Not P2W, but "Gift to win"

olepi

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

Dattelis

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

I've done this a handful of times when I was brand new to a mmorpg. I remember being in the barrens once when I started out in WotLK and someone gave me 1000 gold randomly which honestly lasted me a while. I ended up doing something similar when I got more established in the game which was kind of nice, like 'did my good deed for the week' kind of thing. I think gestures like that help shape how some people play, especially if you know how hard it can be starting up in a new environment without knowing much.

olepi

Dattelis said:

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

I've done this a handful of times when I was brand new to a mmorpg. I remember being in the barrens once when I started out in WotLK and someone gave me 1000 gold randomly which honestly lasted me a while. I ended up doing something similar when I got more established in the game which was kind of nice, like 'did my good deed for the week' kind of thing. I think gestures like that help shape how some people play, especially if you know how hard it can be starting up in a new environment without knowing much.

I rememberr way back in the early days of DAOC, I was playing a Minstrel and while we were waiting for a transport, I ran around playing my harp as if I was serenading them.

Somebody tipped me 5 gold, which at the time was a fortune compared to what I had.

Uwakionna

Honestly I see it as the preferred principle behind F2P.

Gifting and shared bonuses help quite a bit in pushing for more positive community interaction, as well as can curb some of the more aggressive dynamics of F2P.

It can be weaponized too, though. Like Diablo Immortal's take on it where paid drop rate bonus from using shop crests stacks per party member without a hard cap outside of total group limit. This ends up meaning that it pushes for everyone in the group to pay to cap that shared bon us, instead of it being a perk only necessary from one user within said group.

When not abuse like that, it has great benefit to the community in the form of fostering goodwill and a more "pay it forward" attitude. And as the examples noted it's something that exists as a mode of community interaction, regardless of if there's a F2P mechanic driving it or not (unless the game is really stingy about player trades).

I'm personally a stickler about accepting gifts, but I do like giving them out.

cameltosis

Accepting gifts is in no way similar to P2W or F2P.

As to whether I would accept or not, it totally depends on the game. I generally prefer to make my way through by myself.....the first time......but if I've already seen the game, I'm happy accepting gifts to make the boring start bit quicker. Its no different to crafting good gear for an alt.

Scot

What about more senior guild members helping out the newbies? Is that Guild to Win?

Kyleran

I used to, but in EVE some scammers would give away free ISK that they obtained illegally.

CCP would eventually figure it out and reverse the ISK which could put the players account in the negative, (is they spent it) thereby locking it until the victim purchased /sold enough PLEX to bring their account above the line..

In FO76 my friends and I had the hardest time convincing new player to sell us 1 bullet for 5000 gold, always thought we were trying to scam them.

Ungood

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

Not really.

I often like to play the game, and getting too much a jumpstart can make it harder for me to really get into it.

However, once I am into the game, I'll take any gift you can throw at me. Lay it on me baby!

Scot

Ungood said:

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

Not really.

I often like to play the game, and getting too much a jumpstart can make it harder for me to really get into it.

However, once I am into the game, I'll take any gift you can throw at me. Lay it on me baby!

It is good to see how the game is meant to be played so an early gift can distort that experience. Depends on the MMO though, if you have a lot of crafting (in the expanded sense of how that can feed into other gameplay) or P2W cash shop items, that's where the game will be out of kilter.

olepi

Scot said:

Ungood said:

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

Not really.

I often like to play the game, and getting too much a jumpstart can make it harder for me to really get into it.

However, once I am into the game, I'll take any gift you can throw at me. Lay it on me baby!

It is good to see how the game is meant to be played so an early gift can distort that experience. Depends on the MMO though, if you have a lot of crafting (in the expanded sense of how that can feed into other gameplay) or P2W cash shop items, that's where the game will be out of kilter.

That's what I was thinking too. I have about 90 hours into the game so far, and have gotten some of the things already, so I know what these items were and how valuable they were. It just sped up my progress, not really changing the game that much.

Since a high end ship can cost upwards of 350 million, the 78 million gift doesn't really get me past having to work to earn that much.

I usually like to play the first time through without much help. Then, on the next runs/characters, I'm not so picky about boosting the character.

It was a nice feeling though, to have some random player gift me some cool stuff in what I thought was a single-player game.

Uwakionna

Kinda the point of my ramble.

Fortnite's original game mode Save the World used it with the XP booster tokens that you could apply to other players to help accelerate team progression. Doesn't have to always be direct "here's some phat loot" situations, but that leans on developers supporting the notion of players interacting to support each other in play. Trading and gifting of items is a nice basic element, but does open it to people just dumping some out there stuff onto other players.

Like the NMS example it's sometimes players dumping duped or hacked in resources onto other players in a similar issue to CCP and EVE.

Doesn't make the principle behind the mechanic bad, but does have control concerns for a) preventing fraud and b) preventing severe upsets to the gameplay.

The_Korrigan

I've been helping random lower level players since I started playing those games.

One thing though. I never help beggars, I strongly dislike them.

AlBQuirky

My first experience was in Diablo (OG), back in the day. I met someone online and they invited me to a "private server(?)" to help me level up. They also "gifted" me a pile of gold to "take home" when done.

My next experience was in P99, the EQ Emulator where a random "vet" gave me some an item that I don't even recall now.

I accepted both gifts. I used the Diablo gold on my solo play and ended up selling the gifted P99 item to some NPC Merchant.

I don't see the two (gifts vs P2W) as equal, though they BOTH help out a player in a game. I think it's up to each player where they feel comfortable.

I'm more like Korrigan in that I want to help lower level players, but not make them "God-like." It does help players be "more social", which can lead to "cheating."

Anyone recall "twinks?" (A player created an alt avatar and used a high level character to outfit their new character in the best equipment ) LOL

Amaranthar

olepi said:

Dattelis said:

olepi said:

Do you accept random gifts?

I was playing No Man's Sky, and although it isn't really an MMO, it does have hubs with multiple players coming in and out. Someone gifted me 78 million credits and a bunch of devices that track down ships that I can buy/take over.

So I didn't pay anything to win, but now I have a lot of high end stuff and money that was a gift.

I decided to take it and use it

Do you accept random gifts from strangers that allow you to "win"? Even if you hate P2W?

I've done this a handful of times when I was brand new to a mmorpg. I remember being in the barrens once when I started out in WotLK and someone gave me 1000 gold randomly which honestly lasted me a while. I ended up doing something similar when I got more established in the game which was kind of nice, like 'did my good deed for the week' kind of thing. I think gestures like that help shape how some people play, especially if you know how hard it can be starting up in a new environment without knowing much.

I rememberr way back in the early days of DAOC, I was playing a Minstrel and while we were waiting for a transport, I ran around playing my harp as if I was serenading them.

Somebody tipped me 5 gold, which at the time was a fortune compared to what I had.

In UO, it was common for player working on their Blacksmith skill to hang around the forges in the big cities to repair gear for tips. They'd also take an order for an item or two for coin as they did this. 

Amaranthar

cameltosis said:

Accepting gifts is in no way similar to P2W or F2P.

As to whether I would accept or not, it totally depends on the game. I generally prefer to make my way through by myself.....the first time......but if I've already seen the game, I'm happy accepting gifts to make the boring start bit quicker. Its no different to crafting good gear for an alt.

Agreed. 
I don't like taking charity either. But in the very early days of UO, when everything was hectic and getting stuff was tough, I was in a forest city fighting off an NPC Orc attack and along came some horsemen to help out. First horses I'd seen and that was sort of exciting. One of them knew me from the forums and rode up asking if I needed anything. I asked if he had any spare Reagents (they were hard to keep stocked), he said "I'll be right back", rode off and came back with a small bag of only 5-6 of each kind. That showed me he wasn't having much better luck with reagents than I was. 
But it was a help, and I was grateful. 

I loved those days of striving, chance meetings of someone you knew, and generally players helping players in more of a sharing spirit than anything else.