A few minutes ago, my happy Xbox 360 died. It had lived a good...year. A month just after the warranty ended actually. Instead of forking over $100+ to repair a system that died in a year..* COME ON, my Nintendo Entertainment System aka NES still works to this day...* my wife and I decided to go over to Sony.
Yup, a Playstation 3.
Go go built in blu-ray and free online play.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Subscription MMORPGs Hate MT MMORPGs?
With the recent addition of Station Cash by SOE for EverQuest and EverQuest 2 most fans are split into two groups. Those that HATE IT and those that are fine with it. After observing the kind of flame wars between these two on the forums of websites such as MMORPG.com I can't help but wonder..
What's with the rage?
A large number of the MMORPG community*not the website, but overall* are passionate one way or the other about these two types of systems. A large portion of subscription based players*Those that pay a monthly fee to play their game* detest and positively hate the idea of a Micro-Transaction model.*Game is free, but you pay real cash for fluff items, gear, and other such thing* Why do they hate it?
Most players find that it takes away from the game. With a game where the only enjoyment is what achievements you can achieve, having a system that lets you achieve the same thing with their wallet ruins the game for them. Even if the items gain in the MT are nothing but fluff items for unique graphics for armor/weapons/etc a good chunk of them will still protest. Why? Perhaps due to the "rich" kid having access to something they do not, despite it being nothing but aesthetics? You see it all the time in real life. Jealousy over someone having a sports car when you have an average car. Even though they both function the same and the advantage is only aesthetics, it's generally the same principle.
There is also the stereotype that F2P and MT games have a lot more children or people with child-like mindsets as their player populations. "If you play this cutesy game you must obviously not be hardcore like me for playing Warhammer" kind of attitude. I disagree with this attitude completely. In my experiences I've seen more immature attitudes in subscription based MMORPGs than MT/F2P. This could be due to an admittedly lower player population, but I think there are a lot more adults/mature people playing these games than people realize.
I made a small post about SOE's Station Cash(You can view it here ) a few days ago. Yet from then to now the total venom people have toward any payment method other than subscription has me in awe at their vehemence. There was also the recent incident with Star Wars: The Old Republic(You can view it here ). Another example of players going in an uproar over the thought of a MT system.
So how do YOU feel about either system? Leave a comment, lets discuss this.
What's with the rage?
A large number of the MMORPG community*not the website, but overall* are passionate one way or the other about these two types of systems. A large portion of subscription based players*Those that pay a monthly fee to play their game* detest and positively hate the idea of a Micro-Transaction model.*Game is free, but you pay real cash for fluff items, gear, and other such thing* Why do they hate it?
Most players find that it takes away from the game. With a game where the only enjoyment is what achievements you can achieve, having a system that lets you achieve the same thing with their wallet ruins the game for them. Even if the items gain in the MT are nothing but fluff items for unique graphics for armor/weapons/etc a good chunk of them will still protest. Why? Perhaps due to the "rich" kid having access to something they do not, despite it being nothing but aesthetics? You see it all the time in real life. Jealousy over someone having a sports car when you have an average car. Even though they both function the same and the advantage is only aesthetics, it's generally the same principle.
There is also the stereotype that F2P and MT games have a lot more children or people with child-like mindsets as their player populations. "If you play this cutesy game you must obviously not be hardcore like me for playing Warhammer" kind of attitude. I disagree with this attitude completely. In my experiences I've seen more immature attitudes in subscription based MMORPGs than MT/F2P. This could be due to an admittedly lower player population, but I think there are a lot more adults/mature people playing these games than people realize.
I made a small post about SOE's Station Cash(You can view it here ) a few days ago. Yet from then to now the total venom people have toward any payment method other than subscription has me in awe at their vehemence. There was also the recent incident with Star Wars: The Old Republic(You can view it here ). Another example of players going in an uproar over the thought of a MT system.
So how do YOU feel about either system? Leave a comment, lets discuss this.
SOE announces Station Cash a success
Apparently adding Micro-Transactions to EverQuest and EverQuest 2 was a smashing success for Sony Online Entertainment. How much a success? Enough to start hiring a larger staff JUST for the Station Cash program. There is also talk of adding even more items. Now even though SOE once claimed in a blog to NEVER have any type of MT system...
Here it is. For better or worse SOE is keeping AND expanding it.
However most games that use MT have no subscription fees, yet EverQuest and EverQuest 2 do. They also charge per expansion, etc, etc. I really think that unless they switch to a full MT system*Where there is no subscription fees, etc* then this could hurt more than help.
You can read the full post by SOE here.
Here it is. For better or worse SOE is keeping AND expanding it.
However most games that use MT have no subscription fees, yet EverQuest and EverQuest 2 do. They also charge per expansion, etc, etc. I really think that unless they switch to a full MT system*Where there is no subscription fees, etc* then this could hurt more than help.
You can read the full post by SOE here.
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