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Conspiracy theory about Gold sellers - I've had an epiphany!
Mirandel
Member UncommonPosts: 143
Was playing Riders of Icarus lately. Not going to talk about the quality of the game right now, but as one could expect from a F2P Asian game it is full of bots and gold-sellers. Obviously, those players who take the game seriously (for whatever reason) talk about it on forums. And quite often (like in any of this kind of talk) you can see an accusation of developers/publishers of taking bribe or a cut from gold-selling companies for letting bots and advertisers to run free within the game.
I begin to think those accusers are all wrong. Developers/publishers do not take a dime from gold sellers. Not because of sudden honesty (it's a business after all) but simply because Gold-selling companies ARE developers and/or publishers of that sort of games. Asking them to ban gold-sellers and remove bots is like asking them to remove themselves. Not going to happen.
Sounds ridiculous? Just think about it: time after time very similar games are emerging - almost identical generic graphic, generic quests (nobody bothers to read anyway), same game mechanics with slight variation, and a game-engines that - again - look the same (and should be the same to simplify bots-using). As a MMO player any of us aware that gamers in general are restless. Game-jumping is a norm, even if the next game is almost the same as the previous one. So, as a businessman what would you do knowing average gamer would not stick with a game for longer then several months? The scheme is very simple: use a "universal" engine to create "just another game" slightly different from current batch but as cheap in production, promote one of the game feature (should not even be new, just say it is new), sell some "early access bundles", allow players to relax for a week to get hooked enough and then unleash the bots and sell the gold.
Now you might ask - why the bots? If you are a gold selling company AND a developer of the game would not it be more simple to just sell the gold that you have unlimited access to? Well, I can think of several reasons for bots.
First, it has to be obvious that developers have nothing to do with selling gold - it's all on those pesky GS with their bots!
Second, the game should survive for several months, ruining economy with that much gold in a week since release would be unwise.
Third, bots create the need for gold - if you deprived of the usual way to get in game currency (you can not compete with bots for mobs or craft-nods), you have to buy it for real money.
Forth, you can publicly ban some bots, demonstrating, that "you care".
Fifth, you can actually sell bots too - any revenue is good.
I am sure there are other reasons too, but the point is, bots have it's use. And by selling gold you practically establish a subscription! So what if the game will be closed in half a year? It will be re-skinned and milked again. Gamers are always ready for "new" excitement.
I begin to think those accusers are all wrong. Developers/publishers do not take a dime from gold sellers. Not because of sudden honesty (it's a business after all) but simply because Gold-selling companies ARE developers and/or publishers of that sort of games. Asking them to ban gold-sellers and remove bots is like asking them to remove themselves. Not going to happen.
Sounds ridiculous? Just think about it: time after time very similar games are emerging - almost identical generic graphic, generic quests (nobody bothers to read anyway), same game mechanics with slight variation, and a game-engines that - again - look the same (and should be the same to simplify bots-using). As a MMO player any of us aware that gamers in general are restless. Game-jumping is a norm, even if the next game is almost the same as the previous one. So, as a businessman what would you do knowing average gamer would not stick with a game for longer then several months? The scheme is very simple: use a "universal" engine to create "just another game" slightly different from current batch but as cheap in production, promote one of the game feature (should not even be new, just say it is new), sell some "early access bundles", allow players to relax for a week to get hooked enough and then unleash the bots and sell the gold.
Now you might ask - why the bots? If you are a gold selling company AND a developer of the game would not it be more simple to just sell the gold that you have unlimited access to? Well, I can think of several reasons for bots.
First, it has to be obvious that developers have nothing to do with selling gold - it's all on those pesky GS with their bots!
Second, the game should survive for several months, ruining economy with that much gold in a week since release would be unwise.
Third, bots create the need for gold - if you deprived of the usual way to get in game currency (you can not compete with bots for mobs or craft-nods), you have to buy it for real money.
Forth, you can publicly ban some bots, demonstrating, that "you care".
Fifth, you can actually sell bots too - any revenue is good.
I am sure there are other reasons too, but the point is, bots have it's use. And by selling gold you practically establish a subscription! So what if the game will be closed in half a year? It will be re-skinned and milked again. Gamers are always ready for "new" excitement.
Comments
first rule of illuminati is do not talk about illuminati
Take note.
During vanilla WOW I suggested on the official forums. Blizzard start your own gold sales / cash shop.
This effectively would cut out the gold farmers. Having played Guildwars 2 (every class 80) that game has minimal gold farmers. They have a cash shop where you can exchange store gems for in game gold.
Had blizzard implemented this process it would've cut gold farmers out of the equation entirely.
That being said, I employed gold farmers all the time in WOW & Everquest 2. Their process was interesting. Some merely sent the gold through in game mail system. I'd pay 15 bucks and get 2000 plat or whatever the main currency was the next day in my mail.
Others would have you place a single bandage on the auction for 200g. Lets say you bought 1000 plat. Then you'd put the corresponding amount of 200g bandages. It would seem like a legit exchange other then it being bandages for 200g.
I didn't have the time to farm. I worked full time I couldn't spend 2-3 hours I had to play farming or trying to get groups or raid. I had a family too. So I bought gold and made twinks most of the time that I'd spend destroying people in low level BG's. It was fun.
The game that stands out as being firmly against gold and bot sellers is WoW with their history of taking them to court.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Oh sure the items are bound on pick up (NODROP tag), but you can still sell the rights to actually pick up the loot from any downed boss in any raid instance to any player in the game. You have 30 minutes before the mob despawns, and anyone can join your raid group in that 30 minutes and loot the boss. So, you kill the boss, one team member drops group, advertise the loot in general chat, someone pays to join the raid, picks up the item and way we go. Why bother even having the "NODROP" tag? It's ridiculous.
Unless.......funcom gets........nahh, Funcom is to upstanding for that right?
If game developers are secretly behind gold sellers, then why are there so many of them for a given game? That sort of competition hurts the profits of gold sellers. While developers could secretly create gold sellers for their own games, why do so many of the gold sellers sell gold for several games from different developers?
Obviously it is a vast operation working for the entire industry. Having it appear as some gold seller gives them a layer protection as they can just deny it. They can also point out that gold sellers sell gold from different games.
Wait a minute, Quizzical is part of the conspiracy. You pointed it out.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
"Its not about what you think you know, but what you can prove." - Some guy in law somewhere
But to answer you more directly, you're saying the company loses money on a product that costs nothing to produce. Its really minor costs to develop multiple sites.