Welcome
to the 1,255th
edition
of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Even at a time when more and more MMOG developers make items and services available for purchase with real world cash, illicit RMT still remains a threat. We'll look at how goldsellers can affect game performance and enjoyment for all players, and talk to DDO Exec. Producer Fernando Paiz about what one of today's MMOG developers are doing about it, in today's Loading... If you can't beat 'em...

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
   of Warcraft
2. Lord of the Rings Online (UP 4)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star
   Trek Online (down 1)
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
   2 (down 1)
   
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons and
   Dragons Online
   

style="text-decoration: underline;">

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/997">Dream of Mirror Online (UP 55 to #19)
   
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom">Runes of Magic
   (UP 4 to #10)
3. Global Agenda (UP 4 to #14)
   

• size="-1">9/22
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
  (release date) size="-1">
• size="-1">10/8
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
  XL (release date)
• size="-1">11/3
  - Dragon
  Age:
  Origins (release date)
• size="-1">11/10
  - Final
  Fantasy
  XI Ultimate
  Collection (release date)
• size="-1">12/1
  - href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
  Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
• size="-1">12/1
  - href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
  Online: Dominion (expansion)
• size="-1">12/2
  - DOFUS
  2.0
  (update)
• size="-1">12/15
  - href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
  Underfoot (expansion)
  
  

• size="-1">1/26
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
  Effect 2
  (release date)
• size="-1">2/1
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
  Agenda
  (release date)
• size="-1">2/2 size="-1">
  - Star
  Trek Online
  (release date)
• size="-1">2/16
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
• size="-1">March
  2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2011
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
  The Old
  Republic
  
  

Loading... Daily

There's a lot of reasons to dislike illicit RMT, and ad spam in the chat channel and stolen accounts are just the beginning. Last summer, for example, CCP's Unholy Rage initiative banned 18,000 accounts and, as a result, saw 15% less server-side CPU usage per player (goldsellers typically engage dispropotionately in performance-hoggish behaviors like character creation, logging in and out, market research, and using in-game mail). That results in less lag overall, more legit players in highly trafficed systems like Jita, and a more balanced economy overall. That EVE offers a way to legitimately convert game time codes into currency through PLEX, as well as arguably more ways to make money than any other MMORPG, makes illicit RMT all the more unnecessary.

Other MMOGs have found sneakier ways to combat goldselling, mostly by adding more types of achievement-based currency to the mix. It began innocently enough, with WoW's tokens and DDO's favor points, but now Champions Online has no fewer than seven types of currency (using the broadest economics 101 definition of currency - a store of value), and Star Trek Online looks to have a similar mix. But achievement-based currency, besides being unwieldy for purchasers (how many radiation samples, metal samples, gadgets, whatchamacallits, and whoseits does this Photon Torpedo II cost again? Damn, I'm a widgit short), can't be used for player to player transactions, which is the heart, soul, and much of the fun of virtual economies.

Aside from mass bannings and alternative currencies, can MMO economies essentially beat the illicit RMTers by joining (or rather, replacing) them? Some commentators, myself included, always believed that most developers wouldn't take the seconday market threat seriously until they were in direct competition with it to some degree, concerns about selling away the achievement impetus notwithstanding.

I asked Fernando Paiz, Exec. Producer of Dungeons and Dragons Online, a game that's gone farther down the microtransactions path than any other mainstream MMO, whether going free-to-play and making a number of DDO's goods and services available for purchase resulted in less trouble with illicit RMTers:

"We thought they would get better. I guess proportionately they've gotten better, in the sense that as a percentage of the userbase, there seems to be a smaller percentage of people doing gold spamming and things like that. But it certainly hasn't gone away, and we certainly have about the same volume of spam complaints and things like that. Given that we've grown the userbase so much, it has gotten a lot better."

Next I asked what Turbine is doing to combat spammers, a topic that developers usually give bland assurances about. Fernando offered some details:

"Part of that is how we implemented the free-to-play model. We added a lot of restrictions to the free players that weren't really intended to make players have to pay to upgrade, they were really all about defending against spam and the constant messages that you get from gold spammers that you get in the game. We added things like a restriction on things like how much gold you can carry as a level one player, not that we ever think you'll hit it as a level one player, but just because we don't want the gold farmers to have it too easy, rolling free accounts to do business."

So it seems that even as developers get better at dealing with illicit RMT and even take long strides towards offering similar services at competitive prices (insofar as that's possible without breaking the game), the goldsellers, like the poor, like the o-board asshats, may always be with us. And they will always be with us as long as the experience grind makes their services appealing.

What say you? Do developers do enough to address illicit RMT? Is it not as big a deal as it used to be? Have your say in the Loading... forum, and have a great weekend!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



From our /OOC (Off-Topic) Forum


EBooks


It's time to wrap up the week with a little off-topic discussion.
Today we're talking about ebooks. They've been around for quite a
while, but it seems only recently that we're starting to see readers
like Amazon's Kindle popping out of advertisements on every Internet
corner. Personally, I can't imagine curling up with a good book on a
Kindle--I like the organic feel and smell of a printed book in my
hands. What's your preference? Do you see ebooks becoming something no
household will be without, or as just another passing fad? Talk!


==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread


"I LOVE my Kindle 2 because it actually causes *less* eyestrain than
reading a physical book. There's no backlit display, so it's not like a
computer screen at all. Think of it as a super detailed etch-a-sketch.."

- Dalmarus

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell
us!

New and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

4 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 87 in January! 87
in 2010!



Aion Eltnen Zone Guide

http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/world/eltnen



If
you're an Aion Elyos then you'll be spending a whole lot of time in the
big and dangerous zone of Eltnen. Encompassing enough content to take
you from level 20 all the way through level 40, Eltnen can be easily
overwhelming. Get the full tour and some highlighted content in our
newest Eltnen Zone Guide. 



Champions Online : Mission Lag Blues

http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/missionlag



There
are a few times in Champions Online when your superhero will find
himself with no missions. What is your hero to do? Use his
super-strength to beat some experience out of a developer? No, my
friend! There are a few options available to get your superhero over
the mission lag blues, which we’ll examine in detail.



Runes of Magic - The Priest: Dual Class Guide

http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom/guides/classes/dualclass_priest_guide



The
Priest is usually a clearly defined class in most MMO's, but as with
all the class options in Runes of Magic things are not always as
the seem. Our latest RoM guide takes a look at some of the ways to make
the priest your own.



A Look at World of Warcraft: The Magazine

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79757



We've gotten our hands on the first issue of World of Warcraft: The
Magazine and are ready to share our thoughts. It comes out a steep $40
a year pricetag for four issues. Is it worth that kind of
money? Who exactly would find it interesting? Find out here at Ten Ton
Hammer.

Today's
Hottest Articles and Guides

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79456">Admirals
   Only -
   An STO
   Endgame Q&A with
   Zeke Sparkes
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79308">Avoiding
   the
   Progress Trap - An MMOG Retrospective
3. Champions Online : Mission Lag Blues
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79623">Star
   Trek Online Beta Journal #5 -
   Open Season on Open Beta
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79464">Microcosms
   -
   Issue #1: Shifting Paradigms
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/careers/overview">Star
   Trek Online Career Guide
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79566">Specializing
   Alt
   Characters In style="font-weight: bold;">EVE Online
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79613">Furry
   Madness! A First Look at Earth
   Eternal
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78979">Carved
   in Stone
   or Written in Pencil: Developers'
   New Year's Resolutions
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79051">Star
    Trek
    Online href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79051">–
    Ten
    Ton Hammer’s Hands-On Beta Impressions
11. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/general/gearingup3-3">WoW:
    Gearing up in 3.3
    

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the
Ten Ton Hammer team