Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Do you think paying RL money for MMO advancement should be allowed?
ironore
Member CommonPosts: 957
This is a link to a poll in another mmorpg.com thread about spending time vs money to advance in an MMO:
IronOre - Forging the Future
Comments
Yes,
As someone who works, I don't have the time to keep up to those who make gaming their life. If I was so inclined, I could pay for my advancement and gear so that when I do play, be it pve or pvp I can play in teh end game.
That said...
If I choose to "advance" by paying, I will suck at the game... for a while. While this is not likely a big deal in pvp it matters in pve content.
I can't see myself doing this sort of thing but I don't have a problem with others doing it.
Because I work, my time is worth money. If it costs me $100 to get max level and superior gear that is less that half a day's work... grinding that out for several weeks/months might not be worth it. Personally I enjoy exploration and going into zones that are higher level than me so buying my advancement would not fit me personally but the option is good for me.
Conversely... in a game with different classes, if I had maxed out my level and wanted another toon of a different playstyle it might be worth it for me to buy it rather than level it up the hard way.
My thoughts on it anyway...
Skaroth
See the violence inherent in the system!
No. Its in the same category as hacks and other exploits. The old " im too busy to advance" doesnt cut it. If someone doesnt have the time to play the game without cheating, they shouldnt play the game.
It's not cheating if it is sanctioned by the game co. and open to all users
Skaroth
See the violence inherent in the system!
I think that there is no problem with this, however, the two models should be kept separate.
Anyone who wants to pay to advance can play on server A, and anyone who can't/won't pay to advance can pay on server B. I really don't care how someone else chooses to play so long as it doesn't impact the way I play or am expected to play.
Now with 57.3% more flames!
I don't know know why one would play an RPG if they don't want advancement, i guess some people just want to get to max lvl and want everything handed to them rand ather pay for it but the "i don't have time" excuse makes no sense to me, if your really that tight in time this isn't the best place to be in then.
I personally don't care.
As long as it doesn't fall upon gear or other items that OP people over others within their range that is. Who cares if someone can buy maxlvl? When everyone else meets up with him it'll show he has no latent advantage besides bypassing all the earlier stuff that could have attuned him to the char's playstyle. Really, I couldn't give a damn. I wouldn't do it, I would prolly make fun of people who did, but it affects me in no way - so I don't care.
The only problem it creates is for the people running the game, as the cost of getting instant maxout might be worth less than the monthy subs built up in order to manually achieve it. People always jump ship when hitting the brick wall that is the traditionally lacking MMO endgame, so I expect people to just end up throwing their money away and changing their minds. Only problem is that the company might have been able to make more off of them if they didn't offer to bump em up.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
the real question is: why do ppl do it? cause lvling up is so boring? is that the games fault or is it the attitude of the costumers?
My problem with games that use "RL money to advance" is when it goes from a time saving option to mandatory.
Personally, I do not use such options because the leveling and the journey to end game is supposed to be an integral part of the game's experience. Using cash to bypass that aspect of the game cheapens the experience for me while making the game more expensive.
I can see where some folks would want to pay to get to the part of the game they deem as the most fun. If a game allows for that, and the customer is willing to pay for such a perk, then so be it.
What I fear is the increasing trend to have item malls and pay to advance schemes REQUIRED just to enjoy the game. When it gets to that point, I will not play.
The attitude of the customer. If the game is "boring", find another game. Games have rules, and being bored doesn't entitle anyone to ignore those rules.
People who do this are the same types of assholes who used to get shot pulling aces out of their sleeves in poker games.
Indeed. The CS + Sub method I'm seeing lately doesn't really turn my guts like it does some people, but the moment they start selling 2x XP or speed multipliers on top of having a sub is the moment I leave the genre for online-FPS' exclusively. It's something that free games "get away with" simply because you don't pay a dime otherwise, but if you pay a monthly fee you can't be approached with items to screw pacing over like that.
I would rather a few people be enticed to buy their way to endgame levels instantly, rather than the whole being pushed to buy items to hurry it.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Weird, because you don't agree or the design isn't friendly to you, you are willing to spend money with the same developers that made you wish you could skip content?
It defeats the purpose, and any feeling of competition or community if openly embraced or unpunished by the developers), killing any wish of spending time playing it, unless you are able to also withdraw money from the game, but then the game would be faced as a work or an investment instead of a game for pure fun. That's my opinion.
I'm mostly in the "not caring what other people do as long as it doesn't affect my enjoyment" group. I'm not inclined to do it myself but since I mostly solo or duo these days, I don't even notice other people much. If it were to impact my enjoyment somehow, I'm more likely to quit the game than start paying to advance my character. My box price and monthly sub seems more than enough to pay so far. It is a bit worrying about it becoming an actual requirement, although I don't see that happening. Yet. Maybe I'm just in denial.
As for it being an "exploit or hack"... how? As someone else pointed out, if it's allowed, it's not in that category.
No.
The biggest business reason I can see if the game company is cutting thier own throat. The idea of MMO's is the long term investment in a character and the subsequent subscriptions that go along with that. If someone can pay to be max level on day one, players will become bored more quickly and leave the game sooner. Unfortunately the current trend seems to be headed towards the quick cash grab from the ADD players that seem to be massing to MMO's.
The biggest personal reason is because using shortcuts to get to the top go against the very nature of MMO's which are based on playing your character, getting to know your character, interacting with and getting to know the community, and the adventure along the way in my opinion. Real life status should have no bearing in an imaginary world. It's supposed to be an escape from real life.
The only way I see something like this working is if it took place on seperate servers. That way all the "I don't have time to play the game" players can spend until thier hearts content without interfering with those of us who want to play the games in the spirit they were intended. I think those servers would be very short lived though because all of those "players" would get bored quickly and wouldn't feel as improtant because flashing thier epeen via their wallet won't have the same umph. All players would have the same max level toons and max level gear and there would be no one to impress with their uberness.
If people want to play max level, god mode toons, that's what consoles are for.
I've heard the gambit of excuses and none of them hold water. Don't like leveling...maybe MMO's aren't for you. Don't have time...maybe you should find another hobby that isn't as time consuming. I have a family and don't have a lot of time to play, but the last thing I am going to ask is for companies to let me essentially pay not to play their game.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
I would also like to add, that PVP based games are more easily destroyed by pay to advance schemes than PVE games.
PVP games that allows one to buy advancement = a game where he who has the most money wins. That's not very fun.
PVE can suffer a similar fate with folks paying to get the best gear and so on, but it really won't impact the play experience for the non-buyer in the same way as it would in a PVP based game.
The term, "Money Gank" comes to mind here.
When I first started playing video games many years ago I never could have imagined I'd see the day when people would pay real money to not play a game they claim to like.
Turn the clock back 25 years, who would have paid $5 to skip a board they couldn't beat in their favorite NES game... I wonder.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Exactly my thoughts about half an hour ago when first posting in this thread. Who would have paid to get directly to Dracula in any Castlevania game? Or to Mother Brain in and Metroid? The journey is what matters, but most people overlook the pre-max levels as "filler content" to the ever-awesome endgame we all know and love (sarcasm).
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
(it's better in games where your skill at the game has a strong influence on how quickly you get XP in the first place. Especially if this means a Skilled player can out-XP an Average boosted-XP player.)
(When each playstyle is relatively balanced, this is the ideal type of item to sell in stores for a F2P game.)
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I have no problem with games that offer substantial rewards for people that want to pay more. I will not play them.
I am surprised that almost 60% of players here have never/will never buy items/cash/levels.
Someone that bought gold is one of the main reasons I quit WoW. He spent some money and in an afternoon maxed enchanting and tailoring. Something I had taken months to do. In the process he drove up the price of raw materials by at least 50% so you can't say it didn't have any effect on other players. As someone that likes knowing that people are using my crafted items, It is the part of the game that gives me the most enjoyment. For someone to do that in one day really showed me how limited WoWs crafting was and was very disheartening.
Yes, of course they should be allowed.
This isn't a contest. We aren't competing who can level fastest, so paying for higher level characters isn't a problem.
In fact, time was when you could play PnP and you got higher level characters for free! Someone wants to pay to level, well, they are a sucker. But we shouldn't stand in their way.
Subscription = paying to play = paying to advance
Bottom line, whether its in a form of prepaid time or a cash-shop, it's the same thing, lucky for us both at the same time are unlikely, indeed cash-shops give offer us more flexibility at the expense of perceived 'fairness'.
Also, it will never be possible to completely wipe away gold sellers and the like, short of insane monitoring likely to ruin -our- gaming experience. However, if the developers themselves implement a mechanism by means of which you can 'purchase' in-game advancement, be it money or anything else, well then you have to either accept it or leave.
But is it 'fair' for others to buy their way to a state you 'worked' so hard to achieve? No idea, its very much subjective, for me theres nothing like rubbing it in to a 'I-pay-to-advance' player about his inferiority despite his monetary investments (because they tend to do the same), so following that line of though, I support games that want to go down that path, but only if they accommodate a way for dedicated players to get there through skill/hard work alone. Doesn't have to be too much, once I know I can obtain, for example, cash-shop items in-game, I'm content.
- Shijeer
LOL at people who pay to avoid playing the game that they're also paying to play.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
I don't care if people can buy advancement. I don't see why anybody should care that player B can buy a 10x XP potion from a cash shop. It just means they will reach the end game faster which shouldn't really matter to you since you get to enjoy the journey there.
The problem is the mentality of those that complain about xp boosts bought from CS. Either you are jealous that people can advance faster which ultimately means you don't really care for the content that will get you there in due time. Or you feel you are in direct competition to other players when it comes to level advancement. Worry about your own hide. Don't worry about how the next guy gains 10 levels a day. So what if he gets to the end game faster what's it to you?
No the real problem is when you can buy gear. Because unlike levels i can understand why people compete with other PvE players over who has the best gear. There is prestige in it. Once you introduce a gear based CS that prestige switches from ingame accomplishments to real life monetary accomplishments. Who's the richest outside of the game that can put down $1000 without blinking an eye. When it comes to levels we will all get to the same place eventually. Not so with gear.
Yes if the game is design to be so,No if game is design around it around it.Simply put if everybody knows that spending money is the way to advance in game their is no problem,Some players are paying a monthly fee and some people their real life money to by gold or characters it is unfair.
Depends on the type of "advancement".
I don't care if someone wants to pay a few quid to powerlevel their character, with one important caveat .. that the progression rate without using RMT is not so slow as to effectively demand that everyone use it. As long as the natural progression rate is reasonable, then all the RMT crowd is doing is paying for a bit of a headstart.
Obviously, the ideal situation would be that the levelling process be fun enough that no-one would want to "skip" ahead, but I recognise a pipe-dream when I type one.
If you're talking overpowered gear, unique classes, races, etc .. then that's a resounding "No".
I'll clarify my position; I will never use a cash shop in an MMO. Not ever. If that means that I level a bit slower than other people, if I don't get some inconsequential fluff items .. then that's cool .. I'll still play that MMO.
If my refusal to partake of RMT excludes me from content; or if it gives other players an insurmountable advantage over me, then I just won't play that MMO.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
Why even play the game then, FFS?
You don't have to keep up with everyone else. If you don't have as much time/energy to play, then you don't get as much stuff done. It's not the end of the world. Play to have fun and meet people. I feel sorry for those players who feel they have to be on par with everyone else. Heres some wisdom: if you don't have all the best gear in the game, then you probably have a life. That is a good thing. Just be happy about it and have fun playing the game. You don't need the best items to have a good time, trust me.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.