I recently did a bit of math on the conversion between the cash in a “Free to Play” game on facebook and the US Dollar. At the “best” conversion rate, 1 unit of their in-game currency is approximately $0.1111.

The game is currently selling a “limited” item for 120 of the in game currency. At the above conversion rate, this makes the item about $13.33. To keep in perspective, this is a buck and some change short of one month of unlimited playtime in most subscription MMOs.

The game’s operators are certainly very clever in their trickery.

First, the game has you convert your USD in to in game money at a very odd conversion rate. This makes it easier for many players to disassociate the cost of individual items with their approximate USD value. The cost of the item I mentioned would seem more absurd if it showed its USD value of $13.33 rather than the game currency.

Second, the game creates artificial scarcity. This is a digital item that does not exist in the physical world. While it took art and programming time to implement, it can be infinitely duplicated with zero cost. However, it is treated by the game as a “limited” item, making the cost seem more worth it.

It would be very interesting to see statistics of how many people actually buy this and similar items. It would also be interesting to know if purchases would have been dissuaded if the USD value was displayed.