The existence of this thread just makes me laugh at the state of this gaming genre. For years developers b*tched and moaned about gold sellers causing problems in their games and offering an uneven playing field / advantages. And for years players complained about them. And what has it all come down to in MMORPGs? Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all.
Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
+1
sad but true
THIS x 1000.
This is an industry of greed. Too much DLC, Cash Shops and real money trading which has ruined my hobby. =(
I've learned to look past it, and just play the game. I don't play for power or to be pretty. When I get bored of the game I stop playing. I only take this attitude towards free to play games. Now with games that are subscription based that are plagued with this I simply just don't play them since in game currency isn't even needed to play the game, and it is so obvious they are making money off of it either directly or indirectly, hell it sure keeps you in game longer so that means more sub time from players it's a stupid waste of time that causes greediness and social barriers amongst players. I mean with most newer MMOs they are going with event based currency that requires you put in your own effort which is the way it should be. Auction Houses, and in game currency should go by the wayside. Lets get back to adventuring and slaying dragons, and quit shopping at the stupid ebay mall.
Originally posted by Warmaker The existence of this thread just makes me laugh at the state of this gaming genre. For years developers b*tched and moaned about gold sellers causing problems in their games and offering an uneven playing field / advantages. And for years players complained about them. And what has it all come down to in MMORPGs? Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all. Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
+1
sad but true
THIS x 1000. This is an industry of greed. Too much DLC, Cash Shops and real money trading which has ruined my hobby. =(
I've learned to look past it, and just play the game. I don't play for power or to be pretty. When I get bored of the game I stop playing. I only take this attitude towards free to play games. Now with games that are subscription based that are plagued with this I simply just don't play them since in game currency isn't even needed to play the game, and it is so obvious they are making money off of it either directly or indirectly, hell it sure keeps you in game longer so that means more sub time from players it's a stupid waste of time that causes greediness and social barriers amongst players. I mean with most newer MMOs they are going with event based currency that requires you put in your own effort which is the way it should be. Auction Houses, and in game currency should go by the wayside. Lets get back to adventuring and slaying dragons, and quit shopping at the stupid ebay mall.
Here's the thing. If I absolutely MUST deal with a cash shop....there are enough options where I don't need to pay a box and/or sub with it.
Likewise, if I am paying a sub, No Cash Shops!
It's looking like Rift is gonna be the best one of the lot for some time to come.
Real money trading became OK thousands of years ago ...
Oh hold on you mean why aren't people pretending they can stop trading from happening when they clearly never could? I dunno I guess when they realized they might as well get a piece of the pie and control it so that it doesn't ruin their game rather than have gangsters ruin their games.
You know they'll be safe(er) and clean(er) because they're regulated.
You know the price will be more regulated because the market will be visible not hidden.
The people in charge can then tax and get a cut of the profits.
I mean, you ask me would I rather my money go to the company who made the game I enjoy or to the prison guard in China who is/was forcing inmates to farm gold in WoW -
I'm going to answer "the company who made the game" every time.
Just a side note, you forgot to add one the arguments in favor of drug legalization:
Because Latin America is in a constant state of civil war, with innocent people daying daily, just so hipster kids can get high with their friends.
The existence of this thread just makes me laugh at the state of this gaming genre. For years developers b*tched and moaned about gold sellers causing problems in their games and offering an uneven playing field / advantages. And for years players complained about them. And what has it all come down to in MMORPGs? Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all.
Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
+1
sad but true
THIS x 1000.
This is an industry of greed. Too much DLC, Cash Shops and real money trading which has ruined my hobby. =(
I've learned to look past it, and just play the game. I don't play for power or to be pretty. When I get bored of the game I stop playing. I only take this attitude towards free to play games. Now with games that are subscription based that are plagued with this I simply just don't play them since in game currency isn't even needed to play the game, and it is so obvious they are making money off of it either directly or indirectly, hell it sure keeps you in game longer so that means more sub time from players it's a stupid waste of time that causes greediness and social barriers amongst players. I mean with most newer MMOs they are going with event based currency that requires you put in your own effort which is the way it should be. Auction Houses, and in game currency should go by the wayside. Lets get back to adventuring and slaying dragons, and quit shopping at the stupid ebay mall.
Here's the thing.
If I absolutely MUST deal with a cash shop....there are enough options where I don't need to pay a box and/or sub with it.
Likewise, if I am paying a sub, No Cash Shops!
It's looking like Rift is gonna be the best one of the lot for some time to come.
Rift has many things going for it, but it all depends on player attitudes & population. Things get old, and that doesn't benefit newcomers or veterans. They will be to far apart in level to really interact very much with low level out of game strangers, they will stay inside their clique like always helping personal out of game low level friends during rift or world encounters.
And the $8.25 for rich people who can throw $99 dollars into a gamble is a terrible move. Either make it $8.25 for all, or none at all. Do they hate poor people? I'm sorry, but I am unable to look past this pricing scheme. Drive that price to $8.25, and you can gaurantee way more subscriptions, increased populations, longevity, and easily better attitudes amongst the regular MMO subscriber. If they want money they are going to have to show gamers what they are made of, and they are very close to showing gamers what a great MMO experience can be very, very close. I mean free character transfers every 7 days, well I could easily find a few posts bitching about the price of character transfers on the WoW forums in about 2 seconds. And for the folk that say the game is a clone, well what isn't a clone of something or other. The game is very polished, if you don't believe me sign up for Rift Lite and play forever for free try it yourself. Actually just Rift Lite itself is pretty much a complete fun game from what I experienced, you don't have to subscribe. Plenty of people play FPS games over and over on the same map which basically sums it up in a nutshell. I didn't intend for this to turn into a Rift Advertisement, I don't care if you spend any money I probably won't but Rift Lite is pretty fun actually.
WoW is done in my opinion once you figure out that when you increase the level cap the past content gets tossed to the curb is when you need to jump ship to a newer MMO.
The existence of this thread just makes me laugh at the state of this gaming genre. For years developers b*tched and moaned about gold sellers causing problems in their games and offering an uneven playing field / advantages. And for years players complained about them. And what has it all come down to in MMORPGs? Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all.
Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
+1
sad but true
THIS x 1000.
This is an industry of greed. Too much DLC, Cash Shops and real money trading which has ruined my hobby. =(
The existence of this thread just makes me laugh at the state of this gaming genre. For years developers b*tched and moaned about gold sellers causing problems in their games and offering an uneven playing field / advantages. And for years players complained about them. And what has it all come down to in MMORPGs? Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all.
Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
+1
sad but true
THIS x 1000.
This is an industry of greed. Too much DLC, Cash Shops and real money trading which has ruined my hobby. =(
Oh noooesss... my e-peen will be smaller than e-peen of cash shoppers. the horror. Seriously people. if it hurt you that much why are you even still here? Go and play something else or give your money to game which doesn't have cash shop. Adapt or die..
I'm still suprised that people actually thought that GW2 was going to be better than every P2P MMO out there, the second coming of MMOs, cure cancer, raise your loved ones from the dead, and also purely B2P, with no/minor ongoing revenue model.
I would be interested in seeing how purely cosmetic cash shops do in terms of revenue, for comparison and viability.
the payment model is changing people. Moderate yourself, say, pay $15 a month in the cash shop, or choose not to.
Then again, maybe im the only one here who doesnt care to be # 1 super mega awsome player on the server.
So why are we letting legitimate forms of RMT become the norm? I am not about to suggest we boycott any games because that type of feedback is more often seen as a temper tantrum than an actual meaningful message.
For me it is simple. I hate developers selling cheats, but the only game that actually that is actually looking to provide large scale open world free for all cooperative gameplay unfortunately has such developers.
But while I probably won't boycott the game, II will be boycotting the RMT system and call anyone who uses it a cheater. And I highly recommend anyone who simiilarly dislike RMT, but can't take the step to full boycott do the same. The second part about calling those who use it cheaters is by far the most important one. Don't ever legitimize the behavior. When you legitimize it, that is when you have truly surrendered and lost.
Developers selling out to be the sellers themselves. It really just came down to wanting a cut of the action, that's all.
Laughable, just laughable. What a joke MMORPGs have become.
Not just developers. Look at how many of the defenders are just looking to get a cut of the action by being the ones providing the gold. It isn't MMORPGs any longer, it is MMORPRL. (massive multiplayer online role playing real life)
RMT was banned because it provided in-game advantages for out-of-game resources. That is, RMT was considered cheating.
Your argument is based on an interesting but not really true premise. Do you have a link to where devs said it was banned because it was considered cheating? Developers selling virtual goods and services has been around for about a decade now in NA/EU subscription MMOs. EA, SOE and other companies have always held the contention, publicly and directly through EULAs, that users of the service do not own their virtual goods, thus they are not allowed to sell them. The other reason was also to reduce support issues.
Adding underline and bold type to your opinion does not suddenly make it fact.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
It became OK the day Wow started to sell their "my little pony".
I voted for "I hate it" but that is for P2P games. In F2P and B2P games it is´'t really wrong since every company needs to get in money some way, then it individually depends on what they sell. DDOs shop is fine, EQ2s is bad.
Originally posted by TommiJyurro EVE Online's RNT system is unique in that it allows players to earn gametime by buying it from players who can afford more than they can use. I have four EVE accounts, and that is a huge advantage for me, since I only have to pay for one account out of pocket. And the people using the CCP sanctioned RMT(PLEX for ISK) are not at any advantage over me. It doesn't even effect the "Game's integrity" as you put it. EVE is an EVIL game, and scamming, at least in game, is part of it's culture. The stupid and lame get weeded out, and the strong survive. Which means the game is full of a bunch of @holes, true, but that's what makes EVE so unique. If the RMT system CCP has in place effects the game's integrity for you, that is only because you aren't smart enough to profit from it.
Yes, if Eve online system was the best at the time a looooooonnnng time ago, it is now one of the worst in the gaming industry, because it reached the meta game level.
The Eve mmo became a race for big factions to buy advantages through the plex system to get the best armada and toons, this is why CCp shifted few month ago to take advantage of this, because its so popular and generate massive amount of money to them. Its not just a player or 2 that buy a monocle, its faction with hundred of people pouring real money for their faction to stay on top, just pathetic. ANd yes pouring money into your faction is definitely becoming a must, not only is welcome but is now a free ticket to get in and stay. If at any point RMT influence pvp and guild faction, the rmt influence just sky rocket to an other level, but obviously nobody want to talk about this neither the factions neither the developer because they are still super ashamed of those behaviors. But be sure it won't last long before they claim its the most normal thing on earth. In any case this kind of meta game rmt influence is becoming very popular and you can be sure it won't stop any time soon. And yes a agree with other people on how pathetic the mmorpg genre became, it is just a rotten apple at this point.
It became OK the day Wow started to sell their "my little pony".
I voted for "I hate it" but that is for P2P games. In F2P and B2P games it is´'t really wrong since every company needs to get in money some way, then it individually depends on what they sell. DDOs shop is fine, EQ2s is bad.
I don't know if WoW is anymore to blame then other games. Does buying a my little sparkle pony in one game open the floodgates in another? I really don't know. And I remember when DDO was P2P with no cash shop. I enjoyed DDO but didn't feel it was worth the sub price at least from my wallet though I did like it. I played LotR online before it went f2p too. Again, GOOD game, really. I sub'd to that one longer. It was however missing something in my opinion but that's not news. Many others I have tried or sub'd to in the past, now f2p. There is absolutely no point for me to go down the list and check to see if a game I used to play has been fixed in any way shape or form. Why? They are f2p instead with a cash shop. YAY! Instead of fixing the problems that are brought about by releasing half a game, a game with a terrible engine, little to no content, or an ill thought out concept in the first place, alot of companies have thrown in an item shop to keep the game going. Not so they can use the proceeds to THEN fix the game, so they can ride the wave of profit that that cash shop brings in. People play them, and they pay for them. Blame the companies themselves if you want but the community is to blame for not demanding better! For games that are built f2p from the get-go I think it's a different story but tbh those are not something I would touch ever. They reminds me of all those dumb games on facebook that your mates send you annoying game invites and request for which flood your wall for pages and pages. One of many reasons I hate facebook. But it has helped to make it acceptable too in it's own way.
P.S. Not really checked out DDO's shop tbh so I haven't a clue what's in there.
RMT was banned because it provided in-game advantages for out-of-game resources. That is, RMT was considered cheating.
Your argument is based on an interesting but not really true premise. Do you have a link to where devs said it was banned because it was considered cheating? Developers selling virtual goods and services has been around for about a decade now in NA/EU subscription MMOs. EA, SOE and other companies have always held the contention, publicly and directly through EULAs, that users of the service do not own their virtual goods, thus they are not allowed to sell them. The other reason was also to reduce support issues.
Adding underline and bold type to your opinion does not suddenly make it fact.
So what do you call it when a user breaks the rules?
I believe Koster among others has said its a form a cheating. I guess you will only accept a press release. I believe Brad Mcquaid debated a gold seller once. Im not going to find it for you.
People arent selling Virtual items, they're selling time. Do these companies own our time as well? See we can play too.
Regardless of what anyone claims. A game has rules. In the game everyone plays by the same rules regardless of out of game circumstances. Money can determine how long you play, the equipment you use, your level of skill, but never allow you to have access to the rules.
Simple, it became acceptable the second a game that a person A: was looking forward to, announced it or B: A game that they liked to play intoduced it. I really don't think there's much more to it.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
freemium is everywhere now. It's a popular model not just for mmos.
Only popular among developers because so few spend so much. The vast majority of players don't spend money.
It also devalues your brand and game to "cheap" status and drag the entire studio and it's other products down to cheap status as well. You cant be a maker of high quality products AND a maker of cheap products too. (quality and cheap in the eyes of the customer)
Five years ago, I believe it was Time magazine that reported an article of the 6 billion dollar industry that was gold farming. This is when gold farming just became investigated all around. Then when people found all the illegal activities that surrounded gold farming, it became neccessary that alternatives were met.
We have seen how well the war on drugs has become. You just create a black market. So the only viable way is to create an open market and place layers of security where you can. You make a legal deterant. Sure, some people still make thier own ciggerattes and liquor, but its hardly profitable and more of a nusance than anything.
Game design for MMOs has changed significantly over the last few years. Back in the day, there was nothing but money and more powerful items. When gold buying first game around, you directly became more powerful buy buying gold. Games then implemented second and third tier currency to prevent gold from being as important. So the claims early in the day that it was for cheaters was true, it directly allowed you to buy items that were vastly more powerful than anything in the game. Also, dungeons had to be run some hundred times to get certain items, and when items are rare, that ads to the cheat factor. This unregulated gold market did nothing but auto inflate hte price of things.
6 years is a long time to look at something and figure out a method to both curb it and insure that this money goes to good use. Some companies chose the pay to win way. Which menat putting things in the auction house that were needed and forcing placers to spend real world money. This type of forcing gives the illusion that the game is free, but in order to do dungeons and raids, you NEED armor you can only enhance with items in the store or 100 to 200 runs in a specific dungeon.
The GW2 method is a different model. It would be equivalent to the way the US governtment regulates alcohol. First there are limits on the bonuses the items provide throughout the entire game. This devalues armor and equipment. You get slight advantage, but you are not instituted by the company the mentallity that you need to have something to do something. There are going to always be guilds and groups who will be numbers crunching. But the number crunching is so minute in Guild Wars, that only the die harders will care about everything. And the system is designed so that no one wil lexclude anyone based on a few percentage points.
So, with an overall change the the importance of equipment, you can now put things in an item shop that will provide non-game stat bonuses. XP, Coins received, Karma bonuses. You also price the items that use these fairly and evenly. You make a system that feels like I am saving time and not that I am returning time to normal. 90 minutes to level is phenomenal, considering most games. So long as Karma prices are done similar this works great.
The market is also regulated by a government. It's about as free as the US market. If things ever got crazy, the country can pump more money in, take money out ban things devalue others. It's a way to make sure that htere's a steady flow and its doing exactly as its designed.
So when did Real Money Trading become okay? When game design changed to prevent the cheating aspect of it and methods were created to better insure that money could not buy signifnicant amounts of time, but reasonable amounts of time.
F'it. I tried to ignore this one... just couldn't resist.
When there are thousands of people exploiting bugs, dupes, and generally breaking a game why should I not break the RMT rule provided it saves me some time and increases my enjoyment of said game without the hamster wheel?
This argument is old and tired.
You won't change my opinion, I won't change your opinion. Moving on....
Comments
I've learned to look past it, and just play the game. I don't play for power or to be pretty. When I get bored of the game I stop playing. I only take this attitude towards free to play games. Now with games that are subscription based that are plagued with this I simply just don't play them since in game currency isn't even needed to play the game, and it is so obvious they are making money off of it either directly or indirectly, hell it sure keeps you in game longer so that means more sub time from players it's a stupid waste of time that causes greediness and social barriers amongst players. I mean with most newer MMOs they are going with event based currency that requires you put in your own effort which is the way it should be. Auction Houses, and in game currency should go by the wayside. Lets get back to adventuring and slaying dragons, and quit shopping at the stupid ebay mall.
Here's the thing.
If I absolutely MUST deal with a cash shop....there are enough options where I don't need to pay a box and/or sub with it.
Likewise, if I am paying a sub, No Cash Shops!
It's looking like Rift is gonna be the best one of the lot for some time to come.
Real money trading became OK thousands of years ago ...
Oh hold on you mean why aren't people pretending they can stop trading from happening when they clearly never could? I dunno I guess when they realized they might as well get a piece of the pie and control it so that it doesn't ruin their game rather than have gangsters ruin their games.
Just a side note, you forgot to add one the arguments in favor of drug legalization:
Because Latin America is in a constant state of civil war, with innocent people daying daily, just so hipster kids can get high with their friends.
Rift has many things going for it, but it all depends on player attitudes & population. Things get old, and that doesn't benefit newcomers or veterans. They will be to far apart in level to really interact very much with low level out of game strangers, they will stay inside their clique like always helping personal out of game low level friends during rift or world encounters.
And the $8.25 for rich people who can throw $99 dollars into a gamble is a terrible move. Either make it $8.25 for all, or none at all. Do they hate poor people? I'm sorry, but I am unable to look past this pricing scheme. Drive that price to $8.25, and you can gaurantee way more subscriptions, increased populations, longevity, and easily better attitudes amongst the regular MMO subscriber. If they want money they are going to have to show gamers what they are made of, and they are very close to showing gamers what a great MMO experience can be very, very close. I mean free character transfers every 7 days, well I could easily find a few posts bitching about the price of character transfers on the WoW forums in about 2 seconds. And for the folk that say the game is a clone, well what isn't a clone of something or other. The game is very polished, if you don't believe me sign up for Rift Lite and play forever for free try it yourself. Actually just Rift Lite itself is pretty much a complete fun game from what I experienced, you don't have to subscribe. Plenty of people play FPS games over and over on the same map which basically sums it up in a nutshell. I didn't intend for this to turn into a Rift Advertisement, I don't care if you spend any money I probably won't but Rift Lite is pretty fun actually.
WoW is done in my opinion once you figure out that when you increase the level cap the past content gets tossed to the curb is when you need to jump ship to a newer MMO.
Very well said.
The MMO genre is done.
An honest review of SW:TOR 6/10 (Danny Wojcicki)
RIP
the poster formerly known as melangel :P
i thought the point of the game was to play it. game companies being so damn greedy is slowly making me not wanna play games anymore
Oh noooesss... my e-peen will be smaller than e-peen of cash shoppers. the horror. Seriously people. if it hurt you that much why are you even still here? Go and play something else or give your money to game which doesn't have cash shop. Adapt or die..
I'm still suprised that people actually thought that GW2 was going to be better than every P2P MMO out there, the second coming of MMOs, cure cancer, raise your loved ones from the dead, and also purely B2P, with no/minor ongoing revenue model.
I would be interested in seeing how purely cosmetic cash shops do in terms of revenue, for comparison and viability.
the payment model is changing people. Moderate yourself, say, pay $15 a month in the cash shop, or choose not to.
Then again, maybe im the only one here who doesnt care to be # 1 super mega awsome player on the server.
For me it is simple. I hate developers selling cheats, but the only game that actually that is actually looking to provide large scale open world free for all cooperative gameplay unfortunately has such developers.
But while I probably won't boycott the game, II will be boycotting the RMT system and call anyone who uses it a cheater. And I highly recommend anyone who simiilarly dislike RMT, but can't take the step to full boycott do the same. The second part about calling those who use it cheaters is by far the most important one. Don't ever legitimize the behavior. When you legitimize it, that is when you have truly surrendered and lost.
Not just developers. Look at how many of the defenders are just looking to get a cut of the action by being the ones providing the gold. It isn't MMORPGs any longer, it is MMORPRL. (massive multiplayer online role playing real life)
A true joke.
i love the new system! i've blown over 20grand on games in the last year
Your argument is based on an interesting but not really true premise. Do you have a link to where devs said it was banned because it was considered cheating? Developers selling virtual goods and services has been around for about a decade now in NA/EU subscription MMOs. EA, SOE and other companies have always held the contention, publicly and directly through EULAs, that users of the service do not own their virtual goods, thus they are not allowed to sell them. The other reason was also to reduce support issues.
Adding underline and bold type to your opinion does not suddenly make it fact.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
It became OK the day Wow started to sell their "my little pony".
I voted for "I hate it" but that is for P2P games. In F2P and B2P games it is´'t really wrong since every company needs to get in money some way, then it individually depends on what they sell. DDOs shop is fine, EQ2s is bad.
Yes, if Eve online system was the best at the time a looooooonnnng time ago, it is now one of the worst in the gaming industry, because it reached the meta game level.
The Eve mmo became a race for big factions to buy advantages through the plex system to get the best armada and toons, this is why CCp shifted few month ago to take advantage of this, because its so popular and generate massive amount of money to them. Its not just a player or 2 that buy a monocle, its faction with hundred of people pouring real money for their faction to stay on top, just pathetic. ANd yes pouring money into your faction is definitely becoming a must, not only is welcome but is now a free ticket to get in and stay. If at any point RMT influence pvp and guild faction, the rmt influence just sky rocket to an other level, but obviously nobody want to talk about this neither the factions neither the developer because they are still super ashamed of those behaviors. But be sure it won't last long before they claim its the most normal thing on earth. In any case this kind of meta game rmt influence is becoming very popular and you can be sure it won't stop any time soon. And yes a agree with other people on how pathetic the mmorpg genre became, it is just a rotten apple at this point.
I don't know if WoW is anymore to blame then other games. Does buying a my little sparkle pony in one game open the floodgates in another? I really don't know. And I remember when DDO was P2P with no cash shop. I enjoyed DDO but didn't feel it was worth the sub price at least from my wallet though I did like it. I played LotR online before it went f2p too. Again, GOOD game, really. I sub'd to that one longer. It was however missing something in my opinion but that's not news. Many others I have tried or sub'd to in the past, now f2p. There is absolutely no point for me to go down the list and check to see if a game I used to play has been fixed in any way shape or form. Why? They are f2p instead with a cash shop. YAY! Instead of fixing the problems that are brought about by releasing half a game, a game with a terrible engine, little to no content, or an ill thought out concept in the first place, alot of companies have thrown in an item shop to keep the game going. Not so they can use the proceeds to THEN fix the game, so they can ride the wave of profit that that cash shop brings in. People play them, and they pay for them. Blame the companies themselves if you want but the community is to blame for not demanding better! For games that are built f2p from the get-go I think it's a different story but tbh those are not something I would touch ever. They reminds me of all those dumb games on facebook that your mates send you annoying game invites and request for which flood your wall for pages and pages. One of many reasons I hate facebook. But it has helped to make it acceptable too in it's own way.
P.S. Not really checked out DDO's shop tbh so I haven't a clue what's in there.
the poster formerly known as melangel :P
That's BS. WoW doesn't have RMT. Get your facts straight.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
So what do you call it when a user breaks the rules?
I believe Koster among others has said its a form a cheating. I guess you will only accept a press release. I believe Brad Mcquaid debated a gold seller once. Im not going to find it for you.
People arent selling Virtual items, they're selling time. Do these companies own our time as well? See we can play too.
Regardless of what anyone claims. A game has rules. In the game everyone plays by the same rules regardless of out of game circumstances. Money can determine how long you play, the equipment you use, your level of skill, but never allow you to have access to the rules.
RMT proves that progression is not a game.
Simple, it became acceptable the second a game that a person A: was looking forward to, announced it or B: A game that they liked to play intoduced it. I really don't think there's much more to it.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Most of you guys fail to make a valid point, nor one that makes actual sense.
freemium is everywhere now. It's a popular model not just for mmos.
Only popular among developers because so few spend so much. The vast majority of players don't spend money.
It also devalues your brand and game to "cheap" status and drag the entire studio and it's other products down to cheap status as well. You cant be a maker of high quality products AND a maker of cheap products too. (quality and cheap in the eyes of the customer)
There are excpetions of coarse.
Five years ago, I believe it was Time magazine that reported an article of the 6 billion dollar industry that was gold farming. This is when gold farming just became investigated all around. Then when people found all the illegal activities that surrounded gold farming, it became neccessary that alternatives were met.
We have seen how well the war on drugs has become. You just create a black market. So the only viable way is to create an open market and place layers of security where you can. You make a legal deterant. Sure, some people still make thier own ciggerattes and liquor, but its hardly profitable and more of a nusance than anything.
Game design for MMOs has changed significantly over the last few years. Back in the day, there was nothing but money and more powerful items. When gold buying first game around, you directly became more powerful buy buying gold. Games then implemented second and third tier currency to prevent gold from being as important. So the claims early in the day that it was for cheaters was true, it directly allowed you to buy items that were vastly more powerful than anything in the game. Also, dungeons had to be run some hundred times to get certain items, and when items are rare, that ads to the cheat factor. This unregulated gold market did nothing but auto inflate hte price of things.
6 years is a long time to look at something and figure out a method to both curb it and insure that this money goes to good use. Some companies chose the pay to win way. Which menat putting things in the auction house that were needed and forcing placers to spend real world money. This type of forcing gives the illusion that the game is free, but in order to do dungeons and raids, you NEED armor you can only enhance with items in the store or 100 to 200 runs in a specific dungeon.
The GW2 method is a different model. It would be equivalent to the way the US governtment regulates alcohol. First there are limits on the bonuses the items provide throughout the entire game. This devalues armor and equipment. You get slight advantage, but you are not instituted by the company the mentallity that you need to have something to do something. There are going to always be guilds and groups who will be numbers crunching. But the number crunching is so minute in Guild Wars, that only the die harders will care about everything. And the system is designed so that no one wil lexclude anyone based on a few percentage points.
So, with an overall change the the importance of equipment, you can now put things in an item shop that will provide non-game stat bonuses. XP, Coins received, Karma bonuses. You also price the items that use these fairly and evenly. You make a system that feels like I am saving time and not that I am returning time to normal. 90 minutes to level is phenomenal, considering most games. So long as Karma prices are done similar this works great.
The market is also regulated by a government. It's about as free as the US market. If things ever got crazy, the country can pump more money in, take money out ban things devalue others. It's a way to make sure that htere's a steady flow and its doing exactly as its designed.
So when did Real Money Trading become okay? When game design changed to prevent the cheating aspect of it and methods were created to better insure that money could not buy signifnicant amounts of time, but reasonable amounts of time.
F'it. I tried to ignore this one... just couldn't resist.
When there are thousands of people exploiting bugs, dupes, and generally breaking a game why should I not break the RMT rule provided it saves me some time and increases my enjoyment of said game without the hamster wheel?
This argument is old and tired.
You won't change my opinion, I won't change your opinion. Moving on....