Monetary Systems in Games Part 1: Metal Gear Solid V

Money has always been a big part of games in different ways, outside the games and inside, for better or for worse. It's an easy way to make the player get a sense of achievement, as they obtain currency and see it rise higher and higher as they do better. I'll be analysing a few games to explore how they use money, and how it works with their systems. Today's installment will be:

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

In alot of games, money is used mainly for upgrades and items to improve your character or give you better chances, ammunition, ect. The Phantom Pain however, takes it one step further. Money is not just used for upgrades, oh no. In this game, you need Money to do just about anything.

The way it works, is that Snake is in charge of a Mercenary Company called Diamond Dogs, and it needs funding to operate. This funding is GMP, or Gross Military Product. Not just hard cash, but resources, materials, and assets. That doesn't matter though, since it still just amounts to a name given to a numerical amount. GMP needs to be expended for the majority of actions, including:

* Buying upgrades.

* Using Fulton Balloons to extract soldiers.

* Calling in your helicopter.

* Calling in air strikes or supply drops.

* Using weapons and equipment, the amount varying per item.

* Deploying most of your partners.

* Keeping soldiers on your base (They'll start leaving if you go in the red)

Earning GMP is done through completing both main missions and side quests (Side Ops), as well as collecting certain items, extracting animals and selling off the processed resources and military ordinance you collect, which also factor into them being used by you or your online bases.

This system really makes you have to calculate your spending. Money is not just a tool to grind up, and then spend on every available upgrade you can find. You are motivated to spend limited amounts at a time, so you have the budget for everything else. It creates gameplay mentalities by encouraging you to try to cross the landscape on a single trip as much as possible to get every Side Op you can, and try to experiment more with your current loadout, or suffer a GMP loss through a supply drop.  It adds more weight to Sub Objectives when they'll get you more GMP by the mission's end. It keeps usage the game breaking abilities in check by having them be expensive to utilise.

Overall, it's a system that adds alot to the base management aspect of the game, and helps you get more involved in building everything up.