Yet another myth about Cash-Shoppery.
“What RMT purchases should NOT be used for are the items that are traditionally bind on pickup– rare drops that serve as proxy achievements. The Uber Sword of Uberness that only drops from downing the Big Boss Ubeross should retain both the value and the meaning it has. In a PvE world, that would have no significant economic impact, but it certainly dilutes the achievement value and yes, the epeenery which, for good or ill, comes along with it which is part of participating in a massive game.”
I’m borrowing that little section from a blog, not because the blogger wrote a poor bit, but because the paragraph encapsulates exactly what I hear from anti-RMT’ers. I would recommend going over and reading the rest of it here. Good stuff.
1) First and foremost, the great majority of evidence that exists now has never suggested that any game would be so kind as to allow the Uber Sword, without any in-game equivalent, only to be bought in the cash shop. Games just do not do that.
2) What many of these games do offer is “limited edition” pink dresses, pony pets and Caps of Cutiepie. For some reason, many players think that the Sword of Uber has some kind of greater impact than a cute, pink, harmless, dress. People who think that have not seen how powerful limited edition pets (for example) can be.
I am not making any guesses about the writer that I quoted at the beginning, but I will promise you that most players that say “…as long as they leave the Uber Sword out of it..” have not played very many RMT/Cash-Shop games. If they would, they would know what I am talking about when I say that they already leave it out of it. Or, I will bet that they only played maybe one or two games before World of Warcraft, the game that has made going after loot an art form, and accessible to all. If players want to comment on such sweeping topics as RMT and it’s impact, they should be required to have played more than a handful of both sub and cash-shop based games. There are hundreds of them out there. Hundreds.
Why would any company, in their right mind, allow only RMT transactions to reach those “elite” levels/gear? These companies make money when you stick around, not when you don’t. Yes, even cash-shop games make money off of you when you stick around. Again, if you do not know why or how, then you have never experienced one.
Go. Play one. For a while. Try two or five.
In an attempt to keep this short and sweet, if players indeed practice “epeenology” or subscribe to the theory of “Epeenesspocity” and think that their Tier _____ gloves somehow make any kind of difference to any other player besides themselves, then they need to stop and get very, very real.
No one cares. Everyone seems to think that everyone cares, but no one does. Those Uber gloves do not effect the environment, the economy, or the game in any way, shape, or form.
The only person that cares about your special gloves are you and perhaps your guild, or your circle of friends. Just like that little pink fluff pet. (Please be very aware that I am not saying, in any way, that going after those Uber Items is stupid or less of an activity than, say, exploring or shopping. Fun is different for all people. )
Also, a player that thinks that cash-shops do away with all forms of e-peen (I can’t believe I keep typing that word! hehe) is, again, greatly mistaken. One player can always be “jealous” of another players gear, items, pets, clothes, mount, or level. There is no magic formula that will get rid of one players want for another players stuff.
So, that’s the main and strongest point from the “other side” of the cash-shop argument isn’t it?
“Don’t let them sell my achievements for 1.00. I “worked hard” for that, and want others to want what I have.” It’s always about the others. Without the others (and their imagined lust for the players gear), your average raider would just be a player passing through gear like a jackrabbit on a date. Show me a raider without the latest gear and I’ll show you a raider who is wanting that latest gear, and will ditch the old stuff as soon as the new stuff comes along. (Again, this is no knock, just the truth.)
To me, the danger doesn’t lie in allowing players to “buy their way” into glory, when others have to “work” for it.
The danger lies in allowing a culture that not only encourages greed and lust, but often tears virtual friendships apart (show me a raiding guild, and I will promise you at some point an argument has come forth about raiding schedules, frequency of raids, or loot) to continue on. If, for one reason, that culture should be discouraged: it makes players unhealthy. (NOTE: I am not saying all of raiding/high-end does this for everyone. Just most.)
Recently I found out that some players in Vanguard, after a recent level cap increase, played several 20 hour days in an effort to get further in the game. I knew this sort of thing still happened, but was actually more shocked to get a few messages telling me that players still did this in Vanguard quite often.
20 HOURS.
One day, everyone will know how silly some of these myths are. You can already debunk most of them by simply playing more than 2 or 3 cash shop games and experiencing other areas outside of the game besides combat. RMT and cash-shops are actually not the more dangerous item here, making players “lazy” and destroying the delicate ego’s of raiders everywhere. If it discourages players from playing for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, I’m all for it. And if it allows players the choice to avoid that, or allows both types of players to play the same game, even better.
EDIT: Just a quick note: I am not making fun of anyone or their choice of playtime. We all play in different ways. What I am trying to say is that one persons value is not universal for everyone. If we are going to have this back and forth about RMT, people need to make sure they understand how it works in most games.
Beau
I’ve not played FreeRealms, but I have heard people say that you can buy equipment for cash that is better than anything you can get or craft. Cannot verify that as truth, but certainly people who have played have that impression.
Google “ZT Online”.
I think it’s the best example of the “worst case scenario” that RMT-objectors fear.
I don’t object to item shops per se… but I won’t play a game where I begin to get the impression that I NEED to make micro-transactions to keep up.
I like DDOU’s plan… what I’ve heard of it. It sounds that the primary micro-tran product is going to be access to new content.
I think there are multiple things a play here…
Some players are playing for the epeen and are very afraid of that model dying away.
Some players are playing for the loot even if it’s not uber loot, but loot in general, is a progression model for them and they mistakenly believe everyone else must be doing that too.
Others think that grinding and selling their souls to obtain an item makes me “worthy” in some way in a pixalated world and they fear the lose of that worthiness by making items accessible to a wider audience.
Many believe that introducing cash into a game generates unfair inequity between those that have the cash to spare and those that don’t. While being blindly ignorant to the fact that time is the current inequity but they’re okay with that inequity, as it favors the commodity that they happen to have in abundant supply.
Then there are those who think they way things were is how it should always be because – well, that happens to favor their take on games. It doesn’t matter if millions of other players think differently. I’m not sure why they don’t just play their niche games and be happy. Publishers who want mass appeal will produce for the masses. Publishers that want niche will produce for those markets. There are games on both sides and between. Pick one and have at it.
“Those Uber gloves do not effect the environment, the economy, or the game in any way, shape, or form.”
Wasn’t one of Tobold’s objections to Free Realms that its item shop sold Uber Swords of Uberness far in advance of anything his maxed-out sword-maker could manufacture?
I don’t know, I might’ve missed that one from Tobold. I don’t read his blog all the time.
Again, though, even if they sold a sword like that, there are many games that do not sell the Uber sword in the shop without having a similar item in the game. Also, in Free Realms, combat is but one job out of 20, so unless I’m missing the rest, there are still plenty of items to get in game that are “uber.”
Point being, the majority of cash shop games do not sell items like that and will more than likely not sell items like that in the future. Perfect World intl. has made their stance on it very clear, and every other free to play has pretty much the same stance. I am simply trying to de-bunk this idea that cash shop games are selling the best stuff in the cash shop. There, are, of course, examples of that happening, but not for 99.9 percent of them.
Also, I am trying to say that the idea that gear is worth anything to anyone but the owner is out-dated. People don’t look in awe to someone that put so much time into the game. Most games do not require the days-long raiding of EQ, and WoW has made it popular to allow anyone to basically get anything, with a little time and a good group. This is a good thing, being that encouraging players to play for that length of time is simply unhealthy.
All in all, people have a fear of cash shops/RMT without being to explain it beyond “I don’t want the items to be equivalent to mine..” even though a player that bought his item has no effect (save for emotionally) on the player that “worked” for it. \
Great comments guys!!
Beau
Hey Beau,thanks for the link.
I didn’t mean to imply that many microtransaction games actually do sell the Uber Sword of Uberness (though from the comments it seems that some might). I certainly think they shouldn’t and just offer it up as an example of what not to do. I haven’t played enough of them to really tell whether many violate this rule or not.
W101 seems to have gotten it right while Free Realms probably got it a bit wrong. I didn’t play it long enough because it just didn’t grab me, but I’ve read more that one account that tracks Tobold’s experiences.
I think you might discount the social competitive aspect a bit too much. We’re social creatures and while we all likely attribute different value to various indicia of achievement (e.g., Ph.D. versus Rolex versus Nobel Peace Prize versus 1 BILLION dollars versus Universal Enlightenment, etc.) we are still conscious and aware of them, and at some level they shape our desires and experiences (both positively and negatively). I think people do care, just in different ways.
Scarcity and rarity have a powerful effect on our psyche. Uniqueness or pseudo-uniqueness is probably just as powerful as the desire to conform.
Everyone loves Caps of Cutie Pie (I’m wearing mine now) but they also love the Helm of You Haven’t Got…
All I’m saying is there’s a balance to be struck to reinforce the immersive power of the game.
Cool, I get ya. And understand that I only quoted you, and didn’t mean to imply that you thought one way or the other. I actually liked your post!
It’s hard to say “they don’t care” without sounding like I am trying to be an asshole. I mean it literally, meaning that I don’t think that players really feel that “devalued achievement” feeling for that long. Players will get used to having cash-shops around, it’s already happening in major games like WoW, EVE and CoH.
Thanks for the comments!
Beau
@BT: “Players will get used to having cash-shops around, it’s already happening in major games like WoW, EVE and CoH.”
It’s not a cash shop!
Well, you know what I mean. Any time a player pays real life cashola for a virtual item, being it a character, a horse or as skirt, it’s all the same.
Beau
It’s funny you keep saying RMT shops only sell fluff, yet FR sells top-end gear, AO is basically ‘who spends more’ out of the newbie area, and when I did a quick search of other RMT games shops, I more often than not say power items for sale right next to the pink dress.
So while I’m sure some RMT games do only sell the dress, clearly it’s not 99% of them.
The whole ‘convenience’ category of items is very subjective, especially when you factor in other players. Obviously faster/better is going to be huge in PvP, but it also factors in for PvE. If I’m raiding, how often do I want to wait 40-60% longer for poor Joe who has yet to buy the $10 mount, or how likely is poor Sally going to get a group spot when the next player has the top cash items, which help us clear an instance/raid/quest?
The point is that the great majority of cash shop games
a) Do not sell the best gear/items only in the cash shop
b) Sell, along-side that gear, fluff.
There are hundreds of titles out there, that the US does not even play. I take all these into account (I have ways of reading those foreign sites!) because developers are influenced by each other.
I think we are seeing the influence of their style of gaming and their style of paying. Although I have tweaked my prediction a bit thanks to some brilliant comments on here, I still believe that within 2 years every major MMO will either have some sort of RMT or will be fully F2P.
My arguments always come from a player that has played games that do not concentrate on raiding or on the “usual” NA mmo concepts.
Beau
I forgot to point out that these usual items that are pointed at as something that would have an “effect” on other players are slowly losing that image.
Players, thanks in part to these RMT games, are growing more comfortable with the fact that, even if a player was to buy a sword and kill you in PvP with it, he did not “buy” any type of advantage. (As very rare that it is for a player to even be able to buy these type of items.)
It is not an advantage since there are no games that are a competition at all, and also because you have the same chance to buy that weapon. If PvP was a competition, there would be some kind of official obtainable goal, and there is not. There is no death, so all PvP ever is is just a pause in your game-play. Until an MMO comes out with a concept like “Fury” (look how good that did) then even PvP games have no set winner.
Players might make up their own competitions, but there are none if a player does not choose to participate.
You could use the “unfair advantage” about people who have extra time to play, yet we don’t think that they are cheating somehow.
The last thing we should do is allow playing for 5-10 hours a night to be considered something normal and sane. It is not, and no game was meant to be played for those crazy amounts of time. The content flow is already an issue with most games, and this is because of players that have the “unfair” advantage of extra time to play.
The point of this blog is to say that the whole “just don’t sell good gear” argument is not only unnecessary but slowly growing outdated.
Beau
Two issues. One, you assume NA/EU tastes (the biggest MMO market) will change and accept F2P. So far, only sub-AAA games are F2P in the NA market, and looking at Aion, AAA-aiming titles even from the east are going sub model over F2P.
The second, regarding the effect buying gear/power has, is that you approach MMOs from a very different view than the majority. If I was not more familiar with your style, I would have called you a lair when you said death in DF has no meaning, but I know that for YOU it really does not, while for almost everyone else, it does. I think it’s that view that is perhaps blinding you to how the majority of MMO players would view going from everyone paying $15 a month to what happens when you drop $100 to get ahead. Those players accept that time=power, they won’t accept money=power.