SPENDING MONEY ON VIRTUAL GOODS

Authenticity Statement:
I declare that this work is my own original research and writing and that all original sources used
are credited.
Signature_____________________________________
Date_________________________________________

Ramazan Abzhamel
Zhansaya Tatyyeva, Dugald Cresswell
Global Perspectives & Project Work
Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Math & Physics
Almaty City, Kazakhstan
2015

Introduction
Gamers usually spend millions of real money on virtual goods. Nowadays, more than five hundred
million gamers around the world play computer and video-games more often than 1 hour a day.
Only in the US the amount of such gamers equals to one hundred and eighty three million!
(McGonigal, 2013) Instantly, playing video-games is one of the most popular hobbies in the world.
Gamers play not only such games as Counter-Strike, Dota etc., smartphone applications are very
popular as well as PC games. Interesting thing about that not only teenagers play games, even
adults like this activity, and, according to statistics (Takahashi, 2011), mostly girls play videogames. Everybody who has smartphone, has a couple entertainment applications on it. The big
trouble about this - Almost 32% of gamers usually spend money on in-app purchases. (Takahashi,
2011)
There are two perspectives about this issue. The first perspective is that game manufacturers have to
earn some money, and doing games totally free would be unfair.
Second perspective is that gamers become more addictive and spend their money in the air.

Spending money on video-games is very important issue, because while a couple of countries earn
money from it, others get poorer. My thesis is gamers take the money out of country, which hurts
countrys economic situation, and they come to be more addicted to video-games.

Aims and Methods

The aim of my research paper is to find out and understand why do teenagers spend money on
video-games, and how does it impact on them. I describe reasons and consequences of spending
money on virtual goods, and treatment of teenagers on it, treatment of their parents.
During this research paper, I am going to use both primary and secondary research methods. I
decided to make surveys, which are related to primary research method. As a secondary research

method, I chose to use some reliable sources of information to gather some data, such as statistics
and articles, which are necessary for good research.

Context
The context of this research paper is the issue of spending money on virtual goods. This research
will look at teenagers between 13 and 18 years. According to The Forbes, about $1.26 billion were
spent on virtual goods in 2012 only in United States. Gamers usually take a lot of money out of
country. I think it makes gamers much more addictive, because they start to win. The time period
studied will be from 2010 to the present. I learn this time period because in-app purchases became
popular in that time. The geographic focus will be Almaty, Kazakhstan. I surveyed students of
Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Almaty. I am going to analyze results of this survey to know
more about money that NIS students spend on video-games, about their treatment to it, and
treatment of their parents. To make my research more full and accurate, I am going to learn another
researches on that topic. I chose teenagers aged 13-18 because most of them usually play videogames. Video-games were popular themselves even in 1995. Now, when purchases in video-games
are available, its becoming bigger and bigger problem. There is a lot of cases when parents even
did not know that their child was spending money on games. Teenagers often use their parents
credit cards to buy a weapon or immortality in their favorite games. But game-creating companies
want to earn money, too. Sometimes, it is really useful to pay for video-games. I am going to show
both good and bad perspectives in this research.
Perspectives
The first perspective is that spending money on video-games is harmful for family budget and make
gamers more addictive. Mostly games force gamers to buy something to continue the game. This is
one of reasons why a lot of children use their parents money for this without their permission. For
example, Apple Inc. was forced to pay $32.5 million to parents, whose children spend money on
iPad without their permission. Unbelievable, but one woman says that her daughter spent $2600 in

Tap Pet Hotel game (http://www.newizv.ru/). Frequently, you can try beta-version of any game,
but you have to buy the full version to play. This is the trap for computer or smartphone users. After
paying money for game, buying stuff in games, gamers become more and more addictive
(http://www.cracked.com/). It seems like many new opportunities appear in front of gamer, but
when gamers pay for games, they dive deeper, and spend money on games again and again. It is
kind of game of chance, and when gamers do not win, they buy new weapon, win and play more.
They lose again, pay money again, it is vicious circle. Also it is harmful for countrys economic
situation, because gamers take money out of country, and other countrys company earn that money,
pay taxes to that countrys budget (http://www.pfhub.com/). In conclusion, we can say that
game manufacturers often make gamers more addictive and make them buy their products.
Nevertheless, counter-argument of this statement is that if video-games were totally free, gamers
would play much more and was more addictive.
However, theres a second perspectives, which states that spending money on virtual goods is
wrong and useless than other hobbies. It will not be fair and respectful in relation to the
manufacturers, if all apps and games were free. They work hard, create games, and they worth that
money. Next, there are plenty useful and beneficial games which are not free. As an example, we
can use brain trainers, such as Lumosity, BrainMetrix etc. Such games help people to improve their
minds, ability to think, creativity and other great qualities (http://bigthink.com/).
Also, everybody is allowed to do his own choice. Yes, video-games are drugs, but it is not such
serious as cocaine or alcohol. A little sense of purpose and willpower is enough to do away with
playing games and spending money of them. Or simply combine business with pleasure. After all,
with the help of vodka anybody can very quickly become an alcoholic and fall to the bottom of the
social ladder, losing everything. Or you can meet periodically with friends, drink, go to restaurants
and go to barbecues. And do not become an alcoholic. Its the same about video-games.
Many people like to play bowling or go to the cinema. Many people like to run and play paintball,
someone goes to the exhibitions, and some people go smoking in hookah bars. It does not matter. In

all these cases (and hundreds of others that we have not identified here) people enjoy and get paid
for it. The real, hard earned money. Lets draw a parallel playing different kinds of video-games,
using computer or smartphone, is also entertainment, its fun, too, as well as all of the above. And if,
for example, in one case, you throw the ball (bowling) and pay money for it. In the other case, you
pay money for game resources, ammunition, weapon, special magic or characters with which you
also get the pleasure of comfortable game process, of winning.
In my humble opinion, to pay or not pay - it's up to every single person. Simply, we must always
remember that the gameplay in the video-game is exactly the same as any other hobby or leisure. I
am not really sure that painted armor for real money is nonsense and a waste of money. This is the
same waste of money as going to the movies, bowling, in a tavern, and other entertainments. As a
conclusion, I state that playing games is the same hobby as smoking hookah or using alcohol, and
people usually pay for rest and pleasure.

Results
57 students of NIS Almaty took part in a survey related to this topic. Students from different grades,
mostly 11th, completed that survey. 12% of them usually play video-games more than 6 hours a day,
28% play video-games 3-6 hours or few hours per month. 60% of surveyed told that they play less
than few hours a month or do not play at all. Most of them who play, about 48%, started playing
only less than 1 year ago. Next, approximately 28% play more than 4 years, and only almost 30%
play for 1-4 years. I learnt that 75% of surveyed never spent money on video-games. Practically 76
per cent of students who answered survey spent less than $150 on video-games. Only nearly 4%
spent more than $150 to buy something in video-games. Telling about disadvantages of spending
money on video-games, 75% of students think that spending money on video games is a
meaningless waste of money, 43% suggested that spending money on games makes gamers more
addictive, and other 14% gave other reasons not to spend money on video games. Learning answers

of students to my survey, I noticed a tendency that most students think that its not right to spend
money on virtual goods.
Conclusion
Thesis statement of my research is that gamers take the money out of country and they come to be
more addicted to video-games. The first perspective that was discussed in this research is that game
manufacturers usually admire players to buy something in video game, if no, they wont be allowed
to play further. When gamers buy something in video-games or smartphone applications, they
become more addictive, and they take the money out of country, which hurts countrys economy.
For instance, 67% of NIS students think that spending money on online games is bad. The second
perspective, which was discussed in this research previously, is that spending money on virtual
goods is not such bad as I wrote before. The result of my survey showed that the number of people,
who support spending money on virtual goods is the least part. The main reasons are that we have
to do justice to manufacturers of video-games and that playing video-games is hobby, and everyone
has his full rights to do what he wants. I only recommend students of NIS Almaty not to spend very
much money on video-games and not to be very addictive to them. The survey already showed that
most students do not spend money on games, but there is a couple per cent who spends enormous
amounts on games. I think, it is a consequence of an addiction. We can do posters, promo-videos
which will call our students not to be addicted to video-games.
References
McGonigal, J. (n.d.). We spend 3 billion hours a week as a planet playing videogames. Is it worth it? How could it
be MORE worth it? | A conversation on TED.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from
http://www.ted.com/conversations/44/we_spend_3_billion_hours_a_wee.html

-. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://quest.by/mmorg/articles/138-money.html

More than 1.2 billion people are playing games. (2013, November 25). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/more-than-1-2-billion-people-are-playing-games/

.

. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from
http://www.newizv.ru/society/2014-01-17/195524-nedetskie-traty.html

Takahashi, D. (2011, August 3). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/03/more-gamersare-spending-real-money-on-virtual-goods-and-women-are-spending-more-than-men/

Pettersen, A. (n.d.). Video Games: Are They Worth Your Time and Money? Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
http://moneyning.com/money-stories/video-games-are-they-worth-your-time-and-money/

5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html

How Video Game Companies Make Money. (2013, November 13). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
http://www.pfhub.com/how-video-game-companies-make-money/

The Long-Lasting Benefits of Brain Training Games | Big Think. (2013, May 5). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/benefits-of-brain-training-games-may-be-long-lasting

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Appendix F