by Stacy Jones on Jun 22, 2011
The community is a little worked up over the pricing of new microtransaction items introduced with Incarna. Some corporation leaders like Pandemic Legion are even calling for a ban on the recruitment of players that buy the new cosmetic items.
At the heart of the controversy is CCP's pricing of the new cash shop items, which in many cases actually out price their real-world counterparts. The in-game ocular implant monocle, which appears to be the most popular item, is purchased with a new currency called Aurum, which players can create 3500 of with one PLEX (roughly $19.95 USD) or by converting in-game ISK to PLEX. The monocle is priced at what equates to around $70 USD. There's even a thread on the EVE forums currently that names off several real-world items that you could buy for the same amount.
EVE is not the only game to run into item pricing issues with microtransactions. Last year gPotato riled up fans with the cash shop prices for their MMORPG Allods Online. But despite community dissatisfaction with the prices, players never threatened to blackball others for buying the items. What do you think about the item pricing and Pandemic Legion's movement to ban players that purchase them? Tell us what you think below.
Sources:
EVE Online Forums - Aurum Pricing
EVE Online Forums Pandemic Legion's Call for Bans
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