Okay I'm gonna go off for a hot second because at least one person came away from the thread last night with the impression that I'm some kind of pricing czar. I'm going to do some allegory, some economics, and some self-riffing. Strap in.

I grew up in one of a cluster of smallish towns. I say smallish because we had a university, our school was successful, the street across from me was full of big massive houses. But also we didn't have a Wal-Mart until I was in 8th grade. I remember when they opened.

Wal-Mart is big. They're huge. One of the biggest companies in the world, at the time. And their prices were super low. So low that if you were looking at your home budget and frowning, it was foolish not to at least consider shopping there.

Wal-Mart could afford to charge low prices, because they were massive. Pricing low also meant people shopped there instead of at the smaller, local stores. Eventually the local stores closed because they couldn't afford to operate at a loss.

Now, Wal-Mart did that on purpose. They wanted to destroy the local competition because it was good for their bottom line to be the only game in town. They pay their workers shit, they run businesses out of business. When Wal-Mart shows up in your town, it's a disaster.

Starbucks showed up and did the exact same thing. There was a wonderful coffee shop across from my high school, they had the best chocolate muffins I've ever had before or since. Starbucks showed up, and within six months that coffee shop was closed.

Now, affluent itch designer, I know you're not Wal-Mart or Starbucks. I know you're not in the marketplace because you want to run other indies out of business. Maybe you just like making games and you want to put them up for people to see them. I know you're not cutthroat.

But you're still competing in the market. You're still putting your work out there and saying "You should play this game instead of other games." Even if that's not your intent, the existence of the marketplace means that's the goal. We're all, on some level, competing.

And it sucks. It sucks to have to compete with each other. For attention, for downloads, for dollars. It shouldn't be this way. But it is.

So when you don't pause to consider your pricing goals for your work, when you think "I don't need the money" and stop there, you're unwittingly undercutting the market, and not just because people will grab your free game over someone else's paid game.

You're undercutting the market because, by not even taking the time to think about what price your game should be, you're applying social pressure on other designers to not take that time either. "Other people aren't pricing their work, is it greedy for me to charge for mine?"

This space is hard. None of us on itch are making our entire survival on game sales. But the little bits and pieces do help us, a lot of us, keep our heads above water.

And normalizing the pricing decision is part of keeping the gates open for those who need it.

So when I say "Think about pricing, especially if you don't need the money," I'm not just trying to shame you for being rich. I'm trying to get you to think about the fact that whether or not you want to be, you exist in the market with the rest of us. Think about that.

Think about what price you want to set for your game. Think about what free means for you as a designer. Think about what it is that allows you to never charge for your work. Think about what you want out of game design.

Because if you take the time to think about it and you come to "Yeah, it's important to me that everyone be able to access this game because it's important"? That's awesome! That's a great choice to make.

But if you take the time to think about it and you come to "You know what, this game feels like a solid $3 game"? That is *also* a great choice to make, *and* you've helped normalize the pricing decision for other designers.

So take that time. It's okay if you come away with "Free". It's okay if you come away with "Pay What You Want".

The important thing is that you've thought about it. Because a lot of us can't afford not to.