I've been noticing a lot of the featured articles on this site claim that RMT is the future of MMO's.

Why the sudden onslaught of pro-RMT propaganda?

A lot of games have RMT now so its worth discussing - gives us a chance to vent our wraith at RMT anyway :D

Originally posted by Lustmord

I've been noticing a lot of the featured articles on this site claim that RMT is the future of MMO's.

Why the sudden onslaught of pro-RMT propaganda?

Good question. I don't know if it's intentional, but it's there. And I sincerely doubt it is the future.

Then again, maybe not? Since the 'casual gamer' has become the most effing targeted demographic, it makes sense; not enough time to play or get 'hardcore' but you can have this stuff for some cash? Maybe. Hardcore gamers can generally circumvent this issue, but still. RMT is mostly gay. There are a few games where it's viable and well-implemented...but not many. Every asian f2p MMO I've ever seen has had a God-awful 'item shop' or whatever.

I hate the Entropia Universe game itself, but they have a decent system. The option to "cash out" is nice.

Bottom line is that it comes down to how well-implemented the RMT is. If you're trying to sell me a $5 potion that doubles my XP gain...well, that's just stupid. And I'm sorry, for me to support an RMT model...that game has to be REALLY damn good. Like EVE or SWG pre-NGE good.

RMT and the F2P model is a big issue in the industry right now. So this spills over into what the pundits are talking about. But yes I think the site is biased towards RMT, if you look at their features there is not one that speaks out against RMT. If all you have is articles going on about how it is inevitable that we go the RMT route and no balancing articles, then this site is flag waving for RMT.

Look at the games which advertise on this site, the F2P/RMT games are certainly in the vast majority. You really need to look no further than that.

im half in half out on this topic.

on one hand i agree that it has alot of mention but on the other i think there is no avoiding it because right now the market is a little stuffed with F2P mmos and it is where the market is right now due to long devolopment times and push backs for specific mmos that folks are waiting for so a large section of the mmo market right now i think is leaning on the F2P mmos to fill the gap till there relase

DLC went from being unheard of , to an expected part of games, all in the changing of the guards to our current console generation.

I'm pretty sure that RMT is going to end up pretty standard.  Even in p2p games it's coming around.  For a while now WoW has been charging money for, not only server transfers, but for sex changes and complete character remodeling.

History has show: Where WoW goes, the rest will surely follow.

again i agree to dissagree here with clwoods

yes everyone has copied wow and some still do but i have seen a slight change in the mmo market these past few months where companies are starting to turn there heads away oh so slightly from wow why? im not 100% sure but it is something i feel has happend

but its something i would love to take to a disscussion.

on the similar not yes wow have there "micro transactions" for there char changes etc but thats as far as i think they are willing to push the boat

im not too sure where else i can go with this post without rambleing on cause im at work and cant think straight right now but CLwoods has defo made a good point that gives us a little more light

thanks for reading

Originally posted by Lustmord

I've been noticing a lot of the featured articles on this site claim that RMT is the future of MMO's.

Why the sudden onslaught of pro-RMT propaganda?

I think your question is "Is IGN pushing RMT?" since what you are referring to are the IGN articles.

There is good RMT and bad RMT.  Nearly every game (I'm sure there are a few exceptions) uses mostly bad RMT.  Examples of good RMT:

1.  Character customes that don't effect your stats.

2.  Pets that don't have any effect on gameplay.

3.  Minigames that have no effect on gameplay.

4.  Mounts.  They should be the same speed or slightly faster than mounts you can obtain in game with a level requirement if your game has one on mounts.  The mounts obtainable in game should have the same level requirement.

5.  Cosmetic items and potions that alter your appearance.  Haircuts, gender change, new faces, etc.

Also some RMT that might be okay:

1.  Skill resets and similar convenience items.  A free skill reset should be offered at least once though if this is the case.  This isn't necessary to get ahead, but can help players who may have made a mistake.  These items should be tradeable too so players can obtain them without using real life money.

2.  Faster travel.  It really depends how much faster it's going to be.  If players who don't have it are going to have to run around for hours then no.  If it adds a second bind point and travelling from one place to another isn't that long anyway, then it should be fine.

3.  Customes, pets, mounts, and cosmetic items that give minor stat boosts.  Something that really shouldn't be noticable.

Awful RMT (and the most common):

1.  Random boxes that might have a rare item you want but usually give crap.

2.  Any potions that give you major boosts:  Experience, stats, gold, etc.

3.  Powerful gear

4.  Upgrade items so you can get much more powerful gear.  (This is even worse than #3)

5.  Access to gameplay that you can only get through RMT.

6.  Combat pets

7.  Access to characters/classes you normally won't get.  (Especially when these classes are more powerful than the non-RMT ones).

Or anything that gives a huge advantage to a player over another who uses no RMT.

I can't say the site is pushing RMT, they have invited people to write for them and if those columnists (all one or two of them?)  chose to elaborate on why they think RMT in games is the future, I don't see a problem with it.

You can't argue that companies are all looking to maximize their revenue streams, and as evidenced by the strong illegal RMT market outside of games, makes sense that companies would look to internalize those revenue streams.

This of course bodes ill for players who have typically dominated MMORPG's over the years who've traded their free time for power, but I suspect a balance will be reached that incorporates the best elements of both systems.

But I do think there is a deathknell on the horizon for the traditional P2P model of a single monthly fee as it does not pay for the cost to develop these expenseive games and companies will seek out other ways to increase their profits.

I been noticing too that this site has become swamped with f2p game advertizements. So obviously there will be more articles encouraging the 'Item Shop" model.

I expect to see more n more F2P models comming over the years. But I often wonder how long these games generate a high income. Like all other MMOs, the population will be high n possibly more spending during the first few months. But after the initial rush to the endgame slows, would their income not slow down? Just as a P2P games income does as the population dwindles.

I don't see them pushing it so much, more like accepting the inevitable.  It's already happening, and it's going to continue to happen.  Will all games end up this way?  To one extent or another, yes.  Even WoW tries to get extra money by charging you to change servers, or give your character a makeover. 

Let's look at the facts:

They have Sanya what's-her-face constantly writing "articles" blaming gamers for devs inadequacies and that lame ass "freetoplay" dude writing "articles" proclaiming RMT to be a welcome wave of the future.

This site is a sellout, plain and simple.

Originally posted by Kyleran

I can't say the site is pushing RMT, they have invited people to write for them and if those columnists (all one or two of them?)  chose to elaborate on why they think RMT in games is the future, I don't see a problem with it.

You can't argue that companies are all looking to maximize their revenue streams, and as evidenced by the strong illegal RMT market outside of games, makes sense that companies would look to internalize those revenue streams.

This of course bodes ill for players who have typically dominated MMORPG's over the years who've traded their free time for power, but I suspect a balance will be reached that incorporates the best elements of both systems.

But I do think there is a deathknell on the horizon for the traditional P2P model of a single monthly fee as it does not pay for the cost to develop these expenseive games and companies will seek out other ways to increase their profits.

 

And that's exactly it, game sub prices have not gone up significantly in years. At some point something has to go.

And there is already rmt, it's just through a secondary market. I agree that game companies are probably feeling that if anyone is to make money off of their work it should be them.

It's pretty hard to toe the line and say "no we won't implement rmt in our games because the players want it that way" only to look at all the rmt that is already going on in their games. Somebody is lying to someone.

And since RMT is a very volatile topic here in the west it make sense that this site would have articles about it.

As long as real money can't buy you advantages or advancement, its fine.  If people want to pay for fluff, all the power to them.  If they can pay to be better then me, its cheating and I'll have no part in it.  Developers that do it can go rot for all I care. 

DLC is one thing.  If its worth it, I'll buy it.  But I don't mind paying a monthly fee.  If MMOs go the GW route and just charge for major content expansions every 6 months, I guess it OK.   If the game is fun, its worth it.

Originally posted by talismen351

I been noticing too that this site has become swamped with f2p game advertizements. So obviously there will be more articles encouraging the 'Item Shop" model.

I expect to see more n more F2P models comming over the years. But I often wonder how long these games generate a high income. Like all other MMOs, the population will be high n possibly more spending during the first few months. But after the initial rush to the endgame slows, would their income not slow down? Just as a P2P games income does as the population dwindles.

Okie Dokie, time to clear up some confusion.

First: Richard Aihoshi, an industry insider for many years,is writing a weekly column for us. His column focuses on the world of free to play. So, we're not really giving any extra attention to it than we are, say, story in MMOs (the subject of Jess Lebow's weekly column) or any of the other subjects that the other of our four current columnists write about. So, once a week, you should expect to see a column having something to do with something about Item shop . micropayment games.

As for the insinuation that we are doing this to try to draw more ad revenue from free2play companies. That's complete rubbish. Have you looked at our Game List recently? If not, I urge you to do so, create a custom list and sort for Microtransaction games. Then, do the same trhing for P2P games. The sheer number of F2P games (more, I'll add than P2P) that are available may surprise you. with that in mind, I think you can probably figure out that you're more likley to see F2P games advertised because there are simply more of them.

We don't tailor our content to suit our advertisers, it's really that simple. Companies advertise with us because of the traffic that we generate, not because of the content that we run.

I think the discussion is moot.

Sure, there is no official RMT in WOW for powerful items. However, you can always go to a gold seller, buy a bunch of gold, and buy that epic off AH.

So in some sense, RMT is already here. If Blizzard with their billion dollar revenue cannot kill the gold trade, no one can.

And if so, may be it is better to "legalize" the whole thing so that there is less scamming.

Sure it is not fair but life is seldom fair. These are just games. If you feel unhappy because your neighbor is paying for an epic item, you can always find another game to play.

Originally posted by Lustmord

I've been noticing a lot of the featured articles on this site claim that RMT is the future of MMO's.

Why the sudden onslaught of pro-RMT propaganda?

I don't think they really push for it but monthly fees are worth discussing. I rather pay a big fee at start like what LOTRO have as an alternative myself.

I wouldn't mind if there was several ways of paying, a P2P game could have F2P servers with RMT on them as long as the P2P servers are separate and transfers wont be possible.

I am going to make a new post on this.  But here is what I will say now.

The Online gold and item trade has already been greatly reduced, to the point of not being done in a MAJOR mmo game.

The game is called EVE online.  ( A game I no longer play and have no desire to go back to but still, props for this )

In EVE, they somehow manage to almost always catch major gold buyers, or frequent gold buyers.  ALWAYS means 50% 

chance to get caught each time.

Now instead of banning the person who bought gold they do something worse, They take away double the ISK (gold) you

bought, even if that sets you negative.  They flag your account, for a few months ( so if you try and buy yourself out of hole you get caught )

WHAT THEY DO, is let players securely sell time codes in game. If a player buys a code for money, you can buy game time from that player for ISK .  This lets people play for free if they work for it, and lets people who want to buy ISK rather then spend the few hours it takes to earn it do that.   Since everyone is buying time codes and selling them that is lazy, prices are low.  Usualy for 1 month of time, and advanced player can play for about  three hours and make the money to pay for the month.

I will make a more clear post latter.   Bottom line, if people want to trade game time codes for in game money, I am all for it.  It allows players to play for free, and players to buy their way to success.  Everyone wins.

(note:  three hours to earn 1 month game time,  pretty awsome. )

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by talismen351

I been noticing too that this site has become swamped with f2p game advertizements. So obviously there will be more articles encouraging the 'Item Shop" model.

I expect to see more n more F2P models comming over the years. But I often wonder how long these games generate a high income. Like all other MMOs, the population will be high n possibly more spending during the first few months. But after the initial rush to the endgame slows, would their income not slow down? Just as a P2P games income does as the population dwindles.

Okie Dokie, time to clear up some confusion.

First: Richard Aihoshi, an industry insider for many years,is writing a weekly column for us. His column focuses on the world of free to play. So, we're not really giving any extra attention to it than we are, say, story in MMOs (the subject of Jess Lebow's weekly column) or any of the other subjects that the other of our four current columnists write about. So, once a week, you should expect to see a column having something to do with something about Item shop . micropayment games.

As for the insinuation that we are doing this to try to draw more ad revenue from free2play companies. That's complete rubbish. Have you looked at our Game List recently? If not, I urge you to do so, create a custom list and sort for Microtransaction games. Then, do the same trhing for P2P games. The sheer number of F2P games (more, I'll add than P2P) that are available may surprise you. with that in mind, I think you can probably figure out that you're more likley to see F2P games advertised because there are simply more of them.

We don't tailor our content to suit our advertisers, it's really that simple. Companies advertise with us because of the traffic that we generate, not because of the content that we run.

 

Just a suggestion.

You are offering us a "Microtransactionist" point of view weekly. It should be fair to open a spot for another weekly column on the exact opposite - No microtransactions. Either pay-to-play or pay-for-content, well I just hope you get the idea of this feeling that you are giving to us that are against "evil" Microtransactions (the ones that impact the even playing field, please refer to post http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2849159 #9 on this topic by Magnum2103 for examples of RMT people should have no problem against as they don't bind the gameplay to who has more cash to spend and also the ones a segment of the MMO players are completely and fully against as they represent the end of an even playing field)  as they are a completely different point of view for MMOs, especially by not having an official columnist working around the opposite point of view, that is biased media.

It could also be a weekly debate between these two points of view, yeah, that would be very interesting for both sides of the coin.