in... That way I won't bother anyone and I won't be bothered either...
F the world while I'm playing games!! >:)
I always play with earphones on outside! I guess if you're playing crappy games you don't need sound but if you're playing quality games like Anomaly2 or GoF2 you definitely need sound!
I usually don't play games in public areas. So my sound is almost always on. I feel that playing games in public is "rude" for the most part. I guess it depends on what situation you're in.
I think that I'm in the 3% who play with headphones on... Even if there is a bad playlist on the game, I've had an idea: playing music from my music collection, so that makes double fun: playing games and hearing my music.
When I got used to it, I've find out that I just can't play games without hearing, because it's like watching a movie without hearing it, you can understand it using just the subtitles.
It's just isn't the same thing, try it.
I don't get why most people just don't use headphones when playing. I typically use an iPad when it comes to iOS gaming, and the headphones hardly interfere.
That being said, I do live in Japan where it is HIGHLY common to see a train car full of people quietly tapping away at their iPhones and iPads with headphones plugged in.
Sound, yes. Music, no.
Sound effects add a sense of feedback to events happening, but the music is just always annoying and pointless.
I always play with the sound and the music also if its good and not repetitive!
That's always a bummer to hear that people don't have the sound on. It's part of the experience. Take "Kingdom Rush". The sound adds so much. Same with "Sword and Sworcery".