The vocabulary free-to-play games use for money
Free-to-play games rarely quote a price in dollars at the point of purchase. They quote it in a currency the game invented, bought in bundles that do not divide evenly into the prices. This page defines the terms involved and shows how to convert them back into AUD.
Two currencies, one of which is bought with money; bundles sized so leftovers accumulate; time-limited tracks that convert attention into spending pressure; and randomised packs whose contents are decided by chance. None of these are hidden — they are simply described in vocabulary that makes the exchange rate hard to see. Working it out takes a calculator and about a minute.
Soft and premium currency
- Soft currency
- Earned by playing. Spent on ordinary parts, crafting fees, market purchases and repairs. Usually abundant enough that it is not the constraint on progress.
- Premium currency
- Bought with money, occasionally granted in small amounts as a reward. Spent on cosmetics, convenience items, pack purchases and battle passes. Sometimes convertible into soft currency at a rate the game sets, almost never the reverse.
- Conversion rate
- How much real money one unit of premium currency represents. Games do not publish this figure; it has to be derived from the bundle prices, and it usually differs between bundles.
- Residue
- The premium currency left over after a purchase, too small to buy anything and enough to make the next bundle feel like it completes something. A predictable result of bundle sizes that do not match item prices.
| Spent on | Soft currency | Premium currency |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary parts and market purchases | Yes | Sometimes, via conversion |
| Crafting fees and repairs | Yes | Rarely |
| Cosmetic items and paints | A limited selection | The full range |
| Battle pass and seasonal unlocks | No | Yes |
| Randomised packs | Occasionally | Yes |
| Convenience items and storage expansion | No | Yes |
The pattern across that table is consistent between games: soft currency handles the running costs of playing, and premium currency handles anything that saves time or changes appearance. A game where premium currency also buys capability is described as pay-to-win by its players, and that judgement belongs to them rather than to a glossary — what a reference can do is point out which column an item sits in before the purchase, not after.
Deriving a conversion rate
Imagine a game selling premium currency in three bundles: 500 units for $7.50 AUD, 1,200 units for $15.00 AUD, and 3,000 units for $35.00 AUD.
- Divide price by units: 1.5 cents per unit, 1.25 cents per unit, and about 1.17 cents per unit respectively. The largest bundle is roughly 22 per cent cheaper per unit than the smallest.
- Now price an item listed at 1,400 units. No bundle matches it. The 1,200 bundle is short; buying 3,000 leaves 1,600 unused.
- The real cost of that item is therefore not 1,400 units but whichever bundle you had to buy to reach it, minus whatever you genuinely use later.
- Repeat the arithmetic for the specific item you want before buying, not for the bundle. The bundle's headline value is not the number you are spending.
The figures above are invented to show the method. Every game sets its own, and they change with regional pricing and platform fees.
Battle passes and seasonal tracks
A battle pass is a progress track with a free reward column and a paid one, running for a fixed season. Buying the pass retrospectively unlocks the paid rewards for the levels already reached, which is why the offer becomes more tempting the further in you are — the design is deliberate and worth recognising rather than resenting.
Three things are worth checking before buying one: how long the season has left, how much of the track realistically fits into the time you will play, and whether the rewards are cosmetic or affect capability. A pass bought with two weeks remaining on a track designed for eight is a purchase of the first quarter of it.
Season length is announced by the developer in advance and is the one figure in this whole area that is reliably published. Dividing the remaining days by the levels still to earn gives a rough daily requirement, and comparing that with an honest estimate of your own playing time answers the question better than any reward preview does.
Randomised item packs
A randomised pack is a purchasable container whose contents are determined by chance. The vocabulary varies — crates, cases, boxes, capsules, loot boxes — but the mechanism is the same: money buys a draw rather than an item.
In Australia, computer games are classified under the national classification scheme, and the Classification Board publishes the classifications and the criteria it applies at classification.gov.au. The board's site is also where a specific title's classification can be checked, which is more reliable than a storefront label. SyncroWorks does not state a classification for any individual game, and does not present any game containing purchasable randomised items as suitable for children.
Terms that appear around randomised packs, defined plainly:
- Drop rate
- The published probability of a given item appearing in a draw. Whether it is published at all varies by game and by platform.
- Pity timer
- A mechanism guaranteeing a high-rarity result after a set number of unsuccessful draws. Where it exists it is usually documented; where it is not documented, assume it does not exist.
- Duplicate protection
- A rule preventing or compensating for drawing an item already owned. Compensation is often in soft currency at a rate far below the pack's cost.
- Direct purchase
- The option to buy a specific item outright rather than draw for it. Where both routes exist, comparing them is the single most useful thing to do before spending.
Where Australian consumer law fits
Digital products sold to consumers in Australia come with consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission explains how those guarantees apply to digital products and online purchases at accc.gov.au. Those guarantees cannot be removed by a game's terms of service.
That is a general statement of where to look, not legal advice, and it does not resolve any particular dispute. Practical first steps when a purchase goes wrong are usually: the game's own support channel, then the platform or launcher that processed the payment, then your bank or card issuer, and the ACCC's guidance on problems with a purchase if the matter remains unresolved.
What to watch out for
- Bundle-relative discounts. “30 per cent more” is measured against another bundle, not against any dollar price.
- Time-limited framing on permanently available items. Cosmetic items frequently return in later rotations.
- Currency granted rather than bought. Small grants of premium currency serve to open the wallet, not to fill it.
- Third-party currency sellers. Buying currency outside the game's own store commonly breaches the terms of service and risks the account. Fraudulent sellers can be reported through Scamwatch.
- Purchases made by children on a shared device. The eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance for parents on games, apps and social media at esafety.gov.au.
Setting a limit that survives contact with a sale
The reliable method is arithmetic done before the storefront opens rather than during it. Decide the amount in AUD for a period, convert it into the game's currency using the per-unit rate derived above, and treat that unit figure as the budget. The conversion matters because a limit expressed in game currency is the only one the purchase interface will ever show you.
Two supporting habits: keep payment methods off the device's autofill where children have access, and check the platform's purchase history monthly rather than relying on memory. Neither is a moral position about spending — it is the same practice anyone would apply to a subscription.
The related mechanics on the earning side, including how far progression can be pushed without spending, are covered on progression and crafting. Every term on this page also appears in the glossary.