Freemium Price Compare!

a.k.a. ARSE

Abstract Resource Stock indEx

I recently read an old article on Mental Floss about the Toadstool Exchange - it compared the relative prices in-game, and in real-world dollars, the cost of a grenade. This, in turn, reminded me of an annual column The Economist used to run - The Big Mac Index. Both are genius, and well worth a read when it comes to comparing relative values of things that either are digital or seemingly dissimilar i.e. a burger in a Norway vs. a burger in Tuscaloosa.

Anyways....in that vein I was inspired to create the ARSE. Most (90%+) of freemium or free-to-play app games out there, allow you to speed up the game, and thus gain an advantage, by purchasing some sort of of in-game currency. The important part, as it pertains to ARSE, is that in general, 1 in-game resource, be it gems, or gold, or smurfberries, equals 1 hour of game speed-up time. And thus, a comparative real-currency value can be assigned to these seemingly intangible virtual items.

Game		Resource		Units		Cost		Cost Per Resource
CityVille		Cash		50		$4.99		$0.10
Clash of Clans		Gems		1200		$9.99		$0.01
Dragon Story		Gold		120		$4.99		$0.04
Dragonvale		Gems		130		$4.99		$0.04
Gizmonauts		Crystals		130		$4.99		$0.04
Hay Day		Diamonds		130		$4.99		$0.04
Jurassic Park Builder		Bucks		120		$9.99		$0.08
My Little Pony		Gems		120		$9.99		$0.08
Restaurant Story		Gems		105		$19.99		$0.19
Simpsons: Tapped Out		Donuts		132		$9.99		$0.08
Smurfs' Village		Berries		125		$9.99		$0.08
Tiny Monsters		Diamonds		130		$4.99		$0.04
Tiny Tower		Tower Bux		100		$1.99		$0.02
Tiny Tribe		Diamonds		100		$9.99		$0.10

 Several caveats:

1. I tried to go for similar Resource Units or USD ($) amounts. It's not precise, clearly.

2. Some games, like Clash of Clans or Simpsons, use a different metrics to apply against 1 hour of in-game progress. 'Clash' is pretty easy to decipher; 4 gems = 1 hour. Simpsons has no discernible pattern.

3. Unsurprisingly, the mercenary black souls at Team Lava have the highest comparative ARSE cost via Restaurant Story.

I'll be updating the ARSE as the mood strikes, new games make the list, or a cost moves dramatically.

Besieged 2: Dark Territory

Now With 100% Less Steven Seagal

I have been playing Besieged 2 for the better part of 2012, for reasons even I'm not clear on. During that time, it's gone through several game balance changes, some for better, some for worse. Now in it's newly released third incarnation, Besieged 2 still manages to not quite get it right, and yet for some reason I still keep playing, in the hopes that things will get better. It's a classic side-scroller tower defense game; defend your castle against waves of undead hordes. Each wave, in the form of discrete levels, cranks up the difficulty by introducing enemies that shoot back, burrow underground, turn invisible, raise magical shields, or just generally are tough mothers to kill. In turn, you will occasionally get more powerful and versatile arrows to slay enemies, such as explosive projectiles, fire arrows, multi-shots, and the like.

The problem(s) with the game however, are two-fold; one, arrow upgrades are awarded only after you have to go through a laborious and dull process of building various useless structures inside your castle walls, which usually provide zero weapon awards, aside from the ability to construct another useless structure, and two, if you die on say, Level 5, you have to start over from Level 1 and work your way back up all over. It's really quite boring and a major misfire in terms of enjoyability. However, I still consider Besieged 2 a diamond in the rough, and with a few small tweaks, it could be quite great.