The revenue from a Buy-To-Play game becomes very similar to the revenue from an Free-to-play game once all the boxes are actually like... you know, brought. Because now the buyers have their game, and they're no longer paying you anything, just like an F2P game once the "brought the box" revenue is done. So I guess it's not surprising that after enough time has elapsed from the initial box sales, GW2's business model would become more and more like F2P games as well (where there is a greater focus on the cash shop than actual content and more ways to "entice" players to buy from the cash shop like this. Hell, "forcing players to buy in big denominations" was a business tacticthat R2Games mentioned in their F2P business model presentation!)
Unless they went the "sell expansions" route that GW1 did. Why didn't they? One can speculate, I guess. Maybe GW1 wasn't as profitable as they'd like (yet still profitable enough to remain afloat) so they wanted to try a new business model. Or maybe the lack of vertical progression and a focus on Horizontal progression just lent itself to the cash shop better (cause selling cosmetics in the cash shop is horizontal progression of sorts without people screaming "Pay to win!!!")
While GW2's direction with its business model is rather dissappointing, it really isn't too surprising in this regard.
I do blame the players that staunchly advocated and defended F2P/ B2P for where we are now, true.
Exactly. This one instance proves all B2P models are awful and subs lead to a bright future of brilliant, successful games like SWTOR and Wildstar. One could claim it's all about the execution in both cases and the B2P model that was sold to people isn't the one in use right now, but surely we mustn't be reasonable?
This is the harsh reality of monetizing a no sub game.
I guess all the people saying that they like F2P as long as the shop only sells cosmetics didn't buy enough cosmetics. I guess what they meant by 'cosmetics' though was "stuff that i don't ever have to, and of course won't ever, buy".
Take away the sub from a AAA MMORPG and it seems people expect it to run on fresh air and just be provided as a gift to them for entertainment.
F2P, and B2P, advocates are reaping the seeds they helped sow.
ANET decided for the game to be B2P, not the players.
What a confusing statement of the obvious.
We are clearly talking about those who advocated and championed the model.
It's not confusing. You are just trying to shift the blame to the players as if their support for the B2P model and how it was described by ANET somehow makes ANET less culpable.
Well, clearly you find it confusing, because that's not what I said at all.
I do blame the players that staunchly advocated and defended F2P/ B2P for where we are now, true.
But I also equally blame the companies for their unethical profiteering.
I blame both. Look at the bit in red. It's a clue.
B2P and F2P can work without companies delving into unethical profiteering. How is this the consumer's fault?
blah blah, doom and gloom posts for every little change. Just go to sleep. Or get a life.
Gem to gold ratio has doubled which is to be expected after every update they did, do and will do in the future.
I can't count the golds i made converting back and forth before and after living world update. You just wait 2 more weeks to see the price skyrocket further and then normalizing.
Yes .. that has been happening for the past year and a half, if not more. You're welcome!
All of you wanted something to work towards in Gw2. Now work for that batch of 400gems! You just got served
You dismiss the OP without even addressing any of the points that were made. Maybe you are the one "being served" and just do not understand yet......
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
The revenue from a Buy-To-Play game becomes very similar to the revenue from an Free-to-play game once all the boxes are actually like... you know, brought. Because now the buyers have their game, and they're no longer paying you anything, just like an F2P game once the "brought the box" revenue is done. So I guess it's not surprising that after enough time has elapsed from the initial box sales, GW2's business model would become more and more like F2P games as well (where there is a greater focus on the cash shop than actual content and more ways to "entice" players to buy from the cash shop like this. Hell, "forcing players to buy in big denominations" was a business tacticthat R2Games mentioned in their F2P business model presentation!)
Unless they went the "sell expansions" route that GW1 did. Why didn't they? One can speculate, I guess. Maybe GW1 wasn't as profitable as they'd like (yet still profitable enough to remain afloat) so they wanted to try a new business model. Or maybe the lack of vertical progression and a focus on Horizontal progression just lent itself to the cash shop better (cause selling cosmetics in the cash shop is horizontal progression of sorts without people screaming "Pay to win!!!")
While GW2's direction with its business model is rather dissappointing, it really isn't too surprising in this regard.
B2P is nothing more than F2P with an admission charge. At the end of the day, revenue is needed to keep the company afloat. When they are not making enough off box sales, then they have to result to things like this. Did anyone honestly think that this wouldn't happen?
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
I do blame the players that staunchly advocated and defended F2P/ B2P for where we are now, true.
Exactly. This one instance proves all B2P models are awful and subs lead to a bright future of brilliant, successful games like SWTOR and Wildstar. One could claim it's all about the execution in both cases and the B2P model that was sold to people isn't the one in use right now, but surely we mustn't be reasonable?
In your rush to be 'cuttingly' sarcastic, you seem to have missed the point.
No one said SWTOR or WS were made better games by being a sub, where did you get that from? SWTOR, for example, is a crap game IMO sub or F2P.... It's not worth my time whatever.
What was said is that the current state of monetisation in these games was allowed to happen by the players, and that the advocates and defenders of the model in regards to GW2 were told repeatedly that this kind of practice is where it would end up.
See the part in red? That's pointed out because it backs my point up. The B2P advocates for GW2 emotionally bought into the spin of Anet over the common sense of a minority of posters here on these forums. They are warned about slippery slopes and the bed they were making, and yet they argued bitterly to defend it. And now they are here complaining about it.
I don't have much sympathy for people that make their own beds after not listening and then whine about it
Anet should offer a sub option that gives a generous allocation of gems in units of 400, then we can choose. There is nothing you actually need gems for so this is much ado about nothing, it's a bit cynical but consumers are still in control.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
First the old UI was a bit stupid - you couldn't say "I want to buy x amount of gems".
Second, the change is to gold to gems and gems to gold exchange, which involves no real money.
Yeah, this change is annoying because it doesn't allow people to go buy the last 20 or 25 gems they need to buy that 225 or 250 item. They have to buy 400 gems and if they have no in game gold they need to buy gems with real money.
But lets see if Anet introduce changes since they generally listen to the community (for example they backtracked on their intention to sell commander colors for 300g and just gave all the colors to any old commanders that had only spent 100g or new commanders that spent 300g alike).
Of course the majority of the people affected in this thread are the one that don't play GW2...
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
B2P is nothing more than F2P with an admission charge. At the end of the day, revenue is needed to keep the company afloat. When they are not making enough off box sales, then they have to result to things like this. Did anyone honestly think that this wouldn't happen?
There are other ways they could have increased revenue...an expansion for one? I know many people have been wanting that for some time but ANET has instead opted out of that.
I do blame the players that staunchly advocated and defended F2P/ B2P for where we are now, true.
Exactly. This one instance proves all B2P models are awful and subs lead to a bright future of brilliant, successful games like SWTOR and Wildstar. One could claim it's all about the execution in both cases and the B2P model that was sold to people isn't the one in use right now, but surely we mustn't be reasonable?
In your rush to be 'cuttingly' sarcastic, you seem to have missed the point.
No one said SWTOR or WS were made better games by being a sub, where did you get that from? SWTOR, for example, is a crap game IMO sub or F2P.... It's not worth my time whatever.
What was said is that the current state of monetisation in these games was allowed to happen by the players, and that the advocates and defenders of the model in regards to GW2 were told repeatedly that this kind of practice is where it would end up.
See the part in red? That's pointed out because it backs my point up. The B2P advocates for GW2 emotionally bought into the spin of Anet over the common sense of a minority of posters here on these forums. They are warned about slippery slopes and the bed they were making, and yet they argued bitterly to defend it. And now they are here complaining about it.
I don't have much sympathy for people that make their own beds after not listening and then whine about it
Wow. Project much? You and a few others are doing the exact same thing with Archeage.
Why is anybody acting surprised? This is just one of the the things people were worried about when "Lady P2W - The monitizing-wonder" was put in charge of things at NCsoft. And YES - I have been a fan of Anet and GW through it all...
The splendor of what used to be "Anet" is still shining through - in the original Guild Wars - even if that game was left for dead 3 years ago! (True fans never got the message)
Yeah: GW vets have one hell of halloweeningblast currently
edit: ...a fan...
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!! (repeat ad infinitum)
First the old UI was a bit stupid - you couldn't say "I want to buy x amount of gems".
Second, the change is to gold to gems and gems to gold exchange, which involves no real money.
Yeah, this change is annoying because it doesn't allow people to go buy the last 20 or 25 gems they need to buy that 225 or 250 item. They have to buy 400 gems and if they have no in game gold they need to buy gems with real money.
But lets see if Anet introduce changes since they generally listen to the community (for example they backtracked on their intention to sell commander colors for 300g and just gave all the colors to any old commanders that had only spent 100g or new commanders that spent 300g alike).
Of course the majority of the people affected in this thread are the one that don't play GW2...
Oh please. You act like the under-lying motive behind this change was for the benefit of the players. It is completely obvious what their intentions were. There is no reason to hate them for it because, after all, they do need to make money. The sad part is when people attempt to justify it using other reasons.
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
First the old UI was a bit stupid - you couldn't say "I want to buy x amount of gems".
Second, the change is to gold to gems and gems to gold exchange, which involves no real money.
Yeah, this change is annoying because it doesn't allow people to go buy the last 20 or 25 gems they need to buy that 225 or 250 item. They have to buy 400 gems and if they have no in game gold they need to buy gems with real money.
But lets see if Anet introduce changes since they generally listen to the community (for example they backtracked on their intention to sell commander colors for 300g and just gave all the colors to any old commanders that had only spent 100g or new commanders that spent 300g alike).
Of course the majority of the people affected in this thread are the one that don't play GW2...
Oh please. You act like the under-lying motive behind this change was for the benefit of the players. It is completely obvious what their intentions were. There is no reason to hate them for it because, after all, they do need to make money. The sad part is when people attempt to justify it using other reasons.
It's rather simple really and you don't need to blow this out of proportion (like you always do). The game does not cost "you" more. You can choose not to pay for stuff or you can pay. The choice is yours, there is no subscription (pun intended) to charge you every month. If you enjoyed the game after the initial box price, guess what ... you'll still enjoy the bloody game.
I'm sorry but you can't turn this fly into an elephant deary.
First the old UI was a bit stupid - you couldn't say "I want to buy x amount of gems".
Second, the change is to gold to gems and gems to gold exchange, which involves no real money.
Yeah, this change is annoying because it doesn't allow people to go buy the last 20 or 25 gems they need to buy that 225 or 250 item. They have to buy 400 gems and if they have no in game gold they need to buy gems with real money.
But lets see if Anet introduce changes since they generally listen to the community (for example they backtracked on their intention to sell commander colors for 300g and just gave all the colors to any old commanders that had only spent 100g or new commanders that spent 300g alike).
Of course the majority of the people affected in this thread are the one that don't play GW2...
Oh please. You act like the under-lying motive behind this change was for the benefit of the players. It is completely obvious what their intentions were. There is no reason to hate them for it because, after all, they do need to make money. The sad part is when people attempt to justify it using other reasons.
It's rather simple really and you don't need to blow this out of proportion (like you always do). The game does not cost "you" more. You can choose not to pay for stuff or you can pay. The choice is yours, there is no subscription (pun intended) to charge you every month. If you enjoyed the game after the initial box price, guess what ... you'll still enjoy the bloody game.
I'm sorry but you can't turn this fly into an elephant deary.
I have to agree on this, buying gems is optional so this changes might be unfair to you/players but optional stuff is there if you decide to buy, be glad that GW2 has gold to gem convert.....tbh gems were easy to buy as i myself got tons of store stuff and i did not pay a dime....and remember Anet need to earn money since there is no sub....
I do blame the players that staunchly advocated and defended F2P/ B2P for where we are now, true.
Exactly. This one instance proves all B2P models are awful and subs lead to a bright future of brilliant, successful games like SWTOR and Wildstar. One could claim it's all about the execution in both cases and the B2P model that was sold to people isn't the one in use right now, but surely we mustn't be reasonable?
In your rush to be 'cuttingly' sarcastic, you seem to have missed the point.
No one said SWTOR or WS were made better games by being a sub, where did you get that from? SWTOR, for example, is a crap game IMO sub or F2P.... It's not worth my time whatever.
What was said is that the current state of monetisation in these games was allowed to happen by the players, and that the advocates and defenders of the model in regards to GW2 were told repeatedly that this kind of practice is where it would end up.
See the part in red? That's pointed out because it backs my point up. The B2P advocates for GW2 emotionally bought into the spin of Anet over the common sense of a minority of posters here on these forums. They are warned about slippery slopes and the bed they were making, and yet they argued bitterly to defend it. And now they are here complaining about it.
I don't have much sympathy for people that make their own beds after not listening and then whine about it
Originally posted by Saur0n It's called CAPITALISM!
This again? This got very old decades ago.
I'd rather go back to using seashells for a currency and trading furs and bones than to continue experiencing this wonderful capitalism crap. It's everywhere in our world these days and makes life flat out awful. No other reason to exist than to make money or be a tool for someone else to make money.
I hope some extraterrestrial species visits us soon and decides to "pull the plug" on our species like we see in the movies.
If someone has a time machine I can borrow I would really appreciate it. 10,00 years should do the trick...
...
As for GW2 I am not surprised except to say I wonder what took them so long. Anet has been this way for a while and is the number one reason why I won't ever purchase/sub/play a Anet game again.
Lineage 2 and Aion has the same "rules" when you buy credits with real money, which , in the end .. is pathetic.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
OMG Guild Wars 2 is trying to make money!!!! Somebody call the E-Police.
Here's a solution. Don't buy gems. If you want something for your character actually work for it.
Tell me where I have to go work hard to get the RNG boxes in the gemstore? Where in the game world can I loot those items? Stop being a stupid, and realize this game is for casual MMOers with money to spend, nothing else. Would gladly pay a sub of 15+ if they removed the gem store, put the items in the gem store as actual in game rewards from hard content. Stopped with all the shitty daily limits and let people play how they want. DR;DR;DR. Do I need say more.
You guys bought this game, a game that you KNEW was not up front with potential costs,that is what you expect from ANY game going the cash shop route.
You cannot blame anyone but your selves for supporting such a system.You should have all said no,we want a straight up sub fee,no strings attached,no gimmicks ,just give us the full content and everyone is equal.
Everyone was like this is the way developers should run their business,all game should be like Arena.Net.
You can NEVER make such claims about any game that has a non set monetary system,it can change at any moment and will never be a fair system to everyone,you get what you wanted,so no complaints.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
This is the harsh reality of monetizing a no sub game.
I guess all the people saying that they like F2P as long as the shop only sells cosmetics didn't buy enough cosmetics. I guess what they meant by 'cosmetics' though was "stuff that i don't ever have to, and of course won't ever, buy".
Take away the sub from a AAA MMORPG and it seems people expect it to run on fresh air and just be provided as a gift to them for entertainment.
F2P, and B2P, advocates are reaping the seeds they helped sow.
Maybe now, after the blinders are lifted, we can get the genre to move back to the more economical and fair minded subscription model.
Oh yeah, renting a game for $200 a year plus DLC xpac for $50/$90 sounds really fair.
I haven't spent a dime on GW2 since I bought the box. My son has spent $30. Tell me again how renting for 5 times the box price PER YEAR is fair again? Sub for 5 years and spend $1000 on the game. That makes sense. I'm trying really hard to think of a game worth $1000 and I'm coming up with nothing.
But hey, keep on preaching the hidden grind treadmill of renting your games as if it's superior.
Ya, I agree totally with you. I haven't spent a dime myself on anything. I jump on when I want, don't have to worry about canceling a monthly subscription if I'm bored, and its a top notch game.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
When they hired the Maple Story crew to manage that store, I told that to everyone, but they also paid off MMORPG.com to silence critics. Now it happens. I laugh at all you fools who play that game.
Originally posted by tabarjack When they hired the Maple Story crew to manage that store, I told that to everyone, but they also paid off MMORPG.com to silence critics. Now it happens. I laugh at all you fools who play that game.
No need to call folks names because you don't enjoy the game. The game is still very fun no matter what they do with Gems...imho it is very insignificant. I don't play the game for profit, it is free entertainment.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
I haven't been able to buy gems in over 6 months now, I keep getting an error message. I submitted a ticket on it long ago and heard nothing. If they don't want my money that's ok cause there are a lot of games that do.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Comments
The revenue from a Buy-To-Play game becomes very similar to the revenue from an Free-to-play game once all the boxes are actually like... you know, brought. Because now the buyers have their game, and they're no longer paying you anything, just like an F2P game once the "brought the box" revenue is done. So I guess it's not surprising that after enough time has elapsed from the initial box sales, GW2's business model would become more and more like F2P games as well (where there is a greater focus on the cash shop than actual content and more ways to "entice" players to buy from the cash shop like this. Hell, "forcing players to buy in big denominations" was a business tacticthat R2Games mentioned in their F2P business model presentation!)
Unless they went the "sell expansions" route that GW1 did. Why didn't they? One can speculate, I guess. Maybe GW1 wasn't as profitable as they'd like (yet still profitable enough to remain afloat) so they wanted to try a new business model. Or maybe the lack of vertical progression and a focus on Horizontal progression just lent itself to the cash shop better (cause selling cosmetics in the cash shop is horizontal progression of sorts without people screaming "Pay to win!!!")
While GW2's direction with its business model is rather dissappointing, it really isn't too surprising in this regard.
Exactly. This one instance proves all B2P models are awful and subs lead to a bright future of brilliant, successful games like SWTOR and Wildstar. One could claim it's all about the execution in both cases and the B2P model that was sold to people isn't the one in use right now, but surely we mustn't be reasonable?
B2P and F2P can work without companies delving into unethical profiteering. How is this the consumer's fault?
You dismiss the OP without even addressing any of the points that were made. Maybe you are the one "being served" and just do not understand yet......
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
B2P is nothing more than F2P with an admission charge. At the end of the day, revenue is needed to keep the company afloat. When they are not making enough off box sales, then they have to result to things like this. Did anyone honestly think that this wouldn't happen?
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
In your rush to be 'cuttingly' sarcastic, you seem to have missed the point.
No one said SWTOR or WS were made better games by being a sub, where did you get that from? SWTOR, for example, is a crap game IMO sub or F2P.... It's not worth my time whatever.
What was said is that the current state of monetisation in these games was allowed to happen by the players, and that the advocates and defenders of the model in regards to GW2 were told repeatedly that this kind of practice is where it would end up.
See the part in red? That's pointed out because it backs my point up. The B2P advocates for GW2 emotionally bought into the spin of Anet over the common sense of a minority of posters here on these forums. They are warned about slippery slopes and the bed they were making, and yet they argued bitterly to defend it. And now they are here complaining about it.
I don't have much sympathy for people that make their own beds after not listening and then whine about it
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
First the old UI was a bit stupid - you couldn't say "I want to buy x amount of gems".
Second, the change is to gold to gems and gems to gold exchange, which involves no real money.
Yeah, this change is annoying because it doesn't allow people to go buy the last 20 or 25 gems they need to buy that 225 or 250 item. They have to buy 400 gems and if they have no in game gold they need to buy gems with real money.
But lets see if Anet introduce changes since they generally listen to the community (for example they backtracked on their intention to sell commander colors for 300g and just gave all the colors to any old commanders that had only spent 100g or new commanders that spent 300g alike).
Of course the majority of the people affected in this thread are the one that don't play GW2...
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
There are other ways they could have increased revenue...an expansion for one? I know many people have been wanting that for some time but ANET has instead opted out of that.
Wow. Project much? You and a few others are doing the exact same thing with Archeage.
Why is anybody acting surprised? This is just one of the the things people were worried about when "Lady P2W - The monitizing-wonder" was put in charge of things at NCsoft. And YES - I have been a fan of Anet and GW through it all...
The splendor of what used to be "Anet" is still shining through - in the original Guild Wars - even if that game was left for dead 3 years ago! (True fans never got the message)
Yeah: GW vets have one hell of halloweeningblast currently
edit: ...a fan...
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
Oh please. You act like the under-lying motive behind this change was for the benefit of the players. It is completely obvious what their intentions were. There is no reason to hate them for it because, after all, they do need to make money. The sad part is when people attempt to justify it using other reasons.
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
It's rather simple really and you don't need to blow this out of proportion (like you always do). The game does not cost "you" more. You can choose not to pay for stuff or you can pay. The choice is yours, there is no subscription (pun intended) to charge you every month. If you enjoyed the game after the initial box price, guess what ... you'll still enjoy the bloody game.
I'm sorry but you can't turn this fly into an elephant deary.
I have to agree on this, buying gems is optional so this changes might be unfair to you/players but optional stuff is there if you decide to buy, be glad that GW2 has gold to gem convert.....tbh gems were easy to buy as i myself got tons of store stuff and i did not pay a dime....and remember Anet need to earn money since there is no sub....
Nice post.
This again? This got very old decades ago.
I'd rather go back to using seashells for a currency and trading furs and bones than to continue experiencing this wonderful capitalism crap. It's everywhere in our world these days and makes life flat out awful. No other reason to exist than to make money or be a tool for someone else to make money.
I hope some extraterrestrial species visits us soon and decides to "pull the plug" on our species like we see in the movies.
If someone has a time machine I can borrow I would really appreciate it. 10,00 years should do the trick...
...
As for GW2 I am not surprised except to say I wonder what took them so long. Anet has been this way for a while and is the number one reason why I won't ever purchase/sub/play a Anet game again.
OMG Guild Wars 2 is trying to make money!!!! Somebody call the E-Police.
Here's a solution. Don't buy gems. If you want something for your character actually work for it.
This is NcSoft hands , sadly!
Lineage 2 and Aion has the same "rules" when you buy credits with real money, which , in the end .. is pathetic.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Tell me where I have to go work hard to get the RNG boxes in the gemstore? Where in the game world can I loot those items? Stop being a stupid, and realize this game is for casual MMOers with money to spend, nothing else. Would gladly pay a sub of 15+ if they removed the gem store, put the items in the gem store as actual in game rewards from hard content. Stopped with all the shitty daily limits and let people play how they want. DR;DR;DR. Do I need say more.
You guys bought this game, a game that you KNEW was not up front with potential costs,that is what you expect from ANY game going the cash shop route.
You cannot blame anyone but your selves for supporting such a system.You should have all said no,we want a straight up sub fee,no strings attached,no gimmicks ,just give us the full content and everyone is equal.
Everyone was like this is the way developers should run their business,all game should be like Arena.Net.
You can NEVER make such claims about any game that has a non set monetary system,it can change at any moment and will never be a fair system to everyone,you get what you wanted,so no complaints.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Ya, I agree totally with you. I haven't spent a dime myself on anything. I jump on when I want, don't have to worry about canceling a monthly subscription if I'm bored, and its a top notch game.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
No need to call folks names because you don't enjoy the game. The game is still very fun no matter what they do with Gems...imho it is very insignificant. I don't play the game for profit, it is free entertainment.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey