Pay to Win Makes Some More Equal Than Others

The true technological terror of microtransactions

It’s only fitting that the Empire embodies the final form of the pay-to-win formula: a collective that finds victory not through skill, dedication, or wit — but in buying bigger guns than the other guy. Yet there’s something far more nefarious about pay-to-win than simply leveraging cash to get one up on the Rebellion — and it speaks to something far more personal, far more intimate than topping a leaderboard.

Online games can be the great equaliser — they have the unrivaled ability to suspend the standards applied to our underwhelming corporal selves, if only fleetingly. It’s not difficult to see why someone might spend lots of time away from themselves — to become someone else, do something else, be somewhere else.

Companionship, entertainment, challenge — each one is escapism in different forms. That escapism doesn’t just include my experience, it includes myself. Height, weight, hairline — everything is subject to change in the virtual worlds we choose to engage with. The bump on my nose, that fading top mop, and those few extra pounds are negated in online games.

We’re all equalised, then. At least to a certain extent.