General Discussion

When Livegamer.com sent out a press release yesterday announcing that they had partnered with numerous MMO companies including SOE and Funcom, it raised a number of questions about the nature of that relationship that Managing Editor Jon Wood tries to answer.

 

Yesterday, a press release was issued announcing the introduction of livegamer.com, a company with the tagline: “A Legitimate Market for Virtual Trading”. The company’s official website makes a clear point of listing partner studios: GoPets, Pingo, 10tacle, Acclaim, Funcom and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).

“Live Gamer Inc™ (www.livegamer.com) today announced its introduction as the premier provider of a publisher-supported, secure platform for real money trading of virtual property. Live Gamer is partnering with top massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) publishers and virtual world operators worldwide, including Funcom GMBH, Sony Online Entertainment, 10TACLE STUDIOS, Acclaim, GoPets LTD, and Ping0 Interactive Limited. The company was founded by industry veterans and backed with $24 million in venture funding from Charles River Ventures, Kodiak Venture Partners, and Pequot Ventures.” - Live Gamer Press Release

 

Read more here.

DO NOT WANT!

bad bad bad, but expected. RMT happens whatever companies are against it or not. It is costing them SO much (banning/tracking an person cost time and therefor money). So I assume from an companies perspective it is only smart to atleast get an % of these RMT.

I would much prefer companies selling it themselves (without an middleman aka farmers). They can then provide it cheaper. Selling non-excisting stuff means there is no labor involved. Beside the fact it was made once, it only need an admin to clone the item. So I really doubt an company like Funcom and SoE (who if I am correct already provide RMT for specified server from some of there games) would work benifit from working with these companies. Unless they provide the "money" and "ïtems" to the company selling it. This would mean they do not have to items to do it themselves, they would not get farmers and just get money for cloning what they already made.

Also working with an RTM company means they have control over it. They can even in cooperation limit it to certain servers.

So RTM site are there to stay, however the best way to fight the illigal RTM sites and there army of farmers would be to work with an RTM provider and have control over the virtual trade and gain some money from it at the same time.

This is yet another example of The Man catering to the lowest common denominator (online gold BUYERS, not sellers).  *sigh*

A shame to see the MMORPG industry falling so low.

I Oped this news item yesterday   http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/159821 with all due respect . It still does not make it right to make it legit.

After repeated failure to create any decent MMO ,

the companies in question decided that it is not enough that they take 15$ a month subscription , but they will add an item shop. Alas indirectly , so they will be able to cash on the rights of now "legal" goldsellers to paddle their wares.

I would readily avoid this companies and their products from now on - unless they remove subscriptions, as other item shop games do.

But sadly i see Funcom is involved , meaning AOC will be item shop game.

Incredibly disapointing

Not at all surprising.  Funcom was one of the first to whore out in-game ad space, so this is a natural step for them.  Likewise, SOE has been trying to break into the RMT market since the Sony Exchange servers were introduced.

I have never played on servers where this kind of thing is sanctioned, and I doubt I will ever play a game that is involved with livegamer.com.

so, the game companies want a piece of (their own) cake that is out there ....

What I don't get, is why they simply don't do it themselves? As SOE with their Station Exchange (aolthough limited to US), or EA with Ultima Online, where you can buy tokens from them for specific stuff, advanced characters, etc.

Personally, I always thought, that Blizzard could make more money, if they offered advanced characters. Make a max-level one a server, you get to buy a, say lv40 character, if you want and find the grind boring. Considering that they "made it easier to level from 20-50" or whatever, it shows they know many are not too keen on leveling multiple chars (and that their content must be pretty boring if they now make it faster (i.e. less quests necessary)).

*shrugs* oh well. money makes the (gaming) world go round. We can be glad if some MMOs continue existing. See how fast it went for Fury.....

I know why big companies like the idea of RMT.  They don't have to put development dollars into finding ways to prevent it, and they get a cut of the profits.

I don't understand people who don't see a problem with it though.  The main reason many people play online games is to escape some part of their own reality and compete on a level playing field.  If I'm physically weak, I can't win in real-life sporting events, but I might be able to play a beefy warrior in an MMO and smack people around.  If I'm financially poor, I can't have nice things in my home, but I could outfit a virtual home with all kinds of neat stuff that I crafted or looted myself.

Adding RMT as a legitimate thing takes all that away.  Now the rich get to win here too.

I know why companies want this.  I know why rich kids want it.  Unfortunately, they're the only voices that matter.

*sigh*

Trying to steal market from IGE and other chinese RMT companies?