Players of Bungie, Inc.’s overwhelming hit space shooter video game Destiny on Xbox and PlayStation are about to see the return of a character named Tess Everis on October 13. Tess will be bringing with her a new store that contains items that can be bought for real money with a new in-game currency called “silver.”

This model is common to many free-to-play games on the web and mobile (and even buy-to-play and subscription games) where players are given a chance to pay money to the developer to receive in-game currency and buy virtual items. SiliconANGLE has covered this in the past for games such as Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft where selling a virtual goat raised $1.9 million for an ebola charity this year, and a star-filled pony named the Celestial Steed raised $2 million in four hours in 2011.

The items in Destiny will arrive courtesy of a storefront from the in-game Eververse Trading Company and “Tess will offer eighteen brand new emotes,” says Bungie.

Obtaining items provided by Tess will be optional, the developer adds, and most importantly the in-game store will not sell anything that directly affects gameplay or game mechanics. As the first set of items available will be emotes–or emotive animations available to characters–it is most likely Bungie will stock Tess’s store with items of the cosmetic variety.

Bungie promises no pay-to-win

As above, Bungie also states that “these emotes are completely optional, and won’t impact the action game in any way.” Presumably this will be true of any further items added to the Eververse Trading Company store.

This is important because many players fear the addition of items obtainable for real money could lead to what is known as “pay-to-win” or a circumstance where players with money can pay for advantage. To avoid this, video games such as ArenaNet LLC’s Guild Wars 2 offer only quality-of-life items and cosmetics–capes, outfits, hats, etc.–and nothing that give players direct advantage. As a result, these shops never include weapons or armor (except perhaps as skins that change the appearance of weapons and armor).

“Our plan is to use these new items to bolster the service provided by our live team for another full year,” added Bungie, “as they grow and create more robust and engaging events that we’ll announce later this year.”

The game developer has also announced that upon approaching the October 13 date, players will receive a handful of free silver to mark the launch.

Featured image credit: Courtesy of Bungie, Inc. screenshot from Destiny