💸 Paving the way for micro transactions
keith.is
Part one in a series about building Subeta, an early virtual pet game I made as a teenager. Subeta was also one of the first pioneers of what is now called micro-transactions, but to me it was just getting quarters in the mail to pay for something I loved making.

…so I’m glad this post is the first of a series.

I wasn’t capable of inking multi-year deals with corporations as a teenager, and so set out as an early pioneer of the micro-transaction trail.

This originated with players sending envelopes of cash and change taped to index cards to my parents house. My mom was sure I was getting up to something shady online, but no, just selling digital goods 😇.

I was never a serious member of GaiaOnline or Neopets, but at the time I vaguely wished I were. It’s really neat to read about free vs. pay currency exchange rates!