by Jeff Woleslagle on Dec 11, 2008
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The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).
World of Warcraft Warhammer Online Age of Conan Champions Online (UP 15!) Star Trek Online (UP 13!) EverQuest 2 (UP 8!) Atlantica Online (UP 2) EVE Online (UP 1) City of Heroes Stargate WorldsBiggest Sinkers and Floaters in the Top 20 this week
Champions Online (UP 22 to no. 12) Lord of the Rings Online (down 7 to no. 17) Guild Wars 2 (down 7 to no. 19)Loading... Daily
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The CME Kids donation drive continues. We're 4 days away and not even halfway to our goal. I know its a rough time of year, but please give if you can. Even $5 will make a difference.
Some gamers talk about microtransactions (MT) in apocalyptic terms, and I'm starting to see why. In terms of site policy we've worked hard to adopt whatever stance a developer has toward gold and item selling - for example, while we were leaning toward a ban of gold ads for some time, we finally removed them two years ago at Blizzard's request. Or was it more of a "we won't talk to you unless you trash the gold ads" ultimatum. Anyway, we complied, and it turned out to be a great move because it earned us a lot of instant respect across the industry and with players, not just with Blizzard.
But our recent interviews with John Smedley and Bruce Ferguson have sparked some harsh criticism on our forums and in the official forums over whether Station Cash is a good decision for EverQuest and EverQuest 2. Our own EQ2 forum poll shows a decidedly negative reaction to Station Cash to match the official boards, with several posters expressing disgust at the air of saccharine marketing they've perceived (with Legends of Norrath in-game announcements, for example) even before Station Cash. Still others are waiting to see how it plays, noting that the items currently available for purchase with Station Cash in the marketplace are far from game-breaking. But then the seeming announcement from Bioware that microtransactions would be part of Star Wars: The Old Republic threw more fuel on the fire.
I can understand the ire of blueblooded gamers towards MT because it seems like an insult. MT isn't just another way to monetize MMORPGs, it also places a discrete monetary value on the time it takes to acquire those items or the in-game currency to buy those items. It also impugns that that amount of time wasn't worthwhile anyway - there's no gaming enjoyment to be had, it's just a lot of pretend violence for a little pretend money and some negligable character development. In other words, MT confirms the grind, even when its just a buck for a few lookieloos for your character's house. As Drizzt Do'Urden would say, where's the sense of adventure and achievement? If it's mostly worthless junk I want, holiday-time at Walmart or a walk through Chinatown offers more of a life experience.
Still, I'm not naïeve enough to think that MT is going anywhere. We demand more and more from our games - more art and content, better performance, more painstakingly tuned raid encounters, faster costumer service - without wanting to pay more, and we shouldn't feign surprise when devs and publishers look for other value-added ways to make money. Every MMORPG is built and improved on the success of its forebearers and contemporaries, and whether we like it or not, a huge part of the world loves MT and has singlehandedly made F2P into big business.
And with Asia tapped for more and more programming and artistic talent, with more and more studios opening up in Singapore and Shanghai and with more and more MMORPGs localized for Asian countries, it seems natural that we'll trend somewhat towards MT. I just hope the cinematic quality of top-tier subscription MMORPGs - how grind is mostly washed away by story and mood, and by socializing and a comfortable sense of progress - doesn't continue to suffer for it.
Are microtransactions an insult to "pure" gamers? Join the discussion Loading forum, or my inbox is always open for comments.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 77 in December! 3051 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Interviews
SOE: John Smedley on Station Cash - "We aren't going Free-to-Play" SOE: EQ2 Station Cash with Producer Bruce Ferguson Outspark: Exclusive with Victor WachterImages/Video
FFXI: Pictures from Fan Festival 2008Guides
Warhammer Online: Black Guard Abilities - Level 21-40 Age of Conan: Field of the Dead (Boss Guide)Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
SOE: John Smedley on Station Cash - "We aren't going Free-to-Play" SOE: EQ2 Station Cash with Producer Bruce Ferguson Outspark: Exclusive with Victor Wachter Give the Gift of Gaming Geeked: "Alternate Payment" Atari: Jack Emmert on the acquisition of Cryptic Studios Invitation to Interview the Developers of Darkfall The Agency: Advancement Q&A with Matt Staroscik Warhammer Online: 1.1 and You - A Look at the Next Patch Ten Ton Turnip #2 - Blizzard Buys Mythic!Real World News
Thieves steal pie and ice cream from churchThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network and have a great weekend!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team