MMO BinA Geek's Look at Massively Multiplayer Online Games

I know the subject has been talked about up one side and down another but let me add some more thoughts and comments to the pile already out there. There seems to be no avoiding RMT (real money transfer) in games this day in age - and honestly players are getting quite used to it. When EverQuest II announced that they would be implementing ‘Station Cash’ and a ‘Station Store’ the outcries on the forums were, well. Everywhere. For the most part the station store caries items like experience bonus potions (which players can obtain through veteran rewards), appearance armor (no stats, just looks), house items, and little pets that follow you around. Nothing has been game breaking per say. 

Some argued that this was the beginning of a slippery slope, that opening the doors for such simple items will lead to bigger RMT transactions in the future. So far, we haven’t really seen it - on EQ2 at least (or EQ) with the station store. Granted, the items are moving towards a more ‘functional’ use instead of just being fluff items.

There are potions that will allow characters to change their names, gender, and appearance (though there are also barbers in game that will allow you to change your appearance). These potions are not game changing per say - but they do affect the community to some degree. There is a lengthy discussion posted on the official forums about these new items. Players have a few concerns, like what about those bad apples you ban from your guild. They can simply pay $15 for a name change and become someone new. On the other hand, if you have friends or family who have left you an account and you’d like the characters to feel more like your own, here is a simple (and fairly cheap) way to accomplish that. 

Vanguard:SOH  announced that they will be dealing with LiveGamer and converting their current four servers to RMT enabled servers. This came as a shock to most of the community who had little warning that all of their servers would soon be allowing the sale of platinum, equipment, and even characters. For those outside of the VG community this announcement made barely a splash. It’s still in the beta stages right now, and is progressing from there - however those within the community wanted to make sure their opinions were heard and there are over 200 pages of comments from players expressing their concern and thoughts on the whole ordeal. 

It’s one thing to have a game start out with RMT enabled or even to implement RMT enabled servers such as the Bazaar in EQ2. It’s quite another to suddenly take your game and decide for all of the player base that their servers are going to be enabled whether they agree with it or not. Again this goes back to the ‘give your players choices’ situation. If you enable one server and allow people who are not interested to transfer off of it, you’ve at least given them an option and they will be far more lenient to your suggestions that way. If you come across as though you are forcing that option onto them they’re going to fight you tooth and nail. Personally speaking while I don’t relish the thought of people being able to buy platinum or equipment or characters for real money in a game that I’ve loved since release (despite the NUMEROUS bugs and issues) it doesn’t bother me so much as the lack of communication does. I think that the whole situation could have been handled in a better manor - on that same note, those who were going to create a ruckus and leave over the incident probably would have no matter how it was handled. Some times it doesn’t matter what you do, there’s no pleasing people and there will always be those out there who find flaws to pick at. 

Does it feel a little like ‘double dipping’ that a game with a $15/m subscription would also have RMT enabled? A lot of F2P (free to play) games have RMT but they don’t have the subscription, or they offer alternative means of payment (via purchasing coins to unlock zones like Wizard 101). Is there a wrong or right way to add RMT to an already existing game? Lets hear some thoughts!