Originally posted by mrroboto40

Originally posted by Cursedsei

Originally posted by mrroboto40

While that may be true, that is still far ahead in the future, a lot farther away than microtransactions.

What I don't understand however is why game developers don't profit off the amount of people willing to buy in-game gold, and just create an in-game economy that can support it.

 

Why? Because thats just too easy an answer (and also means that the 500g you spent to have a blacksmith make you a sword, which he then kept, is now equal to $20 and now he's liable for theft.)

 

In any game that constitutes scamming. In terms of the TOS and EULA, it's generally against the rules in an MMO to scam any other player of any in-game items.

In World of Warcraft for example, it is a ban-able offense, and generally restitution is made to the player who was scammed. Especially since they have records of the trade occurring generally.

For example, the SWTOR microtransaction TOS.
(I) You acknowledge and agree that all items acquired for points during the Game Program are non-refundable and non-tradable.
(K) You acknowledge and agree that BWA reserves the right to change/add/remove points rewarded in the Game store at any time and without warning. (M) You acknowledge and agree that points acquired during the Game Program cannot be saved up for or used in the commercial version of the Game.

Do you think they get charged for theft for removing the in-game points/

That isn't a valid argument against it, please find another.

I was referring to two players, not the company and the player. So the SWTOR example has no connection to my example.

Originally posted by mrroboto40

While that may be true, that is still far ahead in the future, a lot farther away than microtransactions.

What I don't understand however is why game developers don't profit off the amount of people willing to buy in-game gold, and just create an in-game economy that can support it.

Why? Because thats just too easy an answer (and also means that the 500g you spent to have a blacksmith make you a sword, which he then kept, is now equal to $20 and now he's liable for theft.)

Originally posted by nkryptik

Originally posted by Cursedsei

 

Some people did moan about the TCG, but then again, the TCG is a stand-alone product, that they chose to incorporate some things (mainly fluff like biscuits, fiery steps, and the like) to try and get WoW players to try the card game out, I dont need to play WoW to like a Warcraft-based card game.

The Battle-fuel bots were part of the promotion for the WoW-inspired Mountain Dew Horde and Alliance drinks, it cost NOTHING to get the pet bot.

Blizzcon tickets are also a stand-alone thing. YOU dont have to go to Blizzcon, its just Blizzards way of saying "thanks for spending the money to come here", on top of EVERYTHING else that comes with the tickets.

 

 

Money spent to obtain in-game items is money spent I just do not understand why all this hate is drawn towards something that is going to help a charity when  none of the other were blow up to be this big of a deal.   You "spent money" to buy the Dew to get the robot in game, you "spent money" to buy the Trading Cards to get items in game, you "spent money" to buy the Blizzcon tickets to get the murloc or bear mount.  It is no different here you are "spending money" BUT instead of Blizz pocketing all of it the Make A Wish Foundation gets some, so I still cannot understand the hate being show so much towards this and not towards the other things.  Is it the fact that all these people actually hate the fact a child who may die at a really young age may get a wish granted to them that is causing all this hate to be shown or is it jealousy that is driving this hate fiasco?  The fact that I have a son with Autism I will proudly show my support for the Make a Wish Foundation by displaying these on ALL my accounts, I am not afraid to show in public that I supported a charity and no we never used his Wish option as there are many more children out there who will die that the funding will go towards giving them their wish, we are just fortunate our son's illness is chronic not terminal.

I do want to thank the haters because publicity for a non-profit organization like Make-A-Wish is getting by keeping this thread moving is awesome and all the money being raised  by this hate by people who never knew about these pets but now know and are buying them is worth millions.

Okay, let me state this again.

I bought mountain dew not because of Blizz, but because I like it, and have drank it long before WoW was a twinkle in their eyes. You didn't have to pay jack shit for the battlebot, you just had to go to the site and click on the "I want" button, thats it.

Blizzcon isn't WoWcon, they do cover more than just WoW, despite what your narrow view thinks. And trust me, no one spent 150+ dollars JUST for the mount, no, they spent that so they could go and see what all Blizzard had in development, and wanted to see it in person.

And as stated several times, the Card game is a stand-alone product endorsed BY Blizzard. People buy those cards cause they enjoy it, not just because there's a 1:1000000 chance of getting a loot card.

And ukron or whatever your name is (dont even care to double check my spelling), but its ironic calling me naive. Yes, I bought the game, but at the same time no where did I sign a contract with fine print that said my agreement meant I would want pets to be sold for 10 dollars.

Originally posted by Scalebane

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Dracondis

If you don't want to spend the money, don't.  Just don't expect them to hand the pets over for free.

 

Nothing in the game is 'free', because the players are already paying for it - with their subscription fees.

Players said they would pay for stuff, so blizzard put stuff for them to buy, its the players fault not blizzards.

You know, I've always wondered when they asked us WoWers if we would pay for stuff, cause I definitely never got a memo about it.

Originally posted by nkryptik

Originally posted by Stradden

MMORPG.com's Jon Wood uses his column this week to look at the recent announcement that Blizzard will be offering in-game pets for real life money and the fan reaction, or over-reaction to the news.

Yesterday, Blizzard announced that they would be adding an in-game shop where players could buy vanity pets, and in characteristic fashion, the MMO world went bat dung crazy. Even my Facebook, which is loaded with MMO folks, was taken over by posts about Blizzard moving to microtransactions.

I swear, the way people react to these things you'd think that item stores were Godzilla and Western players were the poor residents of Tokyo just trying to get away from the damned thing, wrecking everything they know and eating everyone they love.

For the record, they're not, but we'll leave my personal opinions about item mall based games for another rant entirely. Instead, we'll focus on this particular announcement. Comparing this announcement, by the way, with microtransaction revenue models games, is like comparing apples and zebras. It just doesn't make any sense.

Read Wood: WoW Pets and Boy Who Cried Wolf.

 

I find it weird how this gets ripped on and it is going to a charity but yet there was no big press blow out when you had to buy trading cards to get the in game items, or the Pepsi / Mountain Dew robots and I have never seen it blown up how you have to pay all that cash for Blizzcon tickets to get a murloc or a bear with a murloc on it's head so why does it have to be a charity event to get the press and start everyone hating on it?

 

I DEMAND A RETRACTION AND AN APPOLOGY TO THE CHARITY!

Some people did moan about the TCG, but then again, the TCG is a stand-alone product, that they chose to incorporate some things (mainly fluff like biscuits, fiery steps, and the like) to try and get WoW players to try the card game out, I dont need to play WoW to like a Warcraft-based card game.

The Battle-fuel bots were part of the promotion for the WoW-inspired Mountain Dew Horde and Alliance drinks, it cost NOTHING to get the pet bot.

Blizzcon tickets are also a stand-alone thing. YOU dont have to go to Blizzcon, its just Blizzards way of saying "thanks for spending the money to come here", on top of EVERYTHING else that comes with the tickets.

Originally posted by nkryptik

First off you dumb asses that cannot read are missing the point that the pet only costs 5 bucks the other 5 goes to a very worthwhile charity and 2nd of all it is a bout damned time Blizzard did move to micro transactions since almost every other game company is doing it and with this it would kill off the gold farmers and spammers, so the only one bitching should be those that make money from gold being sold.

 

Nuff Said.

Well, you already included something I was going to call you in your own post, so I wont bother re-typing it.

First off, ONE pet, just one, is having half its profits going to charity, not both.

Two, its ten bucks, don't try to hide behind the charity. If I wanted to give a charity just 5 bucks I would, and I wouldn't spend another 5 on top of that to do it. Oh, and the charity is only for ~2 months, it isn't permanent.

Third, how in bloody hell do you come to the conclusion that buying 10$ pets will mean no more gold sellers?

And fourth, how is it about time? Was Acti-blizz running out of cash, and had to pay for the servers with their own credit cards and pennies? Hell, I bet you also think every other MMO in existence needs to all become the same game, just because only two other companies are doing it.

You know what I find funny?

People claiming that Blizzard doing this is nothing big, but you'd be wrong.

They CAN sell gear in these shops if they chose to, you know what it would be? Heirloom gear, instead of adding in more, they could simply tack on a $5 tag to the item ($7.50 if it adds to gained xp) to these. They aren't required now are they? Its just Heirloom gear right? Well, the current heirloom gear wont scale past 80, they've already admitted that, so whats to stop them from doing this with the next set, or adding a price to "upgrade" the gear so it does.

Besides, the pets in the store DO affect the game. The pets count towards achievements, and as they add more pets to the store, what's going to happen?

Either the pet achievements will have to be doubled to reflect this (making it even harder, if not near impossible, to get this without spending $20+), or they will just include crappy pets into it (like they do already).

They could also start selling mounts too, those dont affect the game either.

People really need to start looking at the implications of this in the context of WoW and the new money-grubbing Acti-blizz.

As for the TCG pets and mounts, guess what? Its a card-game, they chose to give you a bit more of an incentive if you are a WoW player to try the card game. IF you enjoy it, guess what?   Then if you do get a loot card, its a bonus. If you just enjoy the cardgame, well you got a gift for a friend if he plays WoW (or free cash on ebay :P)

Originally posted by Kyleran

Think miracle patch.  Those always save the day, right? 

Let's just hope their idea of the miracle patch isn't Cryptic's whole "Untested, unknown, game-altering/nerfing" patch they threw out on release day... =P

Originally posted by Scottc

Originally posted by tro44_1

Who gives a Shit what He/She thinks? That person sounds just like the many WoW haters on this site. They can never see past the hatred. To blinded by Anit-Fanboyism, to ever see the good things about WoW.

Jonathan Blow is the independent game developer who created the game Braid which is an amazing game and has sold many copies.  He's exactly the kind of person people should listen to when he speaks.

 

Bah, the guy spent $200,000 making the game, that isn't exactly screaming "indie" to me.

Its Prince of Persia meets Mario, and not everything he's done is innovative, because there are games I can play that do the same thing on Newgrounds.

Besides, the whole part of an MMO is that its a social environment, you are supposed to talk and group up, but I guess the lot of "single" minded MMO players hate that. I play because I do have fun, I raid when I want and can, I hang around and just talk, or do somethin else, not because I'm pressured or feel like I need to.

Originally posted by PGrimm

Why is it shutting down???   i thought  it was doing good???

Game-wise? Yeah, but sadly financially it wasn't working out quite so well, despite the devs best efforts.

It was one of the best games I've played, period. Humorous, stylized, it knew exactly what it was, and thats the "Bruce Campbell" of MMOs. It was completely B-team, campy MMO goodness. Best weapon name I can remember? "Spicy Cardboard Axe of Fiery Doom" or somethin close to that. The game wasn't exactly "class-based" because the class choice in the beginning only affected your initial skills and loadout, and you could buy the skills, passive and active, of the other 2, and your Title in your status menu would change based on your choices.

Its a shame the good games get thrown out, while the sh** keeps rotting on the new carpet floor...

Originally posted by PatchDay

Yeah CO universe doesnt feel like any comic book I ever read. All the books I grew up on took themselves seriously like X-Men, Spiderman, Sandman, comicgen titles, metabaron, and it goes on and on.

Gotta agree, I've only played a bit of the game in beta (shortly before it released) and un-installed it. I'd take the statement of "CO doesn't take itself seriously" and apply it to Cryptic not taking its fanbase seriously.

Remember the "Sakura Park" incident? There was plenty of negativity surrounding that choice of originality, and a good 4/5ths of it got deleted/locked, with barely any response on the Devs or CM's part.

Remember the release-day untested, unknown patch that literally changed everything about the game? I'd call that a bait-and-switch.

I honestly played CoX more than I have played CO, because honestly, the former is better. CO's character creation system is clunky and ugly, and the freedom it provides isn't as much as they hyped, and the interface in-game is just as bad too. Melee in general is completely useless, and the limited range of powers for it have nothing special as well. The whole "energy builder" thing is essentially an auto-attack that punishes you for turning it off. The tutorial does little to really make you feel like a hero either. 

About the Nemesis thing, that was originally something you'd have to deal with throughout your WHOLE career, meaning right from the start. Now its limited to 25+, and best part? You have to wait til "Generic <Insert your villian's name> Henchmen A" attacks you and hope you get a piece of paper, then repeat several times to eventually go "Oh hey... I have a super villian I should probably deal with about now" so it isn't guaranteed right off the bat, its all luck.

And... on a slightly unrelated note:

"Superman, I'm a let you finish an everythin, but Batman is the best super hero of all time. Of all time!"

This always make me giggle when I read it:

""Persistent World Next-Gen Shooter"

It's as persistent as Call of Duty 4 or Uncharted 2, or any other FPS game with multiplayer and a way to gauge the amount of time/play invested.

It isn't Next-Gen, if anything, Modern Warfare 2 is next-gen.

The entire model needs to shift to F2P, as it was intended to be, instead of a F2P game with a tacked on monthly price, THAT's why the item shop is there in the first place. The reason they are "Changing" the model is because the game is, to be blunt, sh** compared to its price. 

Originally posted by Precusor

If the block feature doesn't work..

 

from

www.aionsource.com/forum/aion-discussion/72057-3-cheers-gms.html

Heh, if anything that proves they have a sense of humor, which I like :D

Because it has been borderline-vapourware for several years. The game is trying to do something radically different in the genre, so that automatically makes it a failure? I am by no means a Darkfall fanboy, never played it even, but I can still respect the developers who actually worked on making this game very well knowing it wasn't going to ever be main-stream. I may not like Tasos's personality, and there's definitely been some fishy and odd things that pop up, but so far I haven't really heard any shouts of "SCAMS!" like Mourning or Dark and Light.

Personally, I've been waiting for the trial to appear, if it ever does. 

Originally posted by Terranah

I get a warning every hour I think, but so far I haven't been kicked off.  At first it bugged me, but now I appreciate it.  When I get the message I think about it and sometimes I agree and log off to do something else, like clean house, shopping etc.

 

I played for 8 hours one day, and never got kicked off. 

Yeah. I think all NCSoft games have the "You have been playing for X hours, and should take a break".

It is kinda funny to see how far you can get into a game before those hourly announcements actually makes you think you should stop.

Originally posted by LethalBurst

Originally posted by Precusor

After 24 hours they log you off and if your not AFK you can just relog back on.

 

LOL, umm, what? That's just crazy. How about I play the fucking game I'm paying for as long as I wish, and "take a break" when I wish? I don't need a game kicking me out and telling me when I should take a break. Booting me from the game when I'm NOT AFK is completely unacceptable.

The more I hear about this game, the less appealing it sounds.

... wow... you know how utterly pathetic that makes you look? Not only did you not even bother reading the post you quoted, you basically just insulted a game that is kicking you off after playing for an amount of time that IS NOT HEALTHY!.

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

You've seen the server que...
You've battled with faction population caps...
Now we must take on the biggest control mechanic ever introduced into an MMO...

Being logged off the server by NCSoft, not for being afk, but for the amount of hours you've been on...
Granted you can log back in right away, but theres a chance you may have to wait again through server que...

Rhok, me thinks you are either lieing, or mis-reading somethig.

The only announcement about something that kicks you off suddenly is the new Private Store setting. If you sit around in your Private Store for more than 30 minutes, you'll get kicked.

And the only reason people are doing it is because they don't want to exit the game for work/college/whatever. There's been Store signs saying "AFK for work and college" and such all around. Its to help with the queueing so you don't have these dickheads taking up spots for 7+ hours and being afk during all of it.

Originally posted by smellysocks

Originally posted by qbangy32

Originally posted by Dunjeon

Originally posted by jessian

Originally posted by Ethian

 

Wait...

 

Isn't the title of this topic: Offical AION is being sold fraudlently in Europe / US

 

 

I believe it was, but don't worry the Op has already alerted the proper authorities who at this very moment are boarding a plane to place the whole NCSoft board under arrest for releasing an extremly popular MMO and allowing queues to form on their servers, and thus depriving other players from being able to log on instantly.

I say hang the lot of them for this terrible terrible crime against all MMO players around  the world, they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

 

Haha ..this made my day, win +1

+1 from me as well.

This is the only post in this topic that has made me laugh, the rest is a bunch of facepalmings and groans.

WoW had similar issues when it first released just to let you know. Servers completely full, game nearly unplayable to many, all that. The only reason I'm not playing right now is because I don't have time or money, and I want to save the 30+ days of free time til I do, though my guild is trying to sway me into playing now.

That "company" that "forced Microsoft to Settle" didn't force anything. Microsoft most likely settled because they realized they were just a bunch of no-life hacks and dragging it out in court and winning wouldn't of gotten them anything, so a settlement was then more cost-effective. Besides, it was an out of court settlement, which holds no legal justification for them, its just a stroke to their ego. Blizzard will be more than capable of crushing them on their own, like they did in the Glider Lawsuit.

God, one place I'd hope this thing wouldn't pop up.

Generally, anyone in the gaming community can and will tell you the following.

"Violent games don't cause violent behavior"

and

"There is a rating on the box for a reason"

I've played violent games, truth be told, I've played em since I was 9. I played Silent Hill, Deathtrap Dungeon, and a few others. I haven't tried decapitating anyone, or light them on fire, or even stab them with a rusty knife. Neither have I needed to have any psychological help. I've grown up gaming though, so perhaps that instilled a natural sense of... I dunno, common sense when it comes to reality.

The truth of the matter is that the games do nothing, its the psychological issues beneath it that cause them. Its the parents who pay no attention to what games their children are playing. Who know their children need mental help and yet allow them to.

This whole "Blame the media" thing has been going on ever since the idea of "entertainment" was thought up. Books, comics, movies, now games are under the eye of the paranoid, self-righteous "moralists". Hell, even music is still under "examination" as well.

It isn't the rapper or metal group's fault when a kid listens to their songs and shoots someone or does drugs, and neither is it GTA's fault a kid stole a rifle from his father's gun rack (which lacked a lock) and shot up a few cars from an overpass above a freeway. Hell, remember Columbine? The media wanted to blame games cause the kids just so happened to have the old Doom game (I have the very same game, but I'm still here and  typing this too), and even Marylin Manson, and while I'm not the biggest fan of his music, it doesn't take a psychologist to know it wasn't his fault either. 

The only thing worse than the paranoid moralists? Mass media. And number one on that spot? Fox News Network. They will grab onto whatever little fact they can and blow it up bigger than the prostitue whose been working the corner for ten years can with a baloon. Hell, remember Mass Effect? I do. Remember the "Graphically intense sexual scene with full frontal nudity that would happen no matter what"? That I don't. Remember the expert who wrote a book and WASN'T trying to sell it and DID play the game fully and agreed? Well... partly so... I mean I remember she called herself an expert and wrote a book, but she admitted that she never even played or heard of the game. I also remember how much of a lash she suffered on her Amazon sales cause of it too heh.

I've got nothing more to really say, I've typed and wrote papers, I've argued this before, and I'm personally sick of the topic. There's nothing else I can really even add, besides this:

Jack Thompson being disbarred was the happiest thing I've seen so far in my lifetime.

Edit: As for ya Ed, the only game that gets me even close to becoming violent is Gears of War 2's multiplayer, it just surprises me that Epic ruined it AFTER the bad multiplayer in the first one. I've played Silent hill for hours straight before, even as a kid, and moved right onto doing homework with no issues.

Originally posted by Furor

Does any mmorpg offer you the chance to be on TV? and pvp for $250,000 in cash prizes? You may be the next e sport michael jordan lol if you can arena pvp your way to the top bracket in arena LIVE ON TV.

 

Yes i didnt think so. Going pro e sport will be tough you got to go against millions of opponent fighting for first place.

Well, slightly on topic, but SyFy has a show called "The Ultimate Gamer" where you compete on TV for prizes and prove you are the "Ultimate Gamer", I don't see much of a difference between that and watching WoW Arena on ESPN.

And Zon, it amazes me, it simply f***ing amazes me how ignorant and bias some people can be, namely you. You are assuming everyone pays full 6month subscriptions. Half of WoW's market, asia, mainly play in cafes specialized for it, where they pay by the hour, don't know the price there, but based on that, not everyone is paying that "180 a year". Not every subscribes to that 6month plan either, some buy 30-60-whatever time cards instead.

If you are wanting to play ignorant fanboy, do some research first =P