Anyone that has followed Mark Jacobs’ work on Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online is likely familiar with his hatred for RMT and power leveling companies, something he revisits in his latest Camelot Unchained Founding Principle blog. Gold selling and spam have always been a problem in MMOGs, and Jacobs is looking for new ways to make it less appealing to companies that engage in RMT trading and put in a few mechanics for launch to quickly deal with any RMT problems.

While other MMORPGs are adopting free-to-play and buy-to-play with microtransaction models as the new standard, Jacobs hopes to avoid that need by using Kickstarter to fund Camelot Unchained’s development.

I do not hate FTP games or BTP MMORPGs, not at all; I just would rather not make a game that does not have to worry about such things in order to be profitable. That is also one of the many reasons we are going to Kickstarter for part of our funding. By reaching out to the community of players that I hope want this type of MMORPG, I do not have to tailor this game to provide the kind of return that most investors seek on their investment. The sad reality is that banning 50K accounts is not something most investors would see as a good thing (unless, of course, we had huge sub numbers) and that is something that I choose not to deal with just as I choose not to chase the FTP/BTP market investment dollars.

Update: Jacobs added a second blog today to discuss progression in Camelot Unchained. Read his second blog of the day if you're curious about how the progression system works and in what ways you can advance it by aiding your realm.

Source: Founding Principle #5 – I Still Hate Gold Sellers