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Micro-Transactions (MT) , What's the real deal?
SuprGamerX
Member Posts: 531
Here's the situation with MT that are able to "buff-up" a character and why no one wants them , especially EVE-Online.
This is why MT is no different then RMT and I find it funny that those games even have a damn EULA.
Ok so your playing this F2P game with a cash shop which has a EXP potion of 14 days for 8$ , which in game is sold for 1 million gold.
Now take that same 8$ and go to a chinese homeboy , that 8$ will grant you 5 million gold , with which you can buy 5 EXP potions , sounds like a good deal right?
Your so wrong , in fact , the short term will have benefits , but in the long term , that EXP potion will sky rocket to 10 million gold and every item in game will have inflated to a point a newbie that just started playing the game will quit. (Hint : Atlantica Online). Also RMT keeps flow with the game's economy , so basically when prices start going up , they'll never go back down , but still keep on going up.
Why do items inflate that much? People that buy gold off a chinese homeboy to buy cash shop items in game has alot of left over cash to buy equipement / crafting mats , which drains the market , which makes the items rare , which makes the prices go up like crazy. It's human nature , when you got cash , why bother gathering stuff and wasting time when you can just buy them? It's a deadly one way trip.
Now imagine CCP releasing "buff-up" items in their NeX (Cash shop) in EVE-Online? EVE has the most awesome economy I've ever seen in a game , it has a better economy then most parts of the world IRL. Now throw in MT with "buff-up" , "special ships" and such , say good bye to EVE's economy.
I read threads on this site on how F2P is a savior , how more wrong could you get? Again , the short term will seem to be great , but if you can't keep up with the crowd gathering equipement / crafting mats, your screwed. If you can't manage a 10$ a month for a sub , do everyone a favor and go play on private servers so we can actually stop having junk after junk being released.
F2P aka P2W ,is crap. A good way on sending our cash to Asia to grow their economy and sink ours. Just a thought. Most F2P are published by Asia , if not all. You know Torchlight 2 which is being worked on by ex members of Blizzard North? The game will be published by a asian company. Just a simple example.
F2P is destroying the genre , the reason why people say Star wars the old republic will suck is because of all the damn F2Ps being released , people look at SWtor and look at all the F2Ps and tell themselves : " I really don't see much of a difference " The MMORPG market has become a huge Dollarama for cheap games with the same graphics, same game play , same grind , same mobs , same of all. Which has saturated the genre to a point where no one is bothering on playing anymore.
It's funny how all this is caused by a cash shop , once people start buying off cash shops , it sends flags to Asian devs to release more and more of the same. Which fills up the Asian Pubs bank accounts , which allows them to release more junk , while our awesome P2P games are struggling because they need to go the cheap way and give everything to everyone now , which in the end ruins the economy , the community and in the end , the game itself.
Anyways , I've had fun with the genre , alot of good memories back in the 90's until about 2003. Had a few good moments worth remembering in EVE, AoC , LoTRO. Other then that , R.I.P MMORPG , the genre. I now call it P2WNPG as in Pay to win Non playable game.
Comments
What's scandelous about some of the popular games trying to move item shops in, is that they are pulling a bait-and-switch fraud.
Most players assumed paying a sub fee = no item shops, but the greed of some of these companies is taking it further.
In any case there's a reason item shop malls fail big time.
In the long run Item shop/pay2win games always sink deeper and deeper.
I've always thought it'd be interesting to have an organization that managed some form of unofficial rating system for F2P games, hopefully ran by honest individuals with some backbone and morals, that would judge the legitimacy of a particular cash shop or title. Really, with the way things are going, it'd be nice to apply across all MMO's with any form of cash shop, as so to notify people before they started playing whichever MMO they've chosen as to whether the cash shop has been designed to rip them off (buff items that balance an imposed or coded debuff, gear or weapons that cannot be acquired otherwise) or exists simply as a supplemental attachment for services that are otherwise unnecessary to play the game (server transfers, character name changes).
It'd be great to have, especially now, when this genre is making a scary turn for the worst. Without some form of standardization, and the throng of mouth breathing consumers who are openly supporting this kind of unethical behavior from the worst of the F2P crop, it's going to continue to spread like wild fire. Why wouldn't it? These developers have created an extremely efficient way to print money, and it's at our expense.
"This is life! We suffer and slave and expire. That's it!" -Bernard Black (Dylan Moran)
The P2P saviour article was in the "Devil's Advocate" tradition. You seemed to have missed that. I agree on some of the points you made, especially about human nature and advantage. you lost me totally when you began your rant on the actions of the Anti-West Asian F2P cabal. Any good points you have are obscured by the obvious issues you have with the East.
There is NO miracle patch.
95% of what you see in beta won't change by launch.
Hope is not a stategy.
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"This kind of topic is like one of those little cartoon boxes held up by a stick on a string, with a piece of meat under it. In other words, bait."
I've been having the same thoughts but with ratings for GM corruption in MMOs. It's actually a criteria I research before I even try new games anymore.
An independent rating site for such things in MMOs would be great.
Personally, I have a low tolerence for advertising ... I find it drives me out of games to have this constant little nagging suggestion that I just insert another quarter.
Interesting point. I'd much rather see billboards for Nike and Coke machines in the games I play than have to pay $3 for a dungeon or character slot.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
I think all types of payment models are legitimate... some people prefer one type or another.
What i don't like is a company changing its payment model without community input after having a different model for years.
There are better ways to go about it.
Engaging the community with a discussion of options to keep a company financially solvent and polling active paying subscribers would be an awesome approach imo.
I know i would be willing to pay a higher monthly subscription fee myself to keep a game I enjoyed afloat.
Just don't pull a fast one and switch the payment model on me.
If a company is in financial trouble it should say so.. let the players know they have an option.. pay X dollars more a month or they will have to implement a cash shop.
Financial statements showing distress are helpful too ... it keeps people from calling them greedy ^^
Subscription + Cash Shop for win.
You either pay sub and grind everything yourself or you pay a sub and purchase from shop so you don't have to grind. Fair deal.
Micro transactions are just a method to rip off the people who never win but want to pay to win .(When the items impact gameplay). If you don't pay you just get obstacles that ruin game play put in your way until you start paying or stop playing(When the items impact gameplay).
The real deal is we are getting games that arent worth the paper they are written on ....... Subscription based games are if non the cheapest forms of entertainment. Free to play does not exist , Micro transaction are all part of this con(When the items impact gameplay).
The only MT i support are pretty close or items that affect gameplay in no way whatsoever.
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
I don't think people get all worked up over the payment model though
I think the bigger issue is they change the payment model regardless of if the game needs it or not to survive financially
and even if it was in financial trouble.. they refuse to look at other options or engage the community.
If players know up front there is going to be a cash shop.. expect a lot less anger than if you start a game out as a subscription only game.. then a year or two down the road add a cash shop.
That just screams bait and switch to me.
I think the poster was referring to in game advertisements for cash shop items that appear in your chat bar, and not the concept of advertisment space. However, I would agree with you that I could handle advertising in game, but it should be done with a little bit of common sense.
I wouldn't have a problem with walking buy a shop that had a Nike sign in the window, but if we get to the final boss room and it has Coke bottle pillars we got a problem.
Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
In game advertising would be taken to far, and in most of these fantasy world there would those that complain it ruins the immersion factor. Me I see once this is allowed going into a questing zone to fight some caveman and seeing a giant billboard over their cave with some geico add.
I tend to agree with the OP. He didn't lose me, and I understand what he was getting at. He doesn't want his economy or country to fail (albeit he is probaby tieing the future into video games a bit much)."The East" acts the same. I don't seen any "issues" with that. On another note, down with cash shops.
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Real as Reality Television!!!
Microtransactions are the quickest way to sink your game, especially an MMOrpg.
It basically just devalues everything in-game since now people are spending a couple bucks to get what you spent hours on in-game.
I think microtransactions can work for cosmetic things np or just premium services like tracking in game stats or other metagamer features that people might get competitive about...
buy in tournaments for bragging rights and rewards like free game play for a year or minor in game items? (who wouldn't want a giant chuck norris hat for winning
)
but without a subscription a game becomes to reliant on the power spenders who want to be the best at the expense of a balanced or fun game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpbbuaIA3Ds
Perhaps in a mondern fantasy game like The Secret World it wouldn't be so obtrusive . I understand the breaking of immersion, but it could make the games cheaper to play without detracting from the quality of content or the lifespans of the games. If you could play your favorite game for free, and get access to everything in the cash shop for free (or make them obsolete) because of in-game advertising, that sounds like a fair trade-off. Some would like it, some would not. Imagine if you had to pay to post here on this site. You don't. It exists largely due to advertising.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.