Reward dilution and inflation describe a structural dynamic in live-service products where the perceived value of rewards declines over time due to increasing frequency, predictability, or saturation. Unlike early-stage reward systems that rely on scarcity and novelty, mature live-service architectures often compensate for declining engagement by accelerating reward delivery. This paper analyzes reward inflation not as a balancing problem or content pacing issue, but as a systemic consequence of engagement-driven product models. By examining how reward value erodes through repetition, scaling, and escalation, the analysis frames reward…

Price obfuscation and currency abstraction describe a class of monetization architectures in which the relationship between real-world money and in-product value is deliberately mediated through symbolic currencies, layered exchanges, and non-intuitive conversion logic. While often discussed as an extension of price anchoring, these systems operate at a deeper economic-psychological level: they destabilize the user’s internal reference for monetary value itself. This paper analyzes price obfuscation as a core monetization infrastructure rather than a tactical pricing trick, showing how abstract currencies reshape spending behavior, weaken…