Nothing is perhaps more natural that a single or multiplayer game with milestones, trophies, various modes and unlockable content. These drive player retention and encourage longer play time, the former important for finalizing an initial sale until any refund period has expired, the latter to lend a greater sense of value to any Premium purchase.
Personally, I have never much cared about achievements, been driven to unlock all content or enjoyed additional game modes. For single player games, I play the campaign/story mode, and then I am pretty much done. I also do tend to bail when the going gets tough. I am not an avid gamer who feels compelled to strive for excellence in my performance, outside of multiplayer.
I consider achievements fluff, modes filler, and unlockable content a friggin’ annoyance. With regard to the lattermost specifically, I interpret unlockable content as the dev saying ‘you are not ready for this, you have to earn the right to get there’. I like to make up my own mind about that sort of thing. Content I’m not skilled enough to unlock has always been a thorn in my side.
DL Content is double-dipping, plain and simple. The original release does not generate enough revenue, so DLC is added on to generate more of it. I don’t hold with that. If your players paid a Premium for the original release, then expansions and updates should be included by default. If your game isn’t good enough to generate the initial release and ongoing sales revenues which you require or desire, then that is your own damn fault. Part of good game design is retention. And a sufficiently sustaining - or exponentially increasing - monetization model.
It is only natural then that my design incorporates none of these things. In place of trophies or achievements, a simple Ranking system, sufficiently exponential payouts of in-game currency and a genre-appropriate aspect of collecting and trading.
Modes are to encourage extra play time and add replay value. The emphasis in my design is not on increasing daily hours played, total hours played before abandonment or coming back to replay eventually, but on week over week retention, for many months, ideally stretching into years. Retention is simple for most eSports. Cash prizes offered via official events, if not day after day, then week after week. And spreading cash prizes around as much as possible.
A major consideration is my approach to unlockable content. All performance-enhancing items will be purchasable with in-game currency, right from the start. Your consideration - indeed, a key factor of the in-depth strategy characteristic of my design - is what upgrades to buy and when. Also, all of the tracks will be available on a regular, rollover basis, unlocked only by the progression of time, per season. Qualifiers aside, that is how real-life motorsports work.
Free DLC will be driven by the revenue stream and sponsorships. As it should be.
The way I have styled the monetization model is also simplicity itself.
