Game Economy, Editions & Cosmetics Glossary

Topic: Economy, cosmetics & monetization

By Treesz · Updated Oct 12, 2026

How a game makes money, and how money moves inside it, shapes what you can buy, what you can earn and what you can show off. This glossary covers ten terms from three areas: how games are sold (buy-to-play, standard editions, codes), how in-game wealth is created and removed (money sinks, daily logins, gacha pulls, black markets) and how you change the way your character looks (transmog and voice packs). Two related articles, on the R6 Marketplace and vanity items, are summarised at the end.

None of this is a recommendation to spend. The aim is to help you read a store page or a currency screen and know what is being offered.

Term	Area	In one line
Buy-to-play	Business model	Pay once, no subscription
Standard edition	Business model	The base version of a game
Promo code	Codes	A code that gives a reward for free
Unlock code	Codes	A code that opens content or features
Daily login	In-game rewards	A reward for opening the game each day
Gacha pull	In-game rewards	Random rewards bought with a currency
Money sink	Economy	Anything that removes currency from the game
Black market	Economy	Trading outside the game's official channels
Transmog	Cosmetics	Changing how gear looks, not what it does
Voice pack	Cosmetics	Replacement voices or announcements

Buy-to-play

Buy-to-play (B2P) is a model in which you pay once for the game and can play it as long as you like. There is no subscription. The term is most used for online games, to set them apart from the two other common models:

Model	You pay	Typical examples
Buy-to-play	Once for the game; optional expansions or cosmetics	Guild Wars 2, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3
Subscription	A regular fee for access	World of Warcraft (also requires the expansion), Final Fantasy XIV (also requires the base game)
Free-to-play	Nothing up front; spending is optional	Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Destiny 2 base game
Hybrid	One-off purchase plus an optional subscription	The Elder Scrolls Online (optional ESO Plus)

Advantages of buy-to-play: you own long-term access, you are not pushed to log in to justify a fee and the price is clear. The risks: the up-front cost, and the fact that "buy once" often still leaves paid expansions, battle passes or cosmetic stores. Read the store page for what the price includes.

Note that models change. Overwatch, for example, was sold as a buy-to-play game when it launched in 2016 and became free-to-play with Overwatch 2 in October 2022. A game described as buy-to-play in an old guide may now be something else, so check its current page.

Standard edition

The standard edition is the base version of a game: the full main game, without the extra content that is sold in higher-priced editions. Publishers usually sell several tiers:

Standard: the game.
Deluxe, Premium or Ultimate: the game plus bonuses such as cosmetic items, a season pass or expansion access, a soundtrack or early access to the game.
Collector's: a box edition with physical items.
Complete or Game of the Year (GOTY): released later, bundling the game with its expansions at a lower combined price.

Early access is the clearest difference. Starfield's Premium Edition let players start on 1 September 2023, up to five days before the general release on 6 September, and Standard buyers could pay the price difference to upgrade.

How to decide:

List what the extras are. If they are cosmetics you do not care about, the standard edition is enough.
Check whether you can upgrade later. Most stores offer an upgrade pack for the price difference, so buying standard first does not lock you out.
Consider waiting. Complete editions usually arrive later and often cost less than the standard price plus each add-on.
Check the platform. Editions and bonuses can differ between PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

For editions of a specific game, see its own wiki section; the general rule is the same.

A promo code is a short code you redeem for a reward: currency, a cosmetic item, a boost or sometimes a discount. Publishers release them through their official channels: social media posts, newsletters, livestreams, events, partner promotions, or inside products such as controllers and gift cards.

How redemption works: the game usually has a "Redeem code" field in its menu or on its website, and platforms (Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo) have their own code redemption screens. Rules to know:

Codes expire. Many are valid for a short time only.
Codes are usually single-use or one per account, and some are case-sensitive.
Some are region-locked and fail in the wrong country.
Codes must come from official sources. A site that asks for your password to "unlock" a code, or a message from a stranger offering free currency, is a scam. A real code is redeemed from your own logged-in account and never needs your password in a form.

For games with frequent codes, such as Genshin Impact, which publishers announce during livestreams, the safest habit is to check the game's official announcements and redeem quickly. See also unlock codes for codes that open content rather than give a reward.

Unlock code

An unlock code is a code that opens something that is closed: a feature, an item, a level or a purchased game. The word covers several older and newer uses:

Purchase and pre-order codes. A code supplied with a pre-order or a physical bundle that unlocks a bonus or a download. Keys for digital games on Steam and other stores work the same way.
Platform redeem codes. Codes entered in the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store or Xbox store.
Cheat codes. Sequences typed or entered with the controller to switch on special modes. The best-known is the Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A), which first appeared in the NES version of Gradius and was later used in many other games.
Hardware and access unlocks, such as a code that unlocks a beta.

Tips: type the code exactly, watch for confusing characters (0 and O, 1 and I), redeem it on the account you want the content on and keep the original email or card as proof. Be careful with keys from unofficial sellers: if a seller's keys are later cancelled or found to be obtained fraudulently, they can be revoked, taking the game with them.

A daily login reward is something you get for opening a game each day. It may be a flat gift, a calendar of rewards that grows over the month, or a streak that rewards consecutive days. Warframe, for example, has a Daily Tribute that gives a reward each day and bigger ones as the streak grows. Mobile games use the same idea to bring players back.

Why games do it: to keep players coming back and to introduce them to the spending or progression systems. For the player, the key questions are:

What does a missed day cost? Some systems reset the streak, others only skip that day's prize.
Is the reward worth the time? If it takes a minute and gives something useful, it is easy. If you must play for an hour to claim it, it is closer to a chore.
When does the day change? Daily resets happen at a fixed server time, not midnight in your time zone, so check the reset time in the game.
Does it create pressure? Streak systems can create a feeling of obligation. You are free to stop.

Practical advice: log in only when you want to play anyway, claim the free reward, and do not spend money to "save" a streak.

Gacha pull

A gacha pull is a random draw for a character or item, paid for with a currency. The name comes from gashapon (gachapon), the Japanese capsule-toy machines, whose name imitates the sound of the crank (gasha) and the capsule dropping (pon).

How it works:

Banners. A pool of possible rewards is shown for a limited time, often with a featured rare character or item.
Rates. Each rarity has a published chance. In Genshin Impact, the base chance of a top-rarity (5-star) character is 0.6 percent on its standard banners.
Pity. To soften bad luck, many games guarantee a top reward after a set number of pulls without one. In Genshin Impact the guarantee comes at 90 pulls; the game's official page lists the guarantee, and players have worked out that the chance climbs steeply from around the 74th pull. Many also use a 50/50 rule: the first top-rarity result may be the featured character or not, and a miss guarantees the next one.
Currency. Pulls are bought with a premium currency, which can be earned slowly through play or bought with real money.

Why it is controversial: because the rewards are random and bought with money, gacha systems resemble gambling, and regulators have acted. Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency treated a particularly aggressive form, "complete gacha" (kompu gacha), as a violation of its premiums law in 2012. In April 2018 Belgium's Gaming Commission ruled that loot boxes in three games broke its gambling law. Many stores and countries now require publishers to disclose the rates.

If you play gacha games:

Read the rates and the pity rules before you pull.
Set a budget in advance, including zero. Treat spending as entertainment you will not get back.
Save for what you want. Pity usually carries over, so planning around banners helps.
Remember that a rare character is not required to enjoy most of these games.

Money sink

A money sink (gold sink) is anything that takes currency out of a game's economy. Economies need them: players constantly earn currency from quests, monsters and selling, so without something to remove it, prices rise over time (inflation) and old savings become worthless.

Common sinks:

Repairs and upkeep. Gear loses durability and costs currency to fix.
Consumables. Potions, food and ammunition are used up and bought again (see consumables).
Fees and taxes. The auction house in World of Warcraft takes a cut of each sale, 5 percent in the current system. In Old School RuneScape, the Grand Exchange taxes most trades, a fee introduced in December 2021 at 1 percent and later raised to 2 percent, with a cap per item.
Travel and services: fast travel, respeccing, storage.
Cosmetics and housing, which players buy purely to customise.
Gambling-like or random systems such as reforging or gem upgrades.

The classic warning is Diablo II, where gold lost its value as a currency in the long run and players began using rare items, notably the Stone of Jordan ring, as the unit of trade. Designers use sinks to avoid this.

For players: a good sink is one you can see the point of. If you are short of currency, ask which sinks you can reduce (cheaper repairs, fewer consumables) and which income source gives the most for your time. Trading directly with other players can avoid some of the fees.

Black market

In games, black market means two different things.

1. An in-game feature. A hidden or restricted shop that sells rare items, often at a high price or for a special currency. In Borderlands 2, for instance, the Black Market vending machines sell upgrades such as extra backpack space and ammunition capacity.

2. Trading outside the official channels. Selling or buying currency, items or accounts for real money through third parties, a practice often called real-money trading (RMT). Publishers' terms of service generally forbid it. The reasons they give are fraud and scams, stolen accounts, inflation caused by mass currency farming, and the unfair advantage it gives. The usual consequences for accounts involved are warnings, suspensions or bans, and there is no recourse if the other party does not deliver.

Official alternatives exist in some games, which shows that the question is about control rather than about money:

The World of Warcraft Token can be bought for real money and sold for gold in the game, within the game's rules.
EVE Online's PLEX lets players pay for game time with in-game currency, and is bought and sold in the game's economy.
Steam's Community Market lets players sell items for Steam Wallet funds, which can only be spent on Steam.
Diablo III ran an official real-money auction house from 2012 and closed it on 18 March 2014; Blizzard said it undermined the game's core of killing monsters to get loot.

Before you take part in any trade outside the game, read the publisher's terms, protect your login (two-factor authentication) and remember that an account sale can be reversed by the publisher.

Transmog

Transmog (transmogrification) lets you change how your gear looks without changing its stats. You wear the best-performing item and make it look like another one you have collected. It separates two goals that used to conflict: being strong and looking the way you want.

How it usually works:

Collect the appearance. You unlock a look by obtaining the item, completing an achievement or buying it.
Apply it. At a vendor, station or menu you choose an appearance for each slot.
Keep your stats. The item still behaves as before; only its look changes.

World of Warcraft added transmogrification in patch 4.3 in 2011, and appearances you unlock are stored in a collection; in the current game, restrictions such as armour type and slot still apply to which item can take which look. Final Fantasy XIV has Glamours, and other MMOs have outfit or wardrobe systems with their own limits and costs.

Why players care: it supports role-play, nostalgia and collecting, and it gives value to old gear and rare drops. Collecting appearances (called transmog hunting) is a long-term goal in itself. It also feeds the market for cosmetics.

Tips: check what your game restricts (armour class, level, faction), keep gear you want the look of until the appearance is unlocked and check whether collections are per character or shared across your account.

Voice pack

A voice pack replaces or adds spoken audio in a game: character voices, an announcer, or sound effects for events. It may be an official cosmetic or a community modification.

Examples:

Dota 2 sells announcer and mega-kill packs that change the voice that calls out kills and events for the player who equips them.
Overwatch and Apex Legends treat hero voice lines or quips as cosmetic items you equip.
Modding communities make voice packs for single-player games, replacing characters' lines.

Points to check: whether the voice affects only you or everybody (an announcer pack often applies only to your own client), whether it replaces gameplay-relevant audio such as warnings (a pack that changes important cues can hurt your play), and the source. Download community packs only from trusted sites, since mod files are a common way to spread malware. In competitive games, check the rules: replacing sounds that give information, such as footsteps, can be treated as an unfair advantage.

Terms with their own articles

R6 Marketplace is the trading hub for Rainbow Six Siege cosmetics. It is built around the game's own credits rather than cash, and has requirements for the account that wants to use it. It is a good example of an official, closed-loop economy.
Vanity item is a cosmetic item that changes how a character, mount, pet or home looks without changing gameplay. Vanity items are the base of transmog, voice packs and many in-game stores.

Related service: WoW transmog sets and items