Cryptic's Roper Explains Microtransactions For Champions Online 82
Karen Hertzberg writes "Many MMO gamers have expressed concern over the recent announcement that micro-transactions would play a role in the upcoming release of Champions Online. Knowing that MTs can be a touchy subject for fans, Ten Ton Hammer sat down with Bill Roper for an interview. He reveals more about Cryptic's take on the business model, what type of items you can expect to find through MTs, and how the system will be integrated into Champions Online come launch day. Roper said, 'The idea is wanting to be able to have things there that players can get if they want to, but they don't negatively impact the balance of the game. It's not like we're expecting players to go and purchase things through micro-transactions that then give them some huge leg up. All those things I think people get worried about, but really the focus is on having things that are fun, cosmetic or are things that are more account-wide and maintenance based.'"
He doesn't even know what microtransactions are... (Score:4, Insightful)
Roper has confused microtransactions with on-line purchases. How did he get that job? A microtransaction is a charge so small that you don't really notice it and the charge is made in such a way that its not really noticed, and dont require any complicated action, by the buyer. I don't understand how anyone can confuse that with buying a char transfer for WoW, or buying something from iTune's.
Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:2, Insightful)
Hellgate part 2? (Score:1, Insightful)
This sounds a lot like the subscriber/non-subscriber deal from Hellgate London. Either way, if Bill Roper gets his hands in like Flagship, this mmo, microtransactions or no, won't see it's first birthday.
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:4, Insightful)
That is only true if you think of the game as a competition.
I don't. The rest of my life is competitive enough as it is, thank you. I play games to relax and to challenge myself. Grinding isn't a challenge, so if I can bypass it, I will. If you call it cheating, I'll call you dumb. Also, arrogant because you are trying to put rules on my play.
Re:Microtransactions = deal buster (Score:5, Insightful)
That's nonsense right there.
You assume everyone is equal right now, and that's simply not true. There are enough people in MMOs that have multiple accounts and pass money from one to the other. There are people with nothing else to do, who can grind all day, and there are people with job, friends, family, who can't.
If you want an "everyone is equal" game, play chess or go. MMOs aren't equal as they are now. Adding micro-transactions simply allows people who have a job to offset their time disadvantage compared to people without a job with something else that they have that the others don't.
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:2, Insightful)
It sounds like you just don't understand MMOs. There really isn't skill involved until you've already collected all of the loot and are just in PvP playing against other players that have also managed to collect all of the best equipment. Everything is an investment of time and/or money, and some people already simply pay to have their character leveled and equipped to the point at which they can jump into the end-game and compete in the only skill portion of the game. If the company gets in on the action by setting a price on these things, then the only thing it's really doing is shutting out (or reducing the profit of) the black market and legitimizing the actions of the people that do this.
Until MMOs change in some fundamental way in which the game is no longer about grinding your way to the top level and then going on loot runs 20-million times to get the same top tier equipment that everyone else on the server is trying to get, there's not going to be any significant skill involved in anything but the last 1% of the game experience. Most of what comes before that is made easier by having friends that can help you and knowing the best places to level and loot in the game, and there will always be people out there willing to sell their services in these areas to make it easier to get to that last 1%.
On the other hand, they're specifically trying to make the point that the items they're putting up for sale are going to be more about cosmetic changes than competitive changes. It's like selling decorations for the house your character may have in the game rather than buying the +5 Sword of Player-Killing.
I prefer MTs (Score:2, Insightful)
This is just a bunch of people who think having Tier 8 or whatever actually matters. If you are a gear whore -- then you can still earn gear the "legit way". If you want to collect the pets, you can still get your pets the legit way. I think the big thing is they maybe should consider making it clear that someone bought and item vs earned it. Maybe an A and B Variant.
What this does do is let people who can only do 1 aspect of the game -- say Raid or Farm get the other stuff. If I only have time to Raid, but I want the special horse you get for farming -- I am kinda screwed, but now I could just buy the horse off of the MT store.
The whole "well Rich Kids will benefit" thing is silly -- currently the person with the most time benefits or who is lucky or who bought stuff off ebay and the rich kid might already have 2 or 3 accounts. I don't care if you earned it by beating the boss -- it has no effect on my enjoyment of the game if you bought your gear or earned by playing a lot more time than me.
In fact I like the MT -- My little brother is in college -- he plays WoW 20+ hours a week.
I work a full time job and play 8 hours a week. He gets items I don't have time to get and he wants me to run dungeons that I am "not geared enough" to run. Now with Microtransactions I have a choice -- I can play the game and keep hoping for a drop or trying to craft an item -- or I can go online, buy the item I need so people consider me "geared enough" and then start questing with my brother. When dungeons have a gear level requirement -- to do Ulduar most people want Tier 7 at least gear as an example -- well if I don't have time to run Naxx enough to get geared up for Ulduar -- I can pay a few bucks and start questing with my bro.
In WoW (and most MMOs), getting gear from Dungeons is luck based. I ran Strat 80 times before I got my lightforge pants. I would have bought them off the store instead of running the dungeon. In theory since it is luck based -- you might not ever get the drop you want -- it might not drop or someone might out roll you.
As long as people are not forced into Microtransactions -- I don't see the problem. The only issue is if you measure your e-peen because you have Tier 8 before everyone else and think that actually means something... until Tier 9 comes out...
To make poeple happy they could always change the name of items. Like if you get an item drop it could be named "Gloves of the Eagle" where as if you bought it off the Games store they could be "Gloves of the Eagle B" or something, same stats and whatnot, just letting people know "hey Wolfd00d bought these". I wouldn't care, but this way e-peens can still feel good about themselves.
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not really about someone (like you) who purchases one or two items needed to do something fun. Its the people who drop $500 to max out their character so they can strut their stuff without having earned it.
Yes, but compare to what? It's not as if I couldn't put down $500 today to have my character power-leveled and equipped with the best gear, is it? It's just a black market, that's all. What they're doing is making it a legit market. We should all know from the drug market experience over the past 30 or so years that pushing things to a black market does nothing to reduce demand, it only drives up the profits of the dealers and creates expenses to keep the black market in check.
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:3, Insightful)
MMOs and RPGs have never been about merit and skill. They've been about who can sit in their chair the longest and press the attack button the longest.
the longer you do it, the more powerful your character. Nearly every MMO out there is about grinding. It is the #1 complaint for a reason...
Microtransactions don't have anything to do with cheating as long as they are done properly. A lot of western companies haven't figured that out yet, but asian companies have been doing it a long time. Here in Korea every game is run on microtransactions. I don't hear anyone whining about cheating. What I do see is people able to equally enjoy the same games. In Korea the microtransactions run completely on things which don't impact the gameplay, things like:
1 - Cosmetics. Everyone can get a helmet, you want a blue one? Same stats
2 - XP Boosts. This is time management. Not everyone can spend 10 hours a day grinding away. Someone pays a few bucks and they can get the same benefit in 7 hours. This is time compression and unless you get your jollies off being the first guy to level X, it doesn't affect the game in any way. It actually potentially hinders the person who has used time compression because they don't have the same amount of experience in using their character to that level (if the level has any meaning, a FPS has levels, but they don't do anything, so racing through them doesn't do anything)
3 - Money boosts. I don't play MMORPGs in Korea, because my Korean isn't that advanced, but in FPS, this is the same as the XP boosts. I don't eve know if money boosts are included in RPGs here. Does this unbalance the game? not really. in 10 hours without bosts you're level X with Y money, he pays 2 fees, and in 7 hours he's level X with Y money. No real difference
4 - extra character slots
5 - other time compression purchases
there isn't anything that you can buy, that I have seen, that would actually give one character an advantage of another. If you did PVP or anything like that they would all have access to the same gear, just in different colors, the same abilities, HP, money, etc.
So if you think that someone getting a blue hat is cheating vs someone who has a red hat, you've got a pretty twisted definition of cheating. No, there is nothing "cheating" about time compression. If you want to choose to play the game a few extra hours to get the same benefit without paying, you can. if you want to speed it up you can pay for it. The other difference between games in asia with microtransactions is that they're free to download, not like some western companies who try to charge for the game then charge for MTs on top of that.
Re:Microtransaction = Cheating (Score:3, Insightful)
It devalues the work other people have put into their characters and therefore makes playing the game at all that much more pointless, thereby gradually spoiling the game.
It is similar to saying, I don't want to study for four years for a degree, so if I can bribe someone to give me a degree without the studying, why shouldn't I do it? Similar to steroid use. If I bust my ass off for a good body, it is inevitable that someone will accuse me of steroid abuse eventually, degrading the effort, making it pointless to bother at all.
Re:He doesn't even know what microtransactions are (Score:3, Insightful)
No, the term Microtransaction has become a standard definition for MMO's that have items for purchase, ranging anywhere from $1 to $10 or so. The credit card/financial definition is certainly the source of the term, but its definition is now pretty irrelevant when talking about MMOs.
If you say a MMO with microtransactions, that means they will have a store of items that will cost a few bucks or so. The reason this is a big deal is that with a subscription-based MMO, this is faily uncommon, and is seen as being greedy. Microtransactions are usually only seen in Free to Play or Freemium (Free but with a premium subscription option) MMOs, as that would be their primary form of revenue generation. In subscritpion-based MMOs, it's just seen as a lame attempt to milk more cash out of already paying customers.
I think this is a bad idea and is nothing but a cash grab. I know I will definately be avoiding Champions now. The thing that worries me is there are rumors they will do this with ST:O as well. I don't like being a part of games where RL income can affect how you do in the game. I quite frankly see it as a form of cheating.
There's also the fact where the 'standard' content suffers because they reserve things for the pay item store. In freebie MMOs this is expected, but when you're already paying a subscription and for boxes of the game, that's just bullshit.
And there's also the fact I know I don't have the self-control and would probably spend exhorbitant amounts of money if I ever tried to play one....