The Dawn of Microtransactions | Achaea, Dreams of Divine Dollars

Hey everyone, long-time no see! This video took me a minute because I wasn't quite sure how to make a video out of MUD game play but I did my best. The real topic of this video is the creation of the microtransaction or freemium model that plauges gaming today.

If you ask someone in your gaming group, they might recall the Oblivion horse armor debacle that was Bethesda's first attempt at introducing small, paid DLC to the game. Todd Howard did his best to sell it, and I've people blame him for the start of microtransactions but God Howard cannot claim this one.

The true founder of microtransactions is Matt Mihaly of Iron Realms Entertainment, developers of popular MUD Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands. I do my best to explain the genre, show some game play and tell the story of the pretty insane amount players were willing to spend back in the day (and still are). Mobile games have really taken this idea and run with it.

Music: White Orchard Ambience - Witcher 3

Sources:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/acha...

https://www.pcgamesn.com/first-game-w...

https://if50.substack.com/p/1997-achaea

Timestamps:
0:00 - Todd Howard's Folly
0:30 - Iron Realms Enters
1:50 - Why Microtransactions?
3:55 - Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands
5:15 - Virtual Asset Sales
6:45 - The Rise of Whales
9:10 - Playing as a Form of Payment