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TCG?
Scalebane
Member UncommonPosts: 1,883
So did people ever get it shutdown? remember a big ol stink about it around here with people calling their local whatevers.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Comments
The TCG remains as RMT lottery card mechanism and since its sole purpose is additional sales, it receives more attention then adding additional content. It has become a bone of contention for even the most dedicated players with SWG as well as EQ2.
Since SOE aquire an entire TCG company , they are not allowing their talents to go to waste but its comes with a cost of annoyance to the subscription paying players who disagree with its tactics. Not that I approve of RMT but atleast when you buy a RMT item , you know what you are getting. When you buy one of this TCG pack , you are gambling and the house always wins.
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I like the TCG's for both EQ II and SWG, it serves two purposes for me something to do while I'm waiting for the rest of the group to show up, and it drives Veteran SWG players crazy, SOE needs more of that.
I agree - More TCG, less development! You and your attitude are exactly what I feel SWG needs more of. Post more often, please!
TCG stands for "Hooking ourselves up to your bank account like a leech gloming on to an engored vein".
i kinda figured it wouldnt get shutdown, thanks for some info though.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
As far as I know, they're still going on with the TCG. If you want to read up on why this might be the case, you could look at the class action lawsuit against Linden regarding virtual property. One insightful comment explained that the laws regarding this type of transaction are positively medieval. Technology has leapt ahead of any form of meaningful regulation. In the meantime, it seems that some would try to capitalize (that's a pun btw) on the ambiguity.
So has anything at all related to the TCG been shut down? Well, yes; though perhaps "shut out" would be more accurate terminology. TCG tournaments have been banned in several states. The reason for this is simple. Those states have regulations pertaining to games like this. The SWG TCG tournaments failed to meet acceptable standards that are in place to safeguard consumer interests.
To look at any other shutdowns, you'd have to look at the servers closed as a result of the abysmal population. Is that shutdown related to the TCG? Heh, well if it was a factor, it's one of many. Obviously I'm playing on words here. Even so, part of the big "stink" you refer to was people saying that they were cancelling their subscriptions because of the TCG loot items. I think it's safe to say that at least some of them followed through.
The TCG is really only one example of an issue that is gaining prominence: virtual property. People are paying billions a year to "purchase" virtual goods or property, only to be told that they haven't actually purchased anything at all. This type of language is being challenged in a class-action suit currently. The outcome should have quite an impact, one way or the other, on virtual goods in MMOs, especially those based in the U.S..
Right now MMO companies claim the right to "sell" you a virtual item, but then delete or change it immediately thereafter. In essence, you're really paying for the possibility of using a virtual item for an unspecified amount of time; and during that time, the item doesn't even have to work lol. As you can imagine, people are catching on to just how ridiculous this is. You can fool some of the people, some of the time, but usually not for very long.
The EU has much more user-friendly EULAs for MMOs, specifically as they relate to virtual goods. One EU company, Gamigo, for example will sell you a license to use a virtual item for a specific period of time. If the item is deleted or devalued before the license expires, the gamer has the right to a refund on any time remaining. This company uses no misleading language, and the customer is assured that he or she will get the use of an item for the specified amount of time. Also, it will function as adervtised. These are very basic expectations of services that we pay for everyday. Why North American MMOs run by companies like SOE don't follow suit, I may never fully understand. Greed, opportunism, arrogant disregard for their customers? Beats me.