An Embarrassing Email and the Art of Pay-to-Win
I stared at Shine with trembling eyes. "Do... Do we really have to use this?"
"Yes. It has to be this one. I don't want anything else."
Shine was throwing a rare tantrum. Unable to win against her in the end, I nodded. It was just an email address, after all; I could always make another one later.
Playing a game I had wanted to try for a long time was incredibly exciting. Especially since I was playing with the people I cared about. Unfortunately, that excitement didn't last very long.
"Hmm..." I let go of the mouse and leaned back in my chair. Maybe my expectations had been too high, but for some reason, it just wasn't fun. The tediousness of retracing my steps from the very beginning, the familiar yet agonizingly slow movement speed of the character—everything grated on my nerves.
"Shine, is it fun?"
"Hmm. I don't know."
Shine was busy moving her character around, diligently hunting monsters. A wild boar shrieked as it was engulfed in a massive pillar of flame. Shine had chosen a Mage. I was an Archer, and Rain was a Warrior. It was a standard party composition. We didn't have a healer, but healers weren't really necessary in the starting zones anyway.
Since the game had been out for a long time, we could easily clear dungeons just by equipping the free gear given to new players. About an hour passed like that. Eventually, Rain declared it was boring and logged off. My interest was rapidly waning as well.
"Mmh..." Shine, however, didn't stop. She kept moving, diligently completing quests, slaying monsters, and leveling up. She seemed to have genuinely taken a liking to the game.
"Hey, Jeff. What's this?"
"What's what?"
I had minimized the game window and was browsing MeTube when Shine asked. I turned my head to look at her screen.
"That character is the same class as mine, but they look different."
Shine was running in circles around a character standing in front of her. It was another player who was currently away from their keyboard in town.
"Those are called Avatars. You can get them if you spend real money..." I muttered, checking the gear info of the player Shine was looking at. Glowing wings, a magnificent robe, and a giant pointed hat on their head. Why is such a high-spec player AFK in a starting town? Shrugging off the brief question, I showed Shine how to use the Cash Shop.
"If you go in here, you can buy items. There are avatars with special stats, pets, and even mounts." As I spoke, my mouth fell open. I finally realized why the game had felt so frustratingly slow. It was because we didn't have the cash items that, while technically optional, were practically mandatory.
"How do I buy them?"
"Do you... want to buy them?"
"Yeah. I want to dress up too. I want to wear pretty clothes like that."
At Shine's words, I thought of the card in my pocket. I could easily make a payment just by scanning it on the card reader connected to the computer, but was it really okay to spend money on something like this? While I was hesitating, Shine, who had been clicking around, brought up the payment window and held out her hand to me.
"Give me the card."
"Huh? Oh, okay..."
Dazed, I handed the card over to Shine. She didn't hesitate for a single second. Selecting the maximum recharge amount, she brought up the confirmation screen and scanned the card. Immediately, a payment completion message popped up. A massive amount of cash was charged to her account.
Payment of 1,000,000 Credits has been processed successfully.
Thank you for your purchase!
"Buy this, buy that, buy this too, and buy that..."
Shine bought every single package available in the shop. However, she hesitated when it came to choosing an avatar. I soon found out why.
"Jeff. Why isn't the outfit that person was wearing in the shop?"
"That's an Epic Avatar. You can't get it through normal means."
"Why?"
"Well... because its stats are much better than normal avatars, so they don't sell it directly in the Cash Shop."
Shine frowned at my explanation. She didn't seem pleased.
"Then I can't get it?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
In games, there was nothing money couldn't solve. It was just that Epic Avatars were a bit expensive.
"Then buy it for me."
"Well, you see..."
"Do it."
In the end, I had no choice but to explain how to get the avatar. You had to fuse normal avatars together for a low chance of obtaining an Epic Avatar. Of course, even attempting the fusion required a paid cash item. Normally, pulling a full set of Epic Avatars cost around 1,000,000 Credits.
Shine immediately began fusing avatars using the method I taught her. 100,000 Credits, 200,000 Credits... her cash balance rapidly dwindled. Yet, Shine didn't hesitate. Just as her total spending crossed the 700,000 Credit mark, a sudden realization hit me. Wait, wouldn't it have been much cheaper to just buy in-game gold from other players and purchase the Epic Avatar set directly?
But Shine had already completed the Epic Avatar set. Her Mage character was now sprinting through the town at incredible speed, enveloped in a flashy, glowing aura. It was the special effect exclusive to Epic Avatars: a town movement speed boost.
"Good." Shine set out to hunt once more. Watching her, a thought crossed my mind. If Shine did it, shouldn't I be allowed to do it too? Amy did say I could use the card as much as I wanted. With trembling hands, I gripped the card, brought it to the reader, and scanned it.
The payment confirmation message popped up instantly. The first time was hard, but the second time was a breeze. Just like Shine, I bought the full packages and began fusing my own Epic Avatars. Although a voice in my head questioned what on earth I was doing, the congratulatory messages flashing across the screen made it impossible to stop.
Our levels skyrocketed. Our newly empowered characters cleared monsters at an overwhelming speed, allowing us to bypass our current level zones and move straight to much higher-level hunting grounds.
Shine had absolutely no concept of "kill-stealing." Naturally, she simply obliterated any monsters other players were already fighting with her overwhelming firepower. I watched her with growing concern. If she kept running around like a bulldozer, someone was bound to pick a fight with her. Just as I was about to stop her, my fears became reality.
"What?" Shine's Mage character was suddenly engulfed in a flurry of flashy attack effects and died in the blink of an eye. She stared blankly at the screen, frantically clicking her mouse. It was her first death. She couldn't comprehend the concept of her character dying.
"Ah, I knew it." I leaned over to look at Shine's screen. A group of max-level characters had gathered around her corpse, typing furiously. A stream of short chat messages flooded the log, but the gist of it was simple:
"Um, Shine..."
"Th-This..."
Shine began to tremble violently. I could feel the sheer intensity of her emotion. Rage—an astronomical amount of fury radiated from her. Just as her eyes began to turn pitch black, a loud SLAM! echoed through the room. Shine slammed her mouse onto the desk repeatedly and screamed.
"My... My Jeff is dead!"
Shine's character's nickname was Jeff. It seemed she found the death of a character bearing the name "Jeff" absolutely intolerable. I checked my own character's nickname: Rain. It was the name she had chosen for me. Of course, I would be upset if my character died too. This meant her reaction was completely normal.
"Shine, I'm right here." I wrapped my arms around the trembling girl, trying to calm her down. The players who had been typing in front of Shine's corpse eventually left when she didn't respond. Soon, other characters around Shine's level appeared and began hunting in the area.
Shine huffed and puffed, her chest heaving. As I gently stroked her back, she slowly began to quiet down. I offered her a small smile.
"Are you feeling a bit better?"
"Yes..."
I figured it was natural for her to be angry since it was her first time experiencing something like that. I shut down the game and stood up. A game was just a game; the moment you got too emotionally invested, it just became exhausting. I took Shine by the hand and led her out of the room.
"In the end, we didn't gather any useful information today." I headed to the living room with Shine. There, Rain was sitting in front of the massive TV, playing Iron Fist. It seemed fighting games suited her taste much better than RPGs.
I checked the clock and sank into the sofa. Since we had been gaming for quite a while, Amy would be home from work soon. As I sat there blankly watching Rain play, Shine suddenly asked me a question.
"Jeff. What do we have to do to kill that person from earlier?"
"Ah... that character?"
"Yes."
"Well, first we'd need to level up and get better gear."
Recalling the brief glimpse I caught of the opponent's character, I briefly explained how to increase one's stats. Shine listened quietly, nodding along, before throwing another question at me.
"So we just have to buy everything?"
"Uh... I mean, we could buy it all, but then we'd miss out on the fun of gradually upgrading our gear."
"It's fine. My Jeff has to be the strongest."
Shine declared, wrapping her arms tightly around me. Unable to push her away, I fell backward. Since we were on the plush sofa, it didn't hurt, but it was a bit suffocating. Straddling me, Shine's eyes gleamed with determination as she made her vow.
"I'm going to destroy them all."
"R-Right..."
Not long after, Amy returned home. With a tired expression, she rotated her shoulders to ease the tension and tossed her coat aside.
"Amy!" I immediately ran toward her. The moment she saw me, the exhaustion vanished from her face, replaced by a radiant smile as she pulled me into her arms.
"Welcome home!" Letting out a soft giggle, Amy scooped me up and began spinning me around. "Jeff~ I missed you so much~"
"I missed you too!"
I had missed her terribly as well. After spinning a few more times, Amy set me down, then scooped up Shine from the sofa and spun her around in exactly the same way.
After Shine, it was Rain's turn. Rain looked up at Amy with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. Looking down at her, Amy reached out and lifted Rain into the air as well. Held aloft, Rain locked eyes with Amy, who finally spoke.
"You watched over the kids well today, right?"
"Y-Yeah! Of course. Nothing happened today."
"Really? I can trust you, right?"
For some reason, Amy's words felt like they were directed at Shine and me. I nervously fidgeted with the card inside my pocket.
"Of course! Both of them behaved perfectly today."
Amy stared at Rain for a long moment in response. Just as an awkward, strained smile began to creep onto Rain's face, Amy finally spun her around. A blissful, happy grin spread across Rain's face.