Profile: Impacatus
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• • Two Payment methods that drastically affect the economy

  • Your first method is actually pretty common, if I'm not mistaken.  It seems to work ok, when done right.  The second was attempted by Roma Victor.  Not sure if it was sucessful or not, because the overall game wasn't.

    Along those same lines, here are a couple of methods I've thought of:

    1.  Vote with your wallet-  An "auction" is held where the winner gets to influence the development of the game in some way.  Obviously not important decisions, like bug fixes or class balance, but maybe to decide the theme of a new zone, or comission some wearables from the art team.  This probably wouldn't work as the main source of income, but it could be a nice bonus.

    2.  Tax RMT- Essentially, a currency, not the main currency but a currency, is sold that can be cashed out at a reduced rate.  Similar to the idea behind Project Entropia, except the economy is closed and it would be used almost exclusively in player to player trades.

    Essentially what this does is open up real money trade to the little guy.  I don't think RMT is the problem, per se, the main problem is goldfarming, which is symptomatic of a poorly designed economy.  Anyways, this would make it easy to buy small amounts of in game money and items from a large number of players, eliminating the need for professional goldfarmers.

    In order for this to work, the real money backed currency would have to be small, say 100 to $0.01.  This would eliminate the need to buy in bulk.  It would also mean that players couldn't cash out until they accumulate a large amount, which works to the company's benefit.  This is not to say that the real money currency would be worthless, but they'd be more likely to trade it back for in game items than try to cash it out.

    As I said, this would not be the main currency in the game.  There will be a purely in-game currency that behaves like the currency in current games.  Real money would just be one of many products exchanged on the market in game.  The main problem with this is it may be considered gambling in some jurisdictions, so you'd have to restrict who can buy the real money currency.

  • Posted: 7/24/08 12:55 PM
    Developers Corner
• • An essay on immersion in massively multiplayer gaming.

  • I think the problem is that as others have said immersion means different things to different people.  You can't really say this or that will improve immersion, unless you're talking about one individual player.  For example, graphics mean very little to me immersion-wise.  I don't know why, but I'm always aware that what I'm seeing is symbolic, not real.  Gameplay, sound, and consistent lore do much more for me.  It is something for developers to strive for.

    Immersion to me is something you really only notice in retrospect.  IMO, if you're "floored" by the immersion of a game, you're not immersed. 

  • Posted: 7/21/08 3:16 AM
    General Discussion
• • What's wrong with MUDs?

  • I played one (retromud), and I enjoyed it and I really like the concept.  When it comes down to it, it's amazing how you can have amuch more complex and intricate game with just text than you can with graphics.

    Still, I have to admit a graphical client can a lot easier to use.  It's easier to parse information represented with images than it is to pick it out of a block of text.  Clicking is also easier than typing long text commands.  Yes, I know you can use macros, but you still have to program them.   Unlike most, graphics don't help me with immersion very much.  To me, their main advantage is ease of use.

    I'd like to see a minimalist school of game design.  Too many developers spend all their time and resources on graphics and neglect everything else.  I'd really like to see more people go back to developing text and/or 2d graphic games with innovative designs.

  • Posted: 7/11/08 10:11 PM
    General Discussion
• • Do you Really Hate? What is Your Definition? Thanks Donjn

  • I may not exactly *hate* SOE, but IMHO you have to admit what they did was pretty unethical.

    I'd bet there were many people who would have quit long before the NGE if it weren't for the promises that the problems would be fixed.  Instead, many of the systems they promised to fix were removed entirely.  SOE therefore collected the monthly fees of those people under false pretenses.

    People often plan to play mmorpgs in the long term, and make their decisions on whether or not to play based on what they expect to get in the long term.  If you have, say, an insurance policy where the premiums go down the longer you're signed up, there would almost certainly be outrage if the company suddenly decided after a year, "Yeah, we said you'd get a discount after you've been a subscriber this long, but for no reason we decided not to give it to you".  Yes, the players of SWG did get to play for the months they paid, but in many cases they paid for those months thinking the game would get better in the future.

    Technically, there may not be a breach of contract, which saves SOE from legal action.  However, it does not prevent players from feeling like SOE failed to keep up its end of the deal.  People therefore feel cheated, and that may be partly why you see so much anger.

  • Posted: 7/08/08 11:49 PM
    General Discussion
• • Why Do Asian Players Like the Grind So Much?

  • Originally posted by Majestico

     

    As for China?  Explain to me then, why most of the games I play have Gold Farmers plagueing them, spamming constantly, and 99 percent of them are from China.  Pretty hard to farm gold or power level somebody if you only have an hours access in an internet cafe!

    
     

    I just have to say, they don't count.  They're not really "playing" the game, they receive a salary to do what they do.  They do this job from offices (or "sweatshops" as some say) where the company provides computers for goldfarming.

    I haven't been to China, but I have been to Taiwan, and it definately appears that more people play mmos in internet cafes than own their own computer. 

  • Posted: 7/08/08 2:24 PM
    General Discussion