Flaming Homo

FFX? I may be queer but I'm not a limp-wristed sissy fag who would play that pansy shit. (No offense to any limp-wristed sissy fags who play EQ2. You're a valued part of the EQ2 community. Well, that is all limp-wristed sissy fags except Gaige.)

FunCom has not confirmed any future plans to release AoC (which will be a cold turd) on any console platforms. Marvel Universe will also be worthless shit since it is being developed by Cryptic and they have failed to learn anything from the mistakes they made with City of Heroes. ( A game I do actually like, but it could be so much more than it is.)

So far, none of your example games actually count as MMOs (that includes the cluster-fuck known as FFXI). And, you stupid piece of shit-fuck, nothing you can get from XBox Live can be collected in-game and then sold player to player for cash. No one is out there farming for race tracks and selling them to Forza 2 players. They're additional, optional, publisher produced game expansions and add-ons.

Is everyone in your family in-bred, or are you the special result of your mother-aunt and father-uncle having too much eggnog under the tree one year?

Otis

To be fair - I wouldn't exactly call selling plat for money a crime.

Besides, laws are changed all the time. Shit that's illegal becomes legal etc and so forth.

Jalathan

I would equate it to performance enhancing drugs. Yah, they aren't illegal (many are otc), but just because it is being done doesn't mean it should be sanctioned by the governing body.

How would everyone of felt if they would of come out with this steroid issue (which noone other than those who lied broke the law, just the rules of the game) by saying that it would be legal and noone who had done it previously would not only not be penalized, but they would be elevated into new roles within the game.

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Paladin of Antonia Bayle

bigron

Are you retarded ?How can you put selling plat in the same context of a crime?

RMT is definetly the new wave and future of MMOs.Hell im in favor of it....ill damm sure use my conj as a money maker cash machine.

Uyaem

Ah, that's not what I meant
What I wanted to say is: Just because it happens already on a smaller scale doesn't make it right or wanted. Hence, just allowing it might not be in the best interest of the player base, even if they believe it won't affect them even if they don't participate.
What they however fail to realize is as they are in that changing market, they will be affected, if the spend real life money or not.

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Caswydian

SOE's exchange white paper shows that the trend was towards lots of people making fairly small purchases. This is generally supported as the overall trend in RMT, which would suggest that buying items or coin is done to supplement rather than replace actual gameplay.


Nothing indicates that those who engage in RMT are more likely to leave a game than those who do not engage in RMT.

You also need to consider that without access to RMT, a chunk of your population wouldn't play at all.

RMT has been around pretty much since MMOs have been around. There was a thriving RMT industry in UO, for example.

Given the size of the RMT industry, and the buying habits supported by the Exchange White Paper, it is not unreasonable to conclude that for some games, like WoW or EQ2 that about 30-40% of the total population is engaged in RMT, either as a seller, buyer or benefiting knowingly from another's purchase. RMT is here and has always been here.

There are other games financed entirely through virtual item sales, and those games have proven quite successful and durable.


I'd say any changes to the lifespan of MMOs will have far more to do with increased competition and consumer choice. Whith a new wave of MMOs being released every couple of years, there will be a lot more churn. Of course, this could actually benefit SOE as they can put more emphasis on the Station Pass subscriptions, so instead of subscribing to a specific game, you'd get access to all the games a company has. This way, customers have a single point of access to multiple games. It benefits both old and new games, too, as players will retain access to older games even as newer games are released.

We may very well see a move away from massive, expensive games like WoW, but not because of RMT. Rather it will be due to changes in market trends and an unwillingness of the financial backers to take risks after the Vanguard flop.

As it stands right now, there is no such thing as a non-RMT game. The involvement of RMT in the MMO industry is as old as the industry itself, and thus far, no one really wants to change that. Sure, the MMO publishers will crack down on RMT now and then, but they've got no interest in making substantive changes to game designs that would remove the incentive for players to engage in RMT. The developers know, at this point, that a certain chunk of their population will engage in RMT, and they're OK with that.

RMT is sort of like prostitution - only a small fraction of it goes on in the open. Your street walkers and johns are only a small percentage of the whole industry, but that's what people are concerned about. Get rid of the more obvious signs of the problem, and people are satisfied. The same applies to RMT - if you cut down on the spam and disruptive play styles of the farmers, people are happy, but the RMT industry will continue unabated. And really, that's what people want. The RMT companies make their money, the buyers are happy, the publishers get their subscription fees and the rest of the player base is unaffected.

methulah

Fuck, I almost quoted that post, but in the end, I couldn't be bothered. The analogy made of the prevailing of crime leading to the legalization of crime is indeed a valid one.

RMT is currently against the EULA. Yet, Sony have observed that RMT is widespread, and as such, instead of punishing those breaking their EULA; or providing incentives not to, they instead make the same practice not against the EULA. Neat.

Otis

Did I miss an announcement?

Neat.

Flaming Homo

I'm only going to point this out to you because you keep spewing this same crap, Cassiegurl.

I wipe my ass with white paper. That's about all any industry white paper is good for. It's PR bullshit.

aduros

/agree


If a game was designed as non RMT, and kept that stance through out it's lifetime, I could live with the small percent of people who buy gold. You'd be a fool to think you'd be able to get rid of everyone that buys gold.

EQ2's problem is that their subs are so low they let RMT run rampant on live servers. They're afraid to lose the bot accounts, and those of the people who buy plat. If they wanted to get rid of the majority of 'illegal' RMTers they easily have the tool to do so.



It's very unreasonable. White Paper means shit. Rape has also been going on since the dawn of time, that doesn't mean I think society should throw their hands up and endorse it. (don't even try to attack my analogy, it's a great one )

Those games are products in Eastern markets. As I said before what works there doesn't always work here, and vice versa. An RMT game can't be considered a long term investment for Western markets.

Tons of MMOs are churned out every year, the problem is most of them are the shit you see advertised above. Games quickly produced to grab your attention, but lack in overall quality and longevity.

Vanguard didn't flop because there wasn't a market for it. It flopped because it was handled by an incompetent dreamer, with no sense of leadership or management skills. F13.net - Usefully Cynical Commentary » The Long and Morbid Tale of Sigil Games Online: Interview Edition

There will always be a place for expansive MMOs, especially after WoW opened the floodgates to the genre. WoW is even being tauted as "the new golf" for businessmen.

As it stands now, there is no such thing as a crimeless society. People will always try to bend, and brake the rules. As with crime today, the point isn't to annihilate it completely, but to reduce it to manageable levels. Sure they know RMT takes place, but their objective is to keep the percentage as small as possible, not remove it completely.

See my point above.

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