Has Sony Come Up With A Way To Combat Micro-transactions?

Trading trophies for games and content

Hey gamers! Chipz here with some more news, this time it’s about Sony’s move to help us out with getting content! Some of you have already seen or heard by now how Sony plans on giving you points that are redeemable on your Playstation systems. These points only go into effect after you’ve signed up for their rewards program, which isn’t entirely all that bad. You earn points through using their rewards credit card to purchase different things, such as games, movies, movie theater tickets, etc. Check out Sony’s FAQ and read up on the different ways to earn points.

There’s another way to earn points and get content. All you have to do is play video games. Yup…you read that right. Simply playing video games and getting trophies.  These points are rewarded to you based on the amount of trophies you have accumulated. Now you’re probably thinking “this is too good to be true”, and you’ve sort of hit the nail on the head. Just like with anything good, there’s always a catch!

Here’s the breakdown of how much certain trophies are worth:

100 Silver Trophies = 100 Sony Rewards points

25 Gold Trophies = 250 points Sony Rewards points

10 Platinum Trophies = 1,000 Sony Rewards points

Some gamers are trophy hunters just for the fun of it. When you hear that little trophy pop up at the corner of your screen after doing something difficult in the game, you get this sense of accomplishment. It feels great knowing you’ve done something difficult that most people would give up on. You get bragging rights because of how many trophies you have to your name and it makes you develop a sense of pride. There are both good and bad aspects with this point system, and here they are:

THE GOOD:

• You can avoid those dreadful micro-transactions
• You can earn your content
• Enables you to join the Sony Rewards Program*
• Deeper sense of satisfaction for getting trophies
• New credit card

Those are all I can think of for the good points. Onto what we hate the most…

THE BAD:

• Getting trophies will feel like work instead of being fun
• Point system isn’t that rewarding
• More of an incentive given if you join the Sony Rewards Program*
• Points expire after a year
• New credit card(yea this is on both lists)

*Here’s the catch 22 with being a Sony Rewards member: On one hand you can get more points by being a member, which means more purchasing power for the gamer.  On the other hand, your points expire after 1 year.  Does it suck? Sure it does, it almost makes you feel like you HAVE to go out and earn these trophies just to be able to not spend real money on DLC or whatever it is you choose to buy. That’s where it starts to feel like work.

Not for me though, if I have enough points to redeem for some content or even a new game then that’s great for me! If not, then it’s no big deal. I’m in this for the fun of the games, not to try and get around actually paying for content just because I now have the option to do so. Micro-transactions really do suck, but the good thing about it is this: I can choose to buy it if I really want to(it’s not often for me).

Before I end this, let me just mention the credit card bit. If you sign up for this program to maximize the benefit of getting points, then you’ll be signing up for a new credit card. As consumers we need to be mindful of these things and watch how we spend our money and utilize our credit. If you start splurging on games and you can’t pay that money back you’ll hurt yourself.

MAJOR KEY: What I usually do when using my credit card is paying more than the minimum if my balance is high. If my balance is low, then I try to pay it off in one shot and not use the card for a few months. Again, this is just something that I do, but if you want some pro advice then click here.  All you have to do is be attentive to how you spend your money. It’s not rocket science guys!