A tale of two gamers

DH: Stargate Worlds, as much as I dig its franchise, really doesn’t work for me as a game, I have to admit. And what is it about fantasy that seems to lend itself to MMOs more than SF does, I wonder?

But anyway, let’s look ahead. It’s just been announced that SOE is going to start doing item purchases with real world money – things like vanity gear, potions and similar vaguely low impact stuff. The KOTOR MMO is also going to be ditching subscriptions and going with some kind of micro-transaction profit model... do you think we’re going to start seeing some shifts in how people make money via MMO marketing and games?

JM: You know, it’s not something I’d ever considered but now that I’ve heard about it, it makes concrete sense. The monthly subscription model seems perpetuated among MMOs only because it’s what’s always been done before. When it works the company makes stacks of cash and gamers are by and large happy to pay it. But when it doesn’t work, it usually results in the game world folding like a cheap deck chair. It’s understandable that companies will seek new ways to make money out of games; it’s been happening outside the MMO market for a little while now. Gems like advertising in games to generate revenue or First-Person-Shooters where people can fight others for the taking (or losing) of real cash – it’s all just another step in the direction of your cracked and stinky leather wallet.

I actually like Sony’s idea of Station Cash, it’s well thought out. Like you said, it’s low impact stuff – nothing that can drastically alter the balance of play against those who don’t buy the goods, but it provides an avenue to something most MMO players crave; freaking awesome looking characters. The ‘vanity’ gear will most likely have no stats or bonuses, but simply look shit hot – and there’s no denying a big part of the appeal of the ‘hard to get’ (see: raid) gear in MMOs is that it screams ‘pimped Godbeing from the sky’ to other players. The purchasable vanity gear is the answer for those who want to look fab, without spending hours raiding at 3:00AM on a Tuesday morning with a US guild. From scouring the web, it’s going to cost about $A1.60 for 1,000SC (Station Cash) but there’s no telling yet how much value that 1,000 will get you.

The whingers will complain that it’s another attempt by the big bad MMO developing crowd to leave you penniless on the street, but It’s a take it or leave it thing, so no one is bound to purchase the in-game cash, but it provides players with even more options to customise their toons and provides Sony with a bit of extra cash from EverQuest and EverQuest II; which, for those of us who are still adventuring around the land of Norrath, means the servers stay online longer. I think the general shift towards freaky new revenue methods for gaming have been gaining momentum for a while. I’m all for it on the condition it provides me – the gamer – with a better end product for my dollar. If that doesn’t happen, well – I can tell you where I’ll be sticking my Sword of the Bloodmoon.

DH: Uh, no one wants you to tell them that.

Post Script: In the time it took us to actually have this conversation, Age of Conan devs announced it’s definitely still on track to release on the 360 ('cause it's done SO WELL on PC), new character classes have hit Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft has announced sex changes as a character option, and Star Trek MMO developer Cryptic Studios was bought out by Atari’s parent company, Infogrames. It’s a fast moving virtual world out there.