I enjoy "playing" the worldwide AH - the regional system doesn't interest me. If the MMO doesn't offer the worldwide version, then it's like it is missing an important gameplay feature for me. I've beta tested plenty of MMO's and found several that I thought to myself how fun they could be if they had this. And of course, I didn't subscribe to them.
/more SWG The planetwide search helped a LOT, there were tens of thousands of vendors, if not more, full of mostly crap. The vendor search allowed people to find what they were looking for, at the best prices. It was one of the few changes they made post-cu that I think made a positive impact.
Also, about the "little guy," dont feel bad for those smaller crafters. If they're little it either means 1) They're not as devoted as the bigger crafters 2) They're new. Either case, with hard work and dedication, even if you're new, you can easily outquality the big crafters. Most of them make decent equipment for a decent price, this is where the smaller crafters can come in and make uber equipment for uber prices. This is how I always ran it on SWG. I didnt have the time, resources, etc to mass produce quality goods, so I stuck to making enhanced equipment, and I made a fortune doing it. Sure, it takes a long time, I spent over a year just collecting resources, and I still never got everything I needed (I never did make a T-21), but I made what I could, and I made it good. This is all that matters.
*Carresses the memory of his 1800 dura +130 krayt geo pistol* *Cries for whoever bought it, since durability and stun went out the window*
I've played MMOs with both regional (SWG & EVE) and global (WoW & MX:O) auction systems. EVE is probably a special case, since it's so vast that Space Trucker is a valid profession choice, but SWG is a lot closer to the size scope of most MMOs, so I'll focus on it for my main regional example.
One of the aspects where the "real world" argument for regional markets breaks down is that for most MMOs, it's relatively easy to traverse all or most of the world without too much time penalty or risk. In SWG, if I wanted an item that was only made by a crazy chef using an exploited vendor on Dathomir, (the other end of the universe) it would be an annoying waste of an hour to get there and back, but not much more than that. In the "real world" if I (a middle-class American) want an Double-Double from In & Out (Southern California hamburger chain) it's a major undertaking, because I live 1000 miles from the nearest location. It's stuff like this that I think makes the regional economy work in EVE, but not in SWG.
Another point on SWG. I don't know about other servers, but for the one I was on, Coronet, Corellia pretty much became a giant trade center. Malls (guild halls full of vendors) pretty much became the main place to buy stuff, neatly circumventing the regional economy argument. Sure you could waste an hour looking for the perfect piece of armor, but most people (me included) would rather pay a little more for the convenience of finding what we need in ten minutes.
Does a global economy make it more difficult for crafters? Maybe a little. I'm doubtful that it makes it all that much easier for a monopoly though, simply because I feel a global economy makes it easier to undercut the leader. For most players, though, it's a win. Less downtime, and more time playing the part of the game you enjoy is always a win in my book.
----------------------------- When I go, I want to leave a crater, not lie in one.
Comments
/more SWG
The planetwide search helped a LOT, there were tens of thousands of vendors, if not more, full of mostly crap. The vendor search allowed people to find what they were looking for, at the best prices. It was one of the few changes they made post-cu that I think made a positive impact.
Also, about the "little guy," dont feel bad for those smaller crafters. If they're little it either means 1) They're not as devoted as the bigger crafters 2) They're new. Either case, with hard work and dedication, even if you're new, you can easily outquality the big crafters. Most of them make decent equipment for a decent price, this is where the smaller crafters can come in and make uber equipment for uber prices. This is how I always ran it on SWG. I didnt have the time, resources, etc to mass produce quality goods, so I stuck to making enhanced equipment, and I made a fortune doing it. Sure, it takes a long time, I spent over a year just collecting resources, and I still never got everything I needed (I never did make a T-21), but I made what I could, and I made it good. This is all that matters.
*Carresses the memory of his 1800 dura +130 krayt geo pistol*
*Cries for whoever bought it, since durability and stun went out the window*
One of the aspects where the "real world" argument for regional markets breaks down is that for most MMOs, it's relatively easy to traverse all or most of the world without too much time penalty or risk. In SWG, if I wanted an item that was only made by a crazy chef using an exploited vendor on Dathomir, (the other end of the universe) it would be an annoying waste of an hour to get there and back, but not much more than that. In the "real world" if I (a middle-class American) want an Double-Double from In & Out (Southern California hamburger chain) it's a major undertaking, because I live 1000 miles from the nearest location. It's stuff like this that I think makes the regional economy work in EVE, but not in SWG.
Another point on SWG. I don't know about other servers, but for the one I was on, Coronet, Corellia pretty much became a giant trade center. Malls (guild halls full of vendors) pretty much became the main place to buy stuff, neatly circumventing the regional economy argument. Sure you could waste an hour looking for the perfect piece of armor, but most people (me included) would rather pay a little more for the convenience of finding what we need in ten minutes.
Does a global economy make it more difficult for crafters? Maybe a little. I'm doubtful that it makes it all that much easier for a monopoly though, simply because I feel a global economy makes it easier to undercut the leader. For most players, though, it's a win. Less downtime, and more time playing the part of the game you enjoy is always a win in my book.
-----------------------------
When I go, I want to leave a crater, not lie in one.
Former Matrix: Online dev. Been there, done that.