This reminds me of an insider's-view feature written by Tim Rogers back in 2011 titled Who killed videogames? (a ghost story) [1]. Some find his writing style objectionable but it's worth a read even if you do. Page 4 of the article in particular, which somewhat confusing leads you to "chapter three: engagement wheels and compulsion traps", can serve as a pretty good introduction to F2P mechanics and their dark patterns.
The following quote more or less summarizes the piece:
>[...] “The players will come for the cute characters, and stay for the cruel mathematics.”
There is also an accompanying review of The Sims Social [2].
Thank you for linking that insertcredit article - you saved me the trouble. Sure, it's long, it's quite repetitive, and it's cynical as anything.
But it's also spot on for this discussion.
(I'm also very happy the domain is no longer on google's shitlist for serving malware. Not long after that article was published, the site startede to trigger a big fat warning if your browser used safesurfing.)
The following quote more or less summarizes the piece:
>[...] “The players will come for the cute characters, and stay for the cruel mathematics.”
There is also an accompanying review of The Sims Social [2].
[1] http://insertcredit.com/2011/09/22/who-killed-videogames-a-g...
[2] http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=1076.