Free or Not? (part 3)
Another pitfall of offering free products is that it adds a sense of entitlement to what is already considered one of the most entitled bunch of consumers in the market—the gaming community. Gamers are accustomed to free patches and upgrades to the games they have purchased. Gamers are used to being showered with free products to gain their attention. However, this very negatively affects new companies trying hard to gain a foothold in the gaming community—these small companies have spent large sums of money to finish their product and bring it to market, yet find angry gamers refusing to pay a few dollars for it because they can find something similar or better for free. In the meantime, larger companies that can afford to offer the free products don't suffer loss while gaining a dedicated crowd waiting for the next handout. Money in these cases is often made through advertisers piggy-backing on the free products. Sometimes someone will put forth a free offering simply as a vanity project—the designer just wants to see his work consumed by others and is gratified by the following he generates, much like social media users try to accumulate “likes” or “streaks.” This further damages the small company that is trying to break into the industry and survive, or for that matter, any company that needs to make a profit to continue paying their staff and create products for consumers.
As seven alien races struggle to co-exist in an uneasy alliance, the Inter-Stellar Union sends Union Guard agents on missions to preserve the crucial balance. These specialized operatives must do what regional security cannot, dealing with smugglers, pirates, terrorists, and even greater challenges in order to bring stability to a universe that needs it desperately. Without the Union Guard, the races will not be prepared to face a looming alien threat they can only hope to defeat together.
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