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Ah, one of so many reasons I loved UO! @patio11, I think the scorn for virtual item sales was not always just one of condescension. Rather, the idea was born f

by sabj 16y ago

Ah, one of so many reasons I loved UO! @patio11, I think the scorn for virtual item sales was not always just one of condescension. Rather, the idea was born from a certain economic understanding. If the belief was that virtual item sales would be a fraction of subscriptions, but that virtual sales could upset gameplay and unbalance games, harming the play experience and undermining the community, they were to be eschewed. At least, that was an argument that I would see a lot.

patio11 16y ago
Yeah, I saw that, too. It seemed to me that a lot of developers connected very strongly with their audience on the level of: "I am cash-poor and time-rich and should win, because I am willing to work for this. Victory should not go to people who are cash-rich and time-poor. I should beat their face in and people should be in awe of me, because I worked for my pixels."
- wlievens 16y ago
  Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I interpret you as saying "they wanted to preserve gameplay over a potentially more interesting business model, and that's a bad thing". Maybe you're not a gamer, so that makes it harder to imagine. But games like Farmville aren't on the same level as something like Ultima Online. It's like comparing a fast food chain to an authentic French restaurant. Nobody will blame the restaurant that they're using a different model.
  - patio11 16y ago
    There are a lot of dragons who would vigorously contest the notion that I am not a gamer, or would if I hadn't spent years of my life getting together with my closest 39 friends to genocide them. My interest is mostly academic, about how for-profit companies convince themselves that suboptimal processes are in their best interests.
  - mattmanser 16y ago
    He's talking about 'hardcore' players having a colossal advantage over casual players in terms of the amount of virtual goods they can accrue. In terms of gameplay this means your toon has better weapons and perks giving your character an artificial advantage. By buying these goods for real money you get rid of the advantage, but 'hardcore' players, otherwise known as students and schoolkids, traditionally considered this cheating. That's not preserving game balance, there's no skill there.

by sabj 16y ago

patio11 16y ago

Yeah, I saw that, too. It seemed to me that a lot of developers connected very strongly with their audience on the level of: "I am cash-poor and time-rich and should win, because I am willing to work for this. Victory should not go to people who are cash-rich and time-poor. I should beat their face in and people should be in awe of me, because I worked for my pixels."

wlievens 16y ago
Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I interpret you as saying "they wanted to preserve gameplay over a potentially more interesting business model, and that's a bad thing". Maybe you're not a gamer, so that makes it harder to imagine. But games like Farmville aren't on the same level as something like Ultima Online. It's like comparing a fast food chain to an authentic French restaurant. Nobody will blame the restaurant that they're using a different model.
- patio11 16y ago
  There are a lot of dragons who would vigorously contest the notion that I am not a gamer, or would if I hadn't spent years of my life getting together with my closest 39 friends to genocide them. My interest is mostly academic, about how for-profit companies convince themselves that suboptimal processes are in their best interests.
- mattmanser 16y ago
  He's talking about 'hardcore' players having a colossal advantage over casual players in terms of the amount of virtual goods they can accrue. In terms of gameplay this means your toon has better weapons and perks giving your character an artificial advantage. By buying these goods for real money you get rid of the advantage, but 'hardcore' players, otherwise known as students and schoolkids, traditionally considered this cheating. That's not preserving game balance, there's no skill there.