Once Human is the rare live service game that isn’t P2W, fans say

Despite a bit of a rocky start surrounding the game's seasonal plan, the massive free-to-play online survival title Once Human is enjoying a strong initial player base and heaps of praise from fans. One thing in particular they're happy about is the lack of egregious microtransactions or pay-to-win mechanics.

In contrast to other recent free-to-play titles such as The First Descendant sparking much debate online about the merits of pay-to-win (P2W) mechanics, Once Human players are praising the game for not shoving its monetization in your face, as well as featuring little to no pay-to-win elements to give players willing to open their wallets an unfair advantage.

Once Human's player base has expressed frustration in seeing so many streamers on YouTube and Twitch decrying the pay-to-win nature of a game like The First Descendant while seemingly ignoring games that are doing things right – like Once Human. Too much focus on the negatives, and not enough on the positives— a classic problem.

I see where they're coming from but do feel the need to point out that negativity, controversy, bad press – whatever you want to call it – sells. It generates clicks. And that's what's at stake here. At the same time, some Twitch streamers like CohhCarnage have actually taken some time out of their busy streaming schedules to point out the virtues of Once Human's dignified approach to monetization. Twitter (formerly known as X) is going off too, so the praise is out there if you look hard enough for it.

I have to agree with the above Reddit thread's sentiment on both fronts, though. Because you definitely don't see enough gaming fans highlighting examples of how to handle monetization and P2W right – which for many means having none of it or as little as humanly possible. And also not hounding the player for their money at every corner. A lot of us can get behind such sentiments.

But also because in my time with the game, I have legitimately not encountered any instances of monetization or P2W whatsoever. I even had to go dig around in the game's main menu to verify that it even exists in the game (it does). The main currency at play in Once Human, aside from the multiple in-game currencies, is time i.e. the time it takes to grind all the necessary materials and resources you need to build the base of your dreams and survive in its haunted and often perilous world.

And while we can have an entirely separate debate about how much time it takes to grind in games nowadays to even make a moderate amount of progress, I'd much rather play a game knowing everyone is grinding equal amounts to get to where they are instead of paying the developer to "skip the line", so to speak.

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