Do You Have A Problem With The Option To Pay Real World Money To Skip Or Speed Up In An MMO?

Alamonzoro

Please Feel Free To Leave A Comment In Comment Section Below

Ridelynn

I don't have a problem with the practice. If it's there for people to use, that doesn't impinge or impede upon me in any way.

I do have two slightly related comments:

#1 - Why would you want to skip or speed up progress in a game - isn't the point to play?

#2 - If a game is designed such that paying to skip or speed up progress is appealing, then it generally isn't the type of game I want to play anyway

Xatsh

For me it is a yes.

Simply because if you pay to advance quicker you get gear quicker, you get to content quicker. Once you level up things quicker you then can more quickly get to new markets especially in game with crafting/gathering boosters.

Yes overtime someone not paying will be able to get the same stuff, but you had the initial advantage. Which would in Endgame give you / your group an advantage over clearing content faster. Which if you have a good group can directly effect recruitment, The guild that is doing better in endgame gets more members... if you can buy your way to a head start it effects this. In the economy paying to advance quicker gives you immediate return. Because if anyone played a mmo before when something new is in the economy say a top tier crafted/gathering item that item is worth a small fortune, but only if you are one of the first people getting it.

MMOs should be on a balance playing field. The ability to speed up progression skews that field. Especially since most F2P games have NO CAP on how many boosters you can buy. And if you have 100% boost while you playing the whole month you are ending up spending $40-$60-$100-$250 a month depending on the game.

Due to this anyform of Boost is bad for the overall game in my opinion as it creates an unfair playing field. Not as bad as outright buying powerful weapons and such but it is still giving those around you in the game an unfair advantage just because their wallets are fatter then yours.

Loke666

I honestly don't get why I should want to speed up things. Leveling is fast and most MMOs don't have enough endgame so basically I would pay to tire of the game faster...

Well, I could see why if it is an alt, it becomes pretty boring to level up 1 character of each class.

CrazKanuk

MisterZebub said:

Voted yes. I hate this practice and won't participate in it. If a game is so boring I feel I have to pay extra to avoid parts of it, I just stop playing. That said I don't give a crap if other people want to do so, its their money, so its none of my business.

So you really mean no? I have the same feeling as you, I'd never do it myself. If a story doesn't interest me, I don't care about playing the game. Since I take that approach, I'm never "World First" anything, so if someone wants to "compete" for those types of achievements, go for it! I have friends who have thousand dollar shifters in their cars.....because that's something they enjoy and are competitive with. I will stick with my $19.99 shifter. 

Oh yeah, I voted No because IDC what other people are doing, and I don't have a problem with it. More money for the devs, so that's cool.

Groundless

I recently quit the EQ2 time-locked 'progression' servers because of the option to buy a double experience potion for $7.99. Arguably with enough farming I could afford to buy a potion from another player for in-game money, but the point is that other players were zooming past me in levels because of these potions on a server that was intended for people to re-experience older content. I mean I could in theory just ignore the potions and enjoy the game myself, but when i'm sitting there grinding out a level in a group and everyone has gained two levels by the time I have gained one level - this just killed the experience for me.

laserit

I say yes because....

If the game is any good, why the hell would I want to speed it up or skip it?

If the leveling sucks, odds are the rest of the games does too.

Gaendric

Really depends on the game for me.
In a PvE game I usually wouldn't care, if someone wants to skip half the game, their loss.
In PvP games (even if PvP is just instanced and endgame) I would care though, especially if things like territory control, fought for bonuses or worst case powerful items or skills from PvP victories are involved. Skipping ahead and getting a headstart can be a big factor in those cases and start the proverbial snowball on it's way down the slope.

Derros

I personally dont have a problem with it.  Im completely non competitive, so whatever people want to do is fine.  I can understand why some people wouldnt like it, however.

Gobstopper3D

I said yes.  I wouldn't do it.  Normally I wouldn't care what someone else does with their money, but when you have a game with group content at lower levels and player can buy their way past all that, then that can create long wait time for group content as well as empty areas in lower level areas.  Just depends on how the game is setup.

I think it's a bad idea.

Panther2103

To me it depends on what type of game it is and what it is you are skipping. If it is paying to get better gear in a PvP oriented game, and you can pay for the best or better than what you can earn in game, then it's a horrible horrible system. But if it is a theme park game where most of the content is running dungeons or raids in end game and you can pay to get the max level or standard dungeon gear then I don't really care. It's someone elses choice as to what they spend money on, and if it isn't making them more powerful than I can become than it's perfectly okay. I think the only games where it has bugged me so far would be free FPS games where you can buy the guns that you cannot earn that tend to be better than anything you can buy with in game money. 

Octagon7711

I have no problem with it.  If that's what they want to do then it's on them.  Players who buy Founders packages usually get some kind of boost and headstart.  Now you can get character boosts with some game expansions.  If I've leveled a lot of characters and want to level another I would consider a boost so as not to go over the same content for the 7th or 8th time.

pinktailz

skip obsolete boring content - okay
speed up actual content - nope

that's it.

deniter

Yes, i do have a problem with it. Won't play such games, problem solved.

rojoArcueid

I voted Yes for a single reason.

MMOs that allow you to bypass content and speed up using real money are designed so if you dont spend money you are horribly hindered.

Those can die in a hole... alone... and sad.

Daikuru

Are you gonna make even more polls? ^^

Distopia

No: people play these games for their own reasons, some like the journey, while some like the destination. Others have someone they'd like to catch up to, or a certain goal they're trying to reach. Too many variables to jump to some blanket statement about bad design.

Nailzzz

 Generally with things like XP potions, i don't often really care. Of course at end game you can typically tell who does this by the skill level of the players when they start end game grouping and you get stuck with them. What i really don't like is when they can buy gear. Rift lost me because of this. At that point, why bother playing the game at all, aside from to make yourself a liability to whatever unfortunate group has to carry you because you are comparatively inexperienced because rather than actually earn your gear by being a competent player, you simply purchased your raid gear thinking it would compensate for your lack of experience/skill. Of course the fact that in some games it actually can is probably the biggest indictment against those games.

rojoArcueid

Selling exp potions is not a bad thing. Slowing your exp rate to make you buy exp potions IS A TERRIBLE thing. Broken games rely on broken designs to make their quick bucks.

Iselin

In case you guys haven't noticed, this is all part of a trend that has been happening for quite a while. There are a lot of players these days who want to play with a fully-leveled character and skip the leveling. And it's not just PVPers who feel that way, a lot of PVErs want it too.

Although this may seem weird and a waste of the game to many of us who actually enjoy the leveling, a significantly large number of players want it.

So I have a problem with doing this myself but it'd be pretty selfish of me to have a problem with that large and growing segment of the players doing it if end-game is their only thing. But I can and do have opinions about their bad taste and that they should be playing FPS games or MOBAs instead of MMORPGs

FlyByKnight

P2W is so #Murica. You can't even have a conversation about it without some yuppie or hoss (who thinks he identifies with the yuppie) going on about how it's all fair if they can afford it and making disparaging remarks about those who can't or won't pay. Buy your way through accomplishing stuff, buy your friends, buy your wife, and buy your politics.

It's all good as long as you can bank roll it and have zero integrity. *shrug*

RavingRabbid

Do You Have A Problem With The Option To Pay Real World Money To Skip Or Speed Up In An MMO?

No, I don't have a problem with it. Would I personally use it? No. I like to take my time and enjoy the game.

Players can play the way want to play if the service is offered and companies can offer it as a way to make money. If a player has already leveled several toons to max level then I can see where they don't want to go through (possibly) repetitive  content. The true down side is a player may not understand how his class truly works if powering through content. This can still be remedied with time however.

Xiaoki

For 10 year old MMOs? Don't care.

If new people want to pay to skip content I did 7 years ago, then let them.

Or if veterans want to pay to get a 20th alt to max level, then let them.

I don't care what other people do in the game. It's their money and time. Let them spend it how they choose.

VengeSunsoar

I don't have any issues with it.  I've never bought potions but I have sold things in game for gold (eq whatever those sub things are called).  The games are made for a wide variety of people do fine parts won't  like other parts i will.   If the parts i like reward with the tools necessary to advance great. If they don't  i either quit or find  another way. 

Ginaz

I don't have a problem with it when you're using it for an alt.  No matter how awesome the game is, there's only so many times you can run the same content without losing your mind.

Axehilt

FlyByKnight said:

P2W is so #Murica. You can't even have a conversation about it without some yuppie or hoss (who thinks he identifies with the yuppie) going on about how it's all fair if they can afford it and making disparaging remarks about those who can't or won't pay. Buy your way through accomplishing stuff, buy your friends, buy your wife, and buy your politics.

It's all good as long as you can bank roll it and have zero integrity. *shrug*

While true, I'm not aware of any F2P MMORPGs which are P2W*.  Nor are most of the most successful F2P games of other genres (DOTA2, LoL, Smite, TF2, Planetside 2, etc.)  So given that rarity, it's not particularly important to mention that point.

Also, that's the first time I've seen 'murica used to refer to something expensive and elitist. Typically it's used to criticize our NASCAR-loving, undereducated citizens.

*I do believe some exist out there somewhere, but I haven't seen any.  Winning implies beating a challenge.  Challenges in MMORPGs are PVE or PVP.  So anything exclusively paid that provided an advantage in those challenges would be P2W -- and the majority of MMORPGs don't sell things like that.