Re: Turbine pondering to sell gold/items

On May 31, 8:00 am, "Ham Pastrami" <nom...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/30/lotro-producer-says-real-money-for-...

LotRO's producer is saying that they're going to watch how Sony pulls off
their cash-for-items service over the next 2-5 years, and he expects this to
be the norm within the industry in that time frame. If you follow Asian
MMOs, this is nothing new -- many of the games produced in Asia earn their
keep by selling game currency or rare items. But, in those cases, playing
the game itself is free, which is a concession I don't see Sony or Turbine
making. Basically, all these companies want to do is simply take over the
profits that gold farmers are currently making. It has the exact same impact
(which could be something or nothing) on the game economy, the only
difference being who pockets the real world money. Sounds to me like less of
a paradigm shift and more of a cash grab.

If more money is what they want, maybe they should try, you know, making
better games? Better yet, maybe they should figure out how to build an MMO
where prowess and prestige is measured by skill rather than loot, and
eliminate the basis of contention. Or am I being too old-fashioned? Never
mind, I'm sure they'll find some way to blame this on piracy.

For some reason this fascinates me. Obviously theres a market for it,
but I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would pay REAL
money for in-game items or levelling. Games are supposed to be fun and
it can't be fun to pay someone else to do it/get item-x for you. I'd
like to meet some of the goons that actually plop down cash for this
stuff.

.

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