In many Web2 games, there are microtransactions that allow developers to earn money (if the game is free) or significantly increase profits (if the player has already made the primary purchase - purchased the game). Usually, players don’t prefer extra payable in-game boosts. That's how it was meant to be initially! There are purchases in the game for real money, which significantly strengthen the characters (pay-to-win) or give temporary bonuses that allow you to pump faster or with a greater chance to get the necessary item.
However, there is also a kind of micropayment that deserves a player’s loyalty - cosmetics. Thanks to the so-called cosmetics, the developers get money, and the players get a change in various animation customization, which does not affect the strength of the character.
Now let's take our beloved Dota 2. There is a vast variety of the heroes' and couriers' cosmetics, called sets. The variety of them is simply amazing, so I want to put Valve designers a separate monument and quite deserved it. Consider the most interesting for Cyber-sport.io taste.
One of the most volcanic personages, which relies on strength and close combat. Red, brutal melee warrior, creating a chaos dance and sowing the opponent's fears and hearts. As befits the personification of a brutal character, Axe has no less brutal sets that emphasize this. The most ferocious skin, I think is “Harbinger of War”. The perfect combination of the demonic nature of the hero and the notes of one of my favorite universes Warhammer 40k make this skin a wonderful personification of chaos or the world’s Apocalypse that Axe is.
A great and terrible ranged fighter who relies, unlike Axe, not on brute force but on intelligence and long-range combat. It has as many as ten abilities in its arsenal and relatively high requirements for the game. Dozens of players can't handle him since they haven't grown enough in skill, but his skin “Covenant of the Depths” made me take off my hat for referring to the great master of horror Howard Lovecraft. Skin refers to the work Call of Cthulhu and, particularly, to Cthulhu himself. It reeks of mystery and great power.
Mephistophelian melee hero who takes the lives of his enemies. Great initiator and disabler, not my default character, but, of course, you guessed why I remembered him. His skin “Demon prince of Khorne” refers to Warhammer again. Flawlessly emphasizes and complements to the demonic nature of Doom. Set has an impressive appearance and provokes to shout “Blood to the bloody God”, and “Skulls for the throne of skulls”.
To make a long story short, game cosmetics don’t provide game benefits but permit developers to receive financial support from players. Of course, cosmetics can be free, but in this case, everything is perceived as a given, and there is no need to call this phenomenon a separate term.
You can treat cosmetics differently, love or hate, but you must not deny the fact that this is a way of earning for games that are distributed through free-to-play. Undoubtedly, skins support the company and eSports in particular. I am generally positive about cosmetics in games and consider their presence positive in the game, as it contributes to the diversity and development of the game.
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