Archives for microtransactions category
“Companies should just stop gold farmers.” It’s a consistent complaint in many games, with “gold” replaced by your game’s currency of choice. As complaints go, it’s right around “somebody should do something about all the problems” in terms of overall utility, but heck, no one likes the practice and it should just be eliminated, right? Well, as Scott Jennings has pointed out recently, it’s not quite that easy.
As Lum points out, there are several common misconceptions about the entire process. Among them are the idea that the game company doesn’t step in because they’re getting kickbacks, which is pointed out to fail the simple test of Occam’s razor. When developers want to get more money from an existing game, there are usually better ways to run it, such as the Champions Online model or the Dungeons and Dragons Online approach. He also tackles the infamous statement that the farmers are paying customers and therefore the company has even less incentive to stop them.
So if everyone hates RMT, why is it still around? The article briefly touches upon it, but We Fly Spitfires had a recent post that articulates more specifically: more people buy gold than would necessarily admit it. Since no one will admit to it, no one ever asks, and as a result there’s a large culture of silence that publicly despises it and privately takes part. In short? As long as there’s a customer base, the farming will continue. Food for thought all around.
Filed under: Business models, Culture, Economy, Exploits, Opinion
Why RMT won’t go away originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 10:00am by Eliot Lefebvre
Filed Under: business-models, champions-online, co, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, economy, exploits, gold-farming, lum-the-mad, microtransactions, rmt, scott-jennings, we-fly-spitfires
What’s more dangerous than an interdimensional prison in which malevolent creatures of immense power plot the destruction of the entire Champions Online world? That same prison being taken over and used as a lair by your hero’s Nemesis and the dangerous Shadow Destroyer. After hints and the surprise playtest event, the official site has unveiled a preview of the upcoming Nemesis Confrontation, which looks like an interesting jump forward in the content offered by the game.
Obviously, the Lair in question is the highlight of the update, which features combat against alien gladiators as well as a collection of powerful villains. There are other rewards to be earned as well, however — ranging from a number of different hero enhancements to costume pieces in the vein of the enemies fought within the lair. If you can’t wait to run the lair in order to get the costume pieces (perhaps you have a perfect character concept to start with), the preview promises that they will also be available in the C-Store. Champions Online isn’t going to make players wait long for the event, either, as it’s launching on the 24th. It should give players quite a bit to be thankful for — when they’re not battling extradimensional alien gladiators, at least.
Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Patches, Previews, News items, Champions Online
Champions Online previews Nemesis Confrontation originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 18th, 2009 at 10:00pm by Eliot Lefebvre
Filed Under: Previews, champions-online, co, costume-pieces, cryptic, cryptic-studios, in-game-events, microtransactions, nemesis, nemesis-confrontation, news-items, patches
Do you sometimes wish that when everybody is kung fu fighting they didn’t all look so alike? NCsoft seems to feel the same way, because they’ve now made available the City of Heroes Super Booster IV: Martial Arts for ten bucks. Yes, now when you’re fighting foes with malicious martial intent you’ll look “spiffy” and whatever other adjective you feel like tossing into the equation. The booster comes with more than costume pieces, however. It also contains ninja-theme costume change animations and a ninja running power. There’s also two new emotes for roleplayers, who tend to be the biggest emote fans.
This makes the fourth booster pack since the original (or microtransaction bundle, if you like) for City of Heroes and you can bet there will be plenty more as long as these continue to sell. Our guess for the next addition? Mutants would be a safe bet; mutants or zombies.
Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, News items
Get your Kung Fu on in City of Heroes originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 12th, 2009 at 6:00pm by Kyle Horner
Filed Under: booster-pack, booster-packs, city-of-heroes, coh, cox, kung-fu, martial-arts, micro, microtransaction, microtransactions, ncsoft, paragon-studios
No one was expecting the current 900-pound-gorilla of the MMO market to throw its hat in the ring regarding microtransactions, but the fact that it’s in the mix has forced a large number of people to take a look at the philosophies and patterns of the business model. Killed in a Smiling Accident recently put down some thoughts regarding the differences, explaining that World of Warcraft’s model is, in their opinion, inferior to the one found in the equally-significant microtransaction model of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The former has a store consisting of fluff items with no equivalent in the game, while the latter largely puts forth offerings that can be obtained in the normal game if you want to take the time.
Of course, there’s the obvious counter brought up in the comments: that it’s better to have microtransactions selling something you can’t otherwise get in the game. Simply take a look at Champions Online and the controversy over retcon pricing to see how the two can be better left untethered. Getting something unique is a nice bonus for a game you enjoy — for example, look at the bonus costume packs that City of Heroes sells. However, with items on sale that can be obtained from gameplay, the game can feel a bit more disjointed. There’s a case to be made for both sides, and with the free-to-play model gaining speed, it should be interesting to note where the majority of MMO players draw the line.
Filed under: Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion
Microtransactions and the splits in philosophy originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 11:00am by Eliot Lefebvre
Filed Under: WoW, blizzard, business-models, champions-online, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, co, coh, cov, cox, cryptic, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, free-to-play, game-mechanics, killed-in-a-smiling-accident, microtransactions, mmo-industry, ncsoft, turbine, world-of-warcraft
We like to keep our ear to the blogging (under)ground here at Massively because we often find interesting ideas and perspectives on the MMO industry. For instance, Green Armadillo of Player vs. Developer (PvD) just made a bold yet insightful statement about subscription game item shops being the third Trammel. For those unfamiliar, Trammel changed the way most people played Ultima Online and could be considered a paradigm shift in the industry from “harsh” PvP-enabled MMOs to safer PvE.
It’s no secret that the rise of microtransactions and MMO item shops (aka real money trading or RMT) are a big change in direction from traditional subscription based MMOs. However, it now seems we’re seeing the line blur between the two. Dungeons & Dragons Online, Champions Online, and most recently World of Warcraft are all subscription-based MMOs with built-in RMT. Are we witnessing the birth of the third Trammel?
As for the second Trammel, PvD calls out WoW’s solo quest system. Never in any previous MMO did players enjoy such easy soloability and it seems that every triple-A MMO since WoW has relied heavily upon the solo quest system. We think PvD may be on to something here.
Continue reading Are subscription game item shops the third Trammel?
Filed under: MMO industry, Making money, Opinion
Are subscription game item shops the third Trammel? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 8th, 2009 at 4:00pm by Brooke Pilley
Filed Under: champions-online, dungeons-and-dragons-online, item-shop, microtransactions, real-money-trading, rmt, subscription, trammel, ultima-online, world-of-warcraft
