I had been hoping to complete my time playing Pokemon GO without encountering any blatant forms of gamification, because I knew that it would add to my frustration with the game. I was getting more confident in what little I could do with the app. I was catching Pokemon and gaining more experience by swirling my finger over the Pokeball. I was finding new Pokemon as I played at different points in town. And then my downfall occurred.

As I was playing today, I happened upon a new Pokemon that I did not have in my Pokedex. I immediately tried to catch it when the app told me that I was out of Pokeballs and needed to purchase more. At this point in playing, I had not seen any indication of the amount of Pokeballs that I possessed or used. Then suddenly, I am being told that to even try to catch any more Pokemon, I needed to pay a dollar to get another 100 Pokeballs. I will admit (as I have in class already) that I am cheap. I don’t like additional purchases that are not on essential items. I am not a fan of freemiums, subscription services, or in-app purchases. So this notification just irked me. So much so that I immediately closed my app and did not try to open it again for a few hours. From the company’s side, I see that benefit in making the purchase so small. If the player is really into the game and wants to continue, why not spend a dollar? From the player’s perspective, I was quite confused. I knew there was the possibility of in-app purchases, but with no indicator as to when those in-app purchases would occur and limit my playing, I felt that I fell into the company’s trap. And if I wasn’t disenchanted with the game (or cheap), I wouldn’t mind paying the extra dollar every time that I need more Pokeballs.