Jonric: In the still fairly short time since the new scheme has been implemented, what surprises if any have you encountered?

Craig Morrison: I actually don't think we have run across too many surprises along the way, either positive or negative. Everyone involved did a pretty good job of doing the research and groundwork ahead of time, which meant when we actually went to do it, we knew what we were working with.

If anything, I think the surprise was in how players would respond; as we were largely in unknown territory, we honestly didn't know whether enough of them would be interested to make future content of this manner viable. As it is, it would appear that there is a good market for such items, at least from what we are seeing so far.

Jonric: How does adding an item purchase element to the game benefit the players, especially when it has been done as a retrofit?

Craig Morrison: At the top level, it provides an additional revenue stream, and that always benefits players in the long run. Just as integrated advertising that supports our free play offer, this system generates funding that makes further development viable. This is important; since Anarchy Credits is an older title with a stable player base, it lets us focus on maintaining the team, which can then provide more free and paid update content.

The new vehicles also break when players are struck in combat, immediately taking them out of travel mode. This ensures that the existing ones still serve a purpose by allowing players to traverse more dangerous areas.
The production overhead for smaller paid content packs is much less than for full expansions. This allows the team to work on things we add for free, which addresses something that was very problematic in the past since you needed more people for the full expansions.

Jonric: How does the system actually function? How can players put real money in, and is there a minimum purchase amount?

Craig Morrison: On our billing pages, players can buy special Paid Points that let them make special smaller purchases, either through the billing system or in the game. All the normal payment methods we accept apply, including PayByCash for those without access to credit cards.

The cost is $1 or one Euro per 100 points, and players can purchase 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000. They can then spend them in two ways, either on special items available through the billing site, or by transferring them into the game itself, where they can be used at special vendors.