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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
PTW that allows MMO carrers?
JudgeMentalOne
Member, Alpha Two
So please before the flames hear me out. I am not suggesting that AoC should definately do this. The instances below are just using the game as an example of how it could be done.
I personally feel this is one of the types of games where this could really work (due to "completely player driven economy") but mostly just starting a discussion for views and opinions.
So, there are many types of Pay To Win, many and various levels to the evil. I generally feel however that the main problem with these is that they allow people to spend real money to basically conjure an advantage "from the ether", by giving the devs money. no effort went into it's creation (not downplaying the skill of game coders but I hope you all know what I mean) or aquisition, as long as anyone is willing to pay, they too can have the same advantage. Sure as long as you're not a competative person and have some friends it's still possible to plug away for free and enjoy your time as long as the PTW game you play isn't heavily PvP based or has balanced PvP. There is however always a gap between the haves and have nots.
The question here in this post is, what if the gear, gold or other advantage (you gained with real money), came not from the Devs or some "magical" market, but the players around you? Maybe someone could buy BIS gear, but they would buy it from a player. Maybe they buy some gold but again they need to find someone willing to sell it to them. Anything you could gain by spending real money is still subject to the general laws of supply and demand on your server (even if you have millions of dollars what you want just might not be available, and if it is, a fellow player out there might just be able to retire and play games "professionaly"). Essentially, you might be able to buy an advantage but someone else already had it and sold it to you.
That for me is a key differance.
In theory Intrepid could build options that are easy to set when a player opens their trade window with another player, their stall, or lists something on the AH, to give a real money option. A player could list their desired price for what ever they want to sell or buy in gold, real money, or a combination. Possibly with a dedicated AI monitor to prevent fraud/guaging based on average prices for that server. I mean this is a sub based game, so Intrepid likely has your acount details, doesn't take too much of a strectch for this kinda thing to be built in, and Intrepid would obviously take some kinda % since you are in essence selling something they created. Not trying to downplay that it would be a lot of work, just saying it should definately be possible.
This idea is not mine, it has been concieved and mentioned in a few anime and webnovels about future VR games. AFAIK this has not been implemented in any game so far other than Diablo 3 real money AH, which eventually got rid of it, but that was a differant genre of game. I feel the problems it caused there are unlikely to repeat in the MMO space.
Many game forums and such these days that I have visited have at least some people that acknowledge that subscriptions aren't enough. Since it is also claimed that many people will be losing their jobs sooner or later as AI gets better and automation increases, some institutions have started looking into WTF are we supposed to do with an increasingly idle opulation.
Implementing the above might have very beneficial overall effects for an MMO. Guilds might be able to form a real world company and monetise playing the game, offering salaries to dedicated and reliable players. I mean these companies actually already exist it's just that generally buying from them is considered a breach and all companies spend a certain amount of money to combat the gold sellers. If everyone can sell gold and other items easily, there is no need for them to fight them. It also seems unlikely they will need to spam their adds since every one will easily be able to buy what they need at market price (assuming it's available on thier server).
Of course there would be some negative effects too, I have seen other psots here decrying the evils of mega guilds and such, not going to deny or downplay those, but at least in theory it would mean there should be more of them that would be constantly competing so might help avoid the "one guild to rule them all" taking over your server and killing the fun.
As long as they keep bots out or at least to a minimum it seems mostly a win to me.
What do other people think? Is this the way of the future?
(ps, It would be great if the forums could have a spell check function, please intrepid!)
I personally feel this is one of the types of games where this could really work (due to "completely player driven economy") but mostly just starting a discussion for views and opinions.
So, there are many types of Pay To Win, many and various levels to the evil. I generally feel however that the main problem with these is that they allow people to spend real money to basically conjure an advantage "from the ether", by giving the devs money. no effort went into it's creation (not downplaying the skill of game coders but I hope you all know what I mean) or aquisition, as long as anyone is willing to pay, they too can have the same advantage. Sure as long as you're not a competative person and have some friends it's still possible to plug away for free and enjoy your time as long as the PTW game you play isn't heavily PvP based or has balanced PvP. There is however always a gap between the haves and have nots.
The question here in this post is, what if the gear, gold or other advantage (you gained with real money), came not from the Devs or some "magical" market, but the players around you? Maybe someone could buy BIS gear, but they would buy it from a player. Maybe they buy some gold but again they need to find someone willing to sell it to them. Anything you could gain by spending real money is still subject to the general laws of supply and demand on your server (even if you have millions of dollars what you want just might not be available, and if it is, a fellow player out there might just be able to retire and play games "professionaly"). Essentially, you might be able to buy an advantage but someone else already had it and sold it to you.
That for me is a key differance.
In theory Intrepid could build options that are easy to set when a player opens their trade window with another player, their stall, or lists something on the AH, to give a real money option. A player could list their desired price for what ever they want to sell or buy in gold, real money, or a combination. Possibly with a dedicated AI monitor to prevent fraud/guaging based on average prices for that server. I mean this is a sub based game, so Intrepid likely has your acount details, doesn't take too much of a strectch for this kinda thing to be built in, and Intrepid would obviously take some kinda % since you are in essence selling something they created. Not trying to downplay that it would be a lot of work, just saying it should definately be possible.
This idea is not mine, it has been concieved and mentioned in a few anime and webnovels about future VR games. AFAIK this has not been implemented in any game so far other than Diablo 3 real money AH, which eventually got rid of it, but that was a differant genre of game. I feel the problems it caused there are unlikely to repeat in the MMO space.
Many game forums and such these days that I have visited have at least some people that acknowledge that subscriptions aren't enough. Since it is also claimed that many people will be losing their jobs sooner or later as AI gets better and automation increases, some institutions have started looking into WTF are we supposed to do with an increasingly idle opulation.
Implementing the above might have very beneficial overall effects for an MMO. Guilds might be able to form a real world company and monetise playing the game, offering salaries to dedicated and reliable players. I mean these companies actually already exist it's just that generally buying from them is considered a breach and all companies spend a certain amount of money to combat the gold sellers. If everyone can sell gold and other items easily, there is no need for them to fight them. It also seems unlikely they will need to spam their adds since every one will easily be able to buy what they need at market price (assuming it's available on thier server).
Of course there would be some negative effects too, I have seen other psots here decrying the evils of mega guilds and such, not going to deny or downplay those, but at least in theory it would mean there should be more of them that would be constantly competing so might help avoid the "one guild to rule them all" taking over your server and killing the fun.
As long as they keep bots out or at least to a minimum it seems mostly a win to me.
What do other people think? Is this the way of the future?
(ps, It would be great if the forums could have a spell check function, please intrepid!)
0
Comments
Another person who has zero understanding of MMO’s and MMO players.
And a side footnote, which proves youR lack of understanding it’s P2W, not PTW.
No one can say they understand another person, let alone a group, but I AM an MMO player.
When will IA replace real life job, at this point, what make you believe than your in game job is anywhere safe?
It will even more easy to replace human in game than irl.