I like to wander naked, as a poor beggar ingame. I dont mind what OTHER do, I mind about myself. I do not say that I dont care about vanity items, cause I do care, but I dont care about other players vanity items. I only care about my own. I am not the least jealous about those who have a more rare mount than me. Good for them. I get my own, and I dont care about other peoples caring about my pets either. Thats just a waste of time.
So what you're saying is that only your own feelings are important, and how other people are affected by this issue doesn't matter to you?
The way all your arguments are expressed in terms of your own emotions suggests to me that you're very lacking in empathy for other people.
Phrases such as "I only care about my own" suggest an innate selfishness - in which case I can perfectly understand your position - because cosmetics only affect those who care about interactions between people. To a soloer who exists in his own little bubble, your position makes perfect sense. To anyone who regularly interacts with other people, and cares about the atmosphere and community of their server, it does not.
I would happily pay for an end level character in those games I play. Let me add that those games I play I consider the game to actually start at end level. I hate leveling up my toons over and over again. It is purely a waste of (frustrating) time.
Lol MMOs are designed as time sinks...to make sure you spend much of your time (subscription) on their game server. If you think like that, then why should you play mmo in the first place? Play counterstrike or something
my 2 cents
I enjoy MMO's. But I also think the biggest flaw MMO's have is 'levels'. I find it very annoying that I need 6 months to a year to be able to compete end level players in some games. Definately something wrong.
What games are you playing? I can't think of any major title where I can't be max level in under a month. 6 months to a year? What do you do kill level 1 rats/snakes all day?
Last game was Anarcy Online. Havent played MMO's for ages. There nothing thats interesting me atm. I am waiting for TSW and I also hope SWTOR will be a fresh breath, even though I have my doubts. I also would like to have The Elder Scrolls Online.
I woul also pay for skill if there was a system for that. To me, MMO's are 100% end level. I explore the world then. I hate levelling. I love unique pets & mounts. I would pay for those as well. But not 800$. That price is too stiff.
You are an ultra-casual player.. there are millions of games for you type to play. I fail to see your point..
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
I like the way you insult those type of players in your title while saying it doesn't bother you.
What someone does with their money shouldn't effect you, like it did before you ever met them. I think jealousy is a major part here. They are offering vanity items in WOW. But I hear many going up the roof about it.
Why? Well many said they should have a right to have acces to them wihtout paying for it.
Well I should have the right to stay home all the time and have free room and board, but I don't.
I work a 60+ hour week job to maintain my lifestyle and my family. It's what I chose.
If I want to buy something in an MMO, so be it. I don't have 12 hours a day to play like children or those who chose to eek by on minimum wage.
I work hard for what I get, and I will decide on how I spend it. If it effects others emotionally. Then they need to seek help or stop playing an MMO and work harder to earn a decent living in this world.
You can have little or no respect for someone and not be bothered by them. If said person is someone you depend on for something this is unlikely to be true (probably impossible).
But if you feel you can live your life without being significnatly affected by someone who is a douchebag you can think and call them a douchebag and not be bothered about it.
In fact this is one of the secrets to happiness, because there are a lot of people who will do things you do not approve of or agree with. The second is learning to forgive people for this sort of thing when it does bother you.
Anyway I don't care about people getting vanity items. But being able to buy in game money will ruin an in game economy and should be right out. Being able to sell anything you buy will achieve the same purpose, this is why DDO store purchases are completely unsellable. Some things you can buy from the DDO store are sellable if achieved via in game means. So DDO Store affects the econmy by affecting(depressing) demand, but it does not cause a crazy completely worhtless economy like buying in game money.
Another issue is can you buy "power" in game. This has a serious affect. Because these games are social. Anyone who has played these games has seen "twinking" affect things like PvP. Well it affects PvE too. You can and will get excluded if you are not "keeping up with the Joneses".
Thus people's major issue is that these Stores that sell in-game power create a social dynamic where people feel obliged to buy to be popular. And people willl do crazy and irresponsible things to be popular. Especially when caught up in the moment.
And keep in mind these game stores are not "captalism". They have you by the balls. Sure stupid socialists will tell you that is capitalism, but they are willfully ignorant or lying because their idealogy can't work when the truth is known. You have to have competition to have capitalism. These stores can charge whatever they want for their perks. Some person is setting the price of items in a command-line style small scale economy.
The MMORPG market maybe a market where prices have competition between each game, but if you want some benefit in a game there is no market that sets the prices. If I don't like the price of a 32-point build in the DDO Store I can go pound sand. I can't go to some other place and buy the same or even similar product for cheaper. My only recourse is to stop playing DDO and go to some other company's game.
So in these games with stores like this that sell power. You must realize they, the game companies price setting department, have you buy the balls and people can be induced to do very whacky things when social expectations are put behind them. It is VERY powerful do not underestimate it.
These stores are much more akin to the old mining town stores where they could charge wahtever they wanted because they knew the miners and their families had no where else to go in any practical sense when the next town over is 100 miles away and few people even owned a horse. Now of course the mining town thing they truly had you by the balls and in an MMORPG you can simply stop playing.
But for many people extricating themselves from a social situation in that way is like an addict kicking a drug habit. Most people are not outsiders and dread being one. They naturally become enrapt in the situation and have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. In fact people will regularly attempt to punish for seeing the forest for the trees in social situations. Everyone wants their comfortable fantasy, everyone cons themselves into it and will forcefully deride those who do not go along with it.
You can't con an honest man. Con jobs usually work on most people because they are constantly doing it to themselves and others. In fac they get angry if you don't. This is why honest people are rare and usually don't say much.
This is the means of social enforcement. It is a distributed system with no real central control but with ways to influence it. People sync up their fantasies of expectations and ruthlessly deride and ridicule those who do not go along with them no matter how silly. If I deride you to be tanned and "healthy" looking, then if you are influenced by that you will deride the next person you see to behave that way, soon most people are doing to so that they are "cool". Back 100 years ago being tanned meant you were lower class, to be cool you were as pale as possible. This stuff is completely arbitrary. But the means of enforcement is the same and distributed way of derision and exclusion (ie. social threat) is done exactly the same way often with the same justification even for opposite effects.
If you can set up a dynamic where what you are selling is part of this people will do crazy things to go along. This is the entire basis of clothes fashion. Look at the ridiculous things people will wear just because of this.
Now extrapolate that to an MMO store where they have an easy means of influence that they control completely with only a secondary market affecting it: the company store. An extremely powerful idea to influence people with: power (everyone is hard wired to want and respect it).
Unlike a old-style "company town" the MMO companies can't go completely out of control. But just because they have a "store" does not mean they are really working like normal stores in a real economy. Afterall I can always go somewhere else to get a Snickers bar. If 7-11 is overcharging I go to someplace else. If Snickers are too expensive I get some other candy bar. But I can only go to the MMO Company store to specifically get some in-game benefit. They could have completely silly prices for some things. And that would never even change to something more reasonable because they run a command line economy in that store. Prices would not adjust to an equilibrium state like in a real market. They will adjust to whatever that company's pricing people decide seems good. You could get crazy prices that no one bothers with. You could get lucky and somethings are ridiculously cheap. But there is no market mechanism to find what people are willing to pay. Just what the company is willing to sell at. And since they can create their own (power) crazes and we know that people can get out of hand in such situations, its not a good thing. Its dirty.
This command-line economy "store" doesn't bother people for vanity items. If they have crazy prices then f em. But add in power and the almost certain social enforcement that will happen. You get a nasty (and creeping) dynamic.
I dont' care about vanity item. I even like them even if I'm not buying them, since it bring more money to the studio so they'll continue to develop the game I like.
Unfortunately many games sell more than vanity items.
I like to wander naked, as a poor beggar ingame. I dont mind what OTHER do, I mind about myself. I do not say that I dont care about vanity items, cause I do care, but I dont care about other players vanity items. I only care about my own. I am not the least jealous about those who have a more rare mount than me. Good for them. I get my own, and I dont care about other peoples caring about my pets either. Thats just a waste of time.
So what you're saying is that only your own feelings are important, and how other people are affected by this issue doesn't matter to you?
The way all your arguments are expressed in terms of your own emotions suggests to me that you're very lacking in empathy for other people.
Phrases such as "I only care about my own" suggest an innate selfishness - in which case I can perfectly understand your position - because cosmetics only affect those who care about interactions between people. To a soloer who exists in his own little bubble, your position makes perfect sense. To anyone who regularly interacts with other people, and cares about the atmosphere and community of their server, it does not.
Now hold it right there. I am not very fan of your wild assumptions about me. I have my share of interactions ingame. How and why/where I do that, is none of your business. Assuming that I am selfish due to that says alot about you. To me it seems you would not talk to your neighbor unless he drives a shiny car, or talk to the other kids in schoold (if you are at that age) unless they are wearing latest brand of clothes that are in. I feel sorry for you.
To inoress me, you need to show something other than a shiny car, new clothes, or ingame pets. I do not waste time on selfish, obnoxious brats. That being said, I make friends, even those with latest vanity pets. But I would never befriend them because of that.
You are an ultra-casual player.. there are millions of games for you type to play. I fail to see your point..
You couldnt be more wrong. I am no MMO player at the moment. When I play, I play hardcore, up to 15hrs a day when I am not at work. Those days I am only able to play around 3-4 hrs.
There are not 'millions' of games to play; here are roughly 400 in the llist here, if I am not totally wrong. I have played ahuge amount of games, and none appeal to me. List is too long for me to bother to write here of all games I have played. I have been a hardcore MMO gamer for about 10 years.
Anyways; let us keep to topic please.
My gaming is not ruined by ingame brats with latest vanity pets & their dresses. Is yours?
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
With a 11M player base, there bound to be all kind .. it is not surprising that there are some who like mounts and they are rich.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
There's a specific spot in Dalaran that lets you use your flying mount right in front of the bank. This is like every epeeners dream to sit there with some special flying mount. You can literally see these people regularely changing targets to see if people are targetting them/inspecting them.
You made a post about how you like to show off things you've achieved didn't you? Why would you be surprised when some kid has a wealthy mothers' funds to blow away doing the same thing.
Now hold it right there. I am not very fan of your wild assumptions about me. I have my share of interactions ingame. How and why/where I do that, is none of your business. Assuming that I am selfish due to that says alot about you. To me it seems you would not talk to your neighbor unless he drives a shiny car, or talk to the other kids in schoold (if you are at that age) unless they are wearing latest brand of clothes that are in. I feel sorry for you.
To inoress me, you need to show something other than a shiny car, new clothes, or ingame pets. I do not waste time on selfish, obnoxious brats. That being said, I make friends, even those with latest vanity pets. But I would never befriend them because of that.
If someone frequnently expresses their ideas in terms of how it affects them, and doesn't talk about how it affects the community as a whole, then that is suggestive. And note, I didn't call you said names. I'm merely pointing out the psychological implications of your language. Just like if someone frequently uses terms like "looks like" and "it appears" he is probably more of a visual person than someone who often says "sounds like" and "I like the sound of that".
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
There's a specific spot in Dalaran that lets you use your flying mount right in front of the bank. This is like every epeeners dream to sit there with some special flying mount. You can literally see these people regularely changing targets to see if people are targetting them/inspecting them.
You made a post about how you like to show off things you've achieved didn't you? Why would you be surprised when some kid has a wealthy mothers' funds to blow away doing the same thing.
No it is not that, I just had no idea the mounts in WoW had gotten that expensive, last I played was back on 05 and I really don’t follow the game that much.
I am a bit curious about this. I try to focus on my own ways of having fun, and give a damn about how or why other are having fun ingame.
Personally I could care less about other people buying whatsoever ingame, as long as it doesn't affect my gaming experience. Are people just jealous, is that it boils down to in the end?
Seriously, if people are having trouble about other people buying vanity items, it says alot more about them than those filthy rich ones. Long time ago I accepted that some are being born in the real life with a silverspoon up where the sun never shines. That is the reality. In fact, most of the people on this earth do think that the monthly subscription fees are too high, and cannot afford it. I am not sure they are having a problem with that anyways...
My fun, is very little dependant on that other strangers vanity pet. How about you? Or is your heart filled with envy?
What most people fail to realize because they live in a bubble is that ALOT of people like vanity pets. ALOT of people like collecting them. Now you force those people who like that part of the game to buy it or not have it. They already pay a subscription fee and Bliz turns around uses that money to make extra content they have to pay for. Would be much akin to making you pay extra to be a bloodelf or nightelf. And why stop there? There are many things that could be included that don't effect the core of the game but should be included or at least have a way of attaining without paying.
Am I a hardcore collector? No, but I found it straight and utter BS. But a good majority of people, even 99% of my own adult guild could care less. Which means the people who do care are shutout from protestign with their pockets. Blizzard sold more of the pony mounts in 3 days than any sub money they could ever lose. Cash shops are here to stay and more and more will be added over the years because many just don't care. But just because alot of people don't care doesn't make it ok. The biggest people screwed were collectors ... may as well sell achievments too, I like collecting those.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
There's a specific spot in Dalaran that lets you use your flying mount right in front of the bank. This is like every epeeners dream to sit there with some special flying mount. You can literally see these people regularely changing targets to see if people are targetting them/inspecting them.
You made a post about how you like to show off things you've achieved didn't you? Why would you be surprised when some kid has a wealthy mothers' funds to blow away doing the same thing.
No it is not that, I just had no idea the mounts in WoW had gotten that expensive, last I played was back on 05 and I really don’t follow the game that much.
Yah mounts are pretty nuts now. The Zulian tiger is still the best ground mount though. I'm pretty sure you remember that
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
There's a specific spot in Dalaran that lets you use your flying mount right in front of the bank. This is like every epeeners dream to sit there with some special flying mount. You can literally see these people regularely changing targets to see if people are targetting them/inspecting them.
You made a post about how you like to show off things you've achieved didn't you? Why would you be surprised when some kid has a wealthy mothers' funds to blow away doing the same thing.
No it is not that, I just had no idea the mounts in WoW had gotten that expensive, last I played was back on 05 and I really don’t follow the game that much.
Yah mounts are pretty nuts now. The Zulian tiger is still the best ground mount though. I'm pretty sure you remember that
Lol I had to Google it, but yeah I remember seeing those
Some people like to claim that another player buying his way through a game doesn't impact anyone else.
But of course it does.
These are social games, and there is a competitive aspect to them. Every mmo player has been in the position of being selected for a group, or a guild, or a raid. If another player has better gear, that can directly impact your grouping opportunities.
In a PvP game, it's even more pronounced, where buying better gear can be the difference between winning and losing.
People rationalize this behavior because there are lots of lazy folk who like the convenience of just buying things. I suppose that is their right, in games that allow it, but when they try to pretend it doesn't matter then of course they aren't being honest about it.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
Some people like to claim that another player buying his way through a game doesn't impact anyone else.
But of course it does.
These are social games, and there is a competitive aspect to them. Every mmo player has been in the position of being selected for a group, or a guild, or a raid. If another player has better gear, that can directly impact your grouping opportunities.
In a PvP game, it's even more pronounced, where buying better gear can be the difference between winning and losing.
People rationalize this behavior because there are lots of lazy folk who like the convenience of just buying things. I suppose that is their right, in games that allow it, but when they try to pretend it doesn't matter then of course they aren't being honest about it.
Last time I played, vanity items didnt help me much in raid or pvp. Has that changed?
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
the cards are just from the booster pack that cost £3.50, they are just so rare that people sell them for big bicks when they find them.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
the cards are just from the booster pack that cost £3.50, they are just so rare that people sell them for big bicks when they find them.
Blizzard don't sell them for $800
If I remember correct, one seller at Ebay once had sold nearly 100 Spectral Tigers. I wonder how that could be unless Blizzard had a finger in that? Puzzled me to see that actually. Or could he work at some factory which produced them cards, and he put them into his own pocket just to sell them on Ebay?
People are willing to pay, alot, for vanity items, but personally I think thats where the line should go too. When you can buy items that directly enhances your performance ingame, whether its pvp or for pvp, I think I would protest.
that's the real life,but i donnt think they can Interfere my game time.I donnt wanna be No.1 in any game.We can just find our enjoy time without comparing to others.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
the cards are just from the booster pack that cost £3.50, they are just so rare that people sell them for big bicks when they find them.
Blizzard don't sell them for $800
If I remember correct, one seller at Ebay once had sold nearly 100 Spectral Tigers. I wonder how that could be unless Blizzard had a finger in that? Puzzled me to see that actually. Or could he work at some factory which produced them cards, and he put them into his own pocket just to sell them on Ebay?
People are willing to pay, alot, for vanity items, but personally I think thats where the line should go too. When you can buy items that directly enhances your performance ingame, whether its pvp or for pvp, I think I would protest.
I don’t know, I find it hard to believe that blizzard would do that for what would be to them as mere pocket change...but you never know nowa days.
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
the cards are just from the booster pack that cost £3.50, they are just so rare that people sell them for big bicks when they find them.
Blizzard don't sell them for $800
If I remember correct, one seller at Ebay once had sold nearly 100 Spectral Tigers. I wonder how that could be unless Blizzard had a finger in that? Puzzled me to see that actually. Or could he work at some factory which produced them cards, and he put them into his own pocket just to sell them on Ebay?
People are willing to pay, alot, for vanity items, but personally I think thats where the line should go too. When you can buy items that directly enhances your performance ingame, whether its pvp or for pvp, I think I would protest.
I would sooner assume it's someone with access to a store that sells them before actually blaming Blizzard. Could be a blizzard employee with some kind of access to a lot of the cards, but I doubt it's approved by Blizzard as a company.
Some people like to claim that another player buying his way through a game doesn't impact anyone else.
But of course it does.
These are social games, and there is a competitive aspect to them. Every mmo player has been in the position of being selected for a group, or a guild, or a raid. If another player has better gear, that can directly impact your grouping opportunities.
In a PvP game, it's even more pronounced, where buying better gear can be the difference between winning and losing.
People rationalize this behavior because there are lots of lazy folk who like the convenience of just buying things. I suppose that is their right, in games that allow it, but when they try to pretend it doesn't matter then of course they aren't being honest about it.
Last time I played, vanity items didnt help me much in raid or pvp. Has that changed?
Vanity items help in the "social" arena.
If looks don't matter in MMOs, then why don't we strip all of the high end game art off of raid drops and replace it with that of the strarter gear art?
People would obviously complain about this if it happened, and there's an obvious reason why: because vanity does matter, whether you want to admit it or not. Whether to look unique, cool, or just have their equipment match, people react to the aesthetics of ingame graphics.
OP: That's what you get for an F2P game. And some even more worse than others. PvP? It can have a huge impact.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Comments
So what you're saying is that only your own feelings are important, and how other people are affected by this issue doesn't matter to you?
The way all your arguments are expressed in terms of your own emotions suggests to me that you're very lacking in empathy for other people.
Phrases such as "I only care about my own" suggest an innate selfishness - in which case I can perfectly understand your position - because cosmetics only affect those who care about interactions between people. To a soloer who exists in his own little bubble, your position makes perfect sense. To anyone who regularly interacts with other people, and cares about the atmosphere and community of their server, it does not.
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You are an ultra-casual player.. there are millions of games for you type to play. I fail to see your point..
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon
Indeed!
You can have little or no respect for someone and not be bothered by them. If said person is someone you depend on for something this is unlikely to be true (probably impossible).
But if you feel you can live your life without being significnatly affected by someone who is a douchebag you can think and call them a douchebag and not be bothered about it.
In fact this is one of the secrets to happiness, because there are a lot of people who will do things you do not approve of or agree with. The second is learning to forgive people for this sort of thing when it does bother you.
Anyway I don't care about people getting vanity items. But being able to buy in game money will ruin an in game economy and should be right out. Being able to sell anything you buy will achieve the same purpose, this is why DDO store purchases are completely unsellable. Some things you can buy from the DDO store are sellable if achieved via in game means. So DDO Store affects the econmy by affecting(depressing) demand, but it does not cause a crazy completely worhtless economy like buying in game money.
Another issue is can you buy "power" in game. This has a serious affect. Because these games are social. Anyone who has played these games has seen "twinking" affect things like PvP. Well it affects PvE too. You can and will get excluded if you are not "keeping up with the Joneses".
Thus people's major issue is that these Stores that sell in-game power create a social dynamic where people feel obliged to buy to be popular. And people willl do crazy and irresponsible things to be popular. Especially when caught up in the moment.
And keep in mind these game stores are not "captalism". They have you by the balls. Sure stupid socialists will tell you that is capitalism, but they are willfully ignorant or lying because their idealogy can't work when the truth is known. You have to have competition to have capitalism. These stores can charge whatever they want for their perks. Some person is setting the price of items in a command-line style small scale economy.
The MMORPG market maybe a market where prices have competition between each game, but if you want some benefit in a game there is no market that sets the prices. If I don't like the price of a 32-point build in the DDO Store I can go pound sand. I can't go to some other place and buy the same or even similar product for cheaper. My only recourse is to stop playing DDO and go to some other company's game.
So in these games with stores like this that sell power. You must realize they, the game companies price setting department, have you buy the balls and people can be induced to do very whacky things when social expectations are put behind them. It is VERY powerful do not underestimate it.
These stores are much more akin to the old mining town stores where they could charge wahtever they wanted because they knew the miners and their families had no where else to go in any practical sense when the next town over is 100 miles away and few people even owned a horse. Now of course the mining town thing they truly had you by the balls and in an MMORPG you can simply stop playing.
But for many people extricating themselves from a social situation in that way is like an addict kicking a drug habit. Most people are not outsiders and dread being one. They naturally become enrapt in the situation and have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. In fact people will regularly attempt to punish for seeing the forest for the trees in social situations. Everyone wants their comfortable fantasy, everyone cons themselves into it and will forcefully deride those who do not go along with it.
You can't con an honest man. Con jobs usually work on most people because they are constantly doing it to themselves and others. In fac they get angry if you don't. This is why honest people are rare and usually don't say much.
This is the means of social enforcement. It is a distributed system with no real central control but with ways to influence it. People sync up their fantasies of expectations and ruthlessly deride and ridicule those who do not go along with them no matter how silly. If I deride you to be tanned and "healthy" looking, then if you are influenced by that you will deride the next person you see to behave that way, soon most people are doing to so that they are "cool". Back 100 years ago being tanned meant you were lower class, to be cool you were as pale as possible. This stuff is completely arbitrary. But the means of enforcement is the same and distributed way of derision and exclusion (ie. social threat) is done exactly the same way often with the same justification even for opposite effects.
If you can set up a dynamic where what you are selling is part of this people will do crazy things to go along. This is the entire basis of clothes fashion. Look at the ridiculous things people will wear just because of this.
Now extrapolate that to an MMO store where they have an easy means of influence that they control completely with only a secondary market affecting it: the company store. An extremely powerful idea to influence people with: power (everyone is hard wired to want and respect it).
Unlike a old-style "company town" the MMO companies can't go completely out of control. But just because they have a "store" does not mean they are really working like normal stores in a real economy. Afterall I can always go somewhere else to get a Snickers bar. If 7-11 is overcharging I go to someplace else. If Snickers are too expensive I get some other candy bar. But I can only go to the MMO Company store to specifically get some in-game benefit. They could have completely silly prices for some things. And that would never even change to something more reasonable because they run a command line economy in that store. Prices would not adjust to an equilibrium state like in a real market. They will adjust to whatever that company's pricing people decide seems good. You could get crazy prices that no one bothers with. You could get lucky and somethings are ridiculously cheap. But there is no market mechanism to find what people are willing to pay. Just what the company is willing to sell at. And since they can create their own (power) crazes and we know that people can get out of hand in such situations, its not a good thing. Its dirty.
This command-line economy "store" doesn't bother people for vanity items. If they have crazy prices then f em. But add in power and the almost certain social enforcement that will happen. You get a nasty (and creeping) dynamic.
I dont' care about vanity item. I even like them even if I'm not buying them, since it bring more money to the studio so they'll continue to develop the game I like.
Unfortunately many games sell more than vanity items.
Now hold it right there. I am not very fan of your wild assumptions about me. I have my share of interactions ingame. How and why/where I do that, is none of your business. Assuming that I am selfish due to that says alot about you. To me it seems you would not talk to your neighbor unless he drives a shiny car, or talk to the other kids in schoold (if you are at that age) unless they are wearing latest brand of clothes that are in. I feel sorry for you.
To inoress me, you need to show something other than a shiny car, new clothes, or ingame pets. I do not waste time on selfish, obnoxious brats. That being said, I make friends, even those with latest vanity pets. But I would never befriend them because of that.
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
You couldnt be more wrong. I am no MMO player at the moment. When I play, I play hardcore, up to 15hrs a day when I am not at work. Those days I am only able to play around 3-4 hrs.
There are not 'millions' of games to play; here are roughly 400 in the llist here, if I am not totally wrong. I have played ahuge amount of games, and none appeal to me. List is too long for me to bother to write here of all games I have played. I have been a hardcore MMO gamer for about 10 years.
Anyways; let us keep to topic please.
My gaming is not ruined by ingame brats with latest vanity pets & their dresses. Is yours?
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
Was just checking out some of the collectable Mounts from the trading cards...holy crap they range from $150-$800...had no idea people were mount crazy in WoW.
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With a 11M player base, there bound to be all kind .. it is not surprising that there are some who like mounts and they are rich.
There's a specific spot in Dalaran that lets you use your flying mount right in front of the bank. This is like every epeeners dream to sit there with some special flying mount. You can literally see these people regularely changing targets to see if people are targetting them/inspecting them.
You made a post about how you like to show off things you've achieved didn't you? Why would you be surprised when some kid has a wealthy mothers' funds to blow away doing the same thing.
If someone frequnently expresses their ideas in terms of how it affects them, and doesn't talk about how it affects the community as a whole, then that is suggestive. And note, I didn't call you said names. I'm merely pointing out the psychological implications of your language. Just like if someone frequently uses terms like "looks like" and "it appears" he is probably more of a visual person than someone who often says "sounds like" and "I like the sound of that".
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No it is not that, I just had no idea the mounts in WoW had gotten that expensive, last I played was back on 05 and I really don’t follow the game that much.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
What most people fail to realize because they live in a bubble is that ALOT of people like vanity pets. ALOT of people like collecting them. Now you force those people who like that part of the game to buy it or not have it. They already pay a subscription fee and Bliz turns around uses that money to make extra content they have to pay for. Would be much akin to making you pay extra to be a bloodelf or nightelf. And why stop there? There are many things that could be included that don't effect the core of the game but should be included or at least have a way of attaining without paying.
Am I a hardcore collector? No, but I found it straight and utter BS. But a good majority of people, even 99% of my own adult guild could care less. Which means the people who do care are shutout from protestign with their pockets. Blizzard sold more of the pony mounts in 3 days than any sub money they could ever lose. Cash shops are here to stay and more and more will be added over the years because many just don't care. But just because alot of people don't care doesn't make it ok. The biggest people screwed were collectors ... may as well sell achievments too, I like collecting those.
Yah mounts are pretty nuts now. The Zulian tiger is still the best ground mount though. I'm pretty sure you remember that
Lol I had to Google it, but yeah I remember seeing those
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Some people like to claim that another player buying his way through a game doesn't impact anyone else.
But of course it does.
These are social games, and there is a competitive aspect to them. Every mmo player has been in the position of being selected for a group, or a guild, or a raid. If another player has better gear, that can directly impact your grouping opportunities.
In a PvP game, it's even more pronounced, where buying better gear can be the difference between winning and losing.
People rationalize this behavior because there are lots of lazy folk who like the convenience of just buying things. I suppose that is their right, in games that allow it, but when they try to pretend it doesn't matter then of course they aren't being honest about it.
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Insane prices for sure. Good for the game that they can earn these amounts on virtual "things". More money to the company which in turn should/would mean better game. Win-win situation.
Nevertheless, I would like that Spectral Tiger too, but I really dont think its worth 800$. I do not envy people owning them either, nice for them. Some had luck buying the cards for a cheap price and won it, instead f buying it at ebay.
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
Last time I played, vanity items didnt help me much in raid or pvp. Has that changed?
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
the cards are just from the booster pack that cost £3.50, they are just so rare that people sell them for big bicks when they find them.
Blizzard don't sell them for $800
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
If I remember correct, one seller at Ebay once had sold nearly 100 Spectral Tigers. I wonder how that could be unless Blizzard had a finger in that? Puzzled me to see that actually. Or could he work at some factory which produced them cards, and he put them into his own pocket just to sell them on Ebay?
People are willing to pay, alot, for vanity items, but personally I think thats where the line should go too. When you can buy items that directly enhances your performance ingame, whether its pvp or for pvp, I think I would protest.
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
that's the real life,but i donnt think they can Interfere my game time.I donnt wanna be No.1 in any game.We can just find our enjoy time without comparing to others.
I don’t know, I find it hard to believe that blizzard would do that for what would be to them as mere pocket change...but you never know nowa days.
I will take your word for it.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
I would sooner assume it's someone with access to a store that sells them before actually blaming Blizzard. Could be a blizzard employee with some kind of access to a lot of the cards, but I doubt it's approved by Blizzard as a company.
Vanity items help in the "social" arena.
If looks don't matter in MMOs, then why don't we strip all of the high end game art off of raid drops and replace it with that of the strarter gear art?
People would obviously complain about this if it happened, and there's an obvious reason why: because vanity does matter, whether you want to admit it or not. Whether to look unique, cool, or just have their equipment match, people react to the aesthetics of ingame graphics.
OP: That's what you get for an F2P game. And some even more worse than others. PvP? It can have a huge impact.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)