If you’re an active gamer, there’s no way you haven’t already played a few free-to-play games over the last couple of years. When the F2P model was introduced in its modern form, it completely changed the face of gaming.

How does that even work really? A full-fledged game completely free? It’s fairly simple. You get the complete product free of charge, but you can opt to invest money if you want to for additional items, add-ons, boosts and so on. It really depends on the game – some offer strictly cosmetic items while others offer various concrete in-game benefits.

There are many benefits to making a game free-to-play. Developers directly combat piracy in doing so, and they’re making their product available to a much wider audience all around the globe (and often times on more platforms as well).

Because of this, many F2P titles today are the best “selling” and most played games on the planet. It might seem illogical that something that can be had for free can generate so much revenue, but it’s the way things are.

The thing is, with some of the most popular games today like League of Legends or DOTA2 you don’t have to invest a single dime to get the full experience. But you can buy in-game items if you want to, and there is plenty of content to spend money on.

League of Legends focuses on skins – cosmetic changes for every champion as well as emotes, profile icons and experience boosts (among other things). DOTA 2, on the other hand, takes things up a notch and divides these cosmetic changes into parts so you can buy just a single cape or a helmet or get the whole set for any hero, and they vary in rarity and price.

Again, you don’t have to invest any money to buy a different looking dagger, but they make ‘em so nicely that a lot of people can’t resist the urge.

Fortnite is another excellent example, where players can buy a “Battle Pass” for an in-game currency called “V-bucks.” It costs a bit less than $10, and for that price you get a lot of items like skins, experience boosts, sprays, emotes, special weapons, etc. However, none of those really impact your actual gameplay although it does make things a bit more exciting and engaging depending on the type of player you are.

Having a skin or an emote won’t make you a better player (although some skins do have a camouflage-like effect) but it might make things more interesting. Fortnite is a very good example as well since you get additional in-game missions that you can complete for other cosmetic content.

There Is Nothing Wrong With Investing

One of the most enjoyable periods of my life was when I first started playing League of Legends with my closest friends almost a decade ago. To us playing League wasn’t just a way to kill time – it was a passion. Reading guides, crafting team compositions and strategies for every day, criticizing each other for what went wrong in a particular game, etc. There was never a dull day and whenever we had the time to play we did.

Since we had a lot of free time we ended up playing around eight hours every day – give or take. League was a platform for all of us to have so much fun and become even better friends in real life and a couple of us kind off naturally started investing a bit of real-world money into the game. We loved playing certain champions so why not invest a small amount to get a really cool skin? Nothing wrong in doing that.

If a game is bringing you immense joy on a regular basis, then there’s nothing wrong with investing some money into it. You’re already treating it almost as a hobby, it’s connecting you with your friends, and a small investment won’t really break the bank.

The beauty of it all is the fact that you don’t have to invest to get the full experience.

A lot of friends of mine never invested a single dime, and they didn’t lose out on either. In fact, most F2P games have certain mechanisms that give cosmetic items to non-paying players as well – albeit rarely. It’s an excellent way to motivate players but also perhaps lure them in to become paying customers down the road.

So even if you’re not paying, you get to have a piece of the cake.

Real Life Obligations

Perhaps you have a job and not that much time on your hands and playing League or Fortnite is a way to blow off steam. You’re already earning money on a daily basis so investing a bit of that into the game you’re playing isn’t that illogical. You don’t have the leisure of playing countless hours so why not invest a small amount and get some cosmetic change or a set of in-game missions that will bring you happiness?

After all, investing into a game that’s bringing you a ton of joy is a win-win situation. You give some of your hard earned money over to the developers – you’re both thanking them and supporting the product you like – and you’re making the game even more exciting for yourself in the process.

To make things even better you never have to invest a lot of money. It’s always somewhere between five and fifteen dollars which is very acceptable, especially when you compare it to the immense price of any modern triple-A game – $60, regardless of the platform you’re playing on.

There’s No Actual Reason To Invest

To summarize, you don’t have to invest any money in free-to-play games, and there’s ever hardly a really good reason to do so. You can play the exact same game as everyone else and not thin out your wallet – which is a great thing.

In fact, certain games like League of Legends give out a ton of content for free, and if you’re playing with a couple of friends, then you’re not really experiencing that as a grinding process – you’re just having fun and the gifts keep on coming.

The ability to play a highly polished game for free is an incredible thing. You get to have so much fun free of charge, and you can still support the developers if you feel like it.