Make real cash from Everquest...?

[Nexeus]

I've seen other games do this in different fashions, but something like this hasn't been done, yet alone supported by a company. I like this idea a whole lot, because in game credits and items, become that more valuable, and I feel it begins to stablize the economy.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04/20 ... 22592.html

[Zephem]

In a way, it is a good thing. There's also the problem that as they put this in the current servers, lines will begin to form and there will be money as a driven motivation. Players won't play the game anymore because it's a game, they'll play it because they make a certain amount out of the profit, or they get that sword and they can pocket 100 bucks.

As someone who has worked on MUDs and various roleplaying games through the years, this really is sad to see. There will be a community of players (in fact they already exist in those other games where the company doesn't support the selling of ingame items and characters) that play a game only because it gives them a financial benefit. The story and the content don't matter anymore when the motivation is money.

Unless someone is going to tell me that it actually makes them appreciate it more. I don't believe that.

[FoxyJama]

Illegal farmers ruined Everquest for the casual player, and now Sony-supported farmers are going to ruin EQ2. I have no doubt that this is going to create a very hostile gaming environment, and I'm glad I got out of EQ when I did.

[Tarryk]

I agree that the bad may outweight the good in this case. The moment something in-game becomes worth real money, all sense of true immersion into the game becomes moot and it hits upon a real-world market, at which point people immediately become greedy, hard-to-get things become oversaturated with campers, and what used to be called a form of griefing now becomes a profitable endeavor.

I certainly hope something like this doesn't happen in an FC game.

[Maephina]

I certainly hope something like this doesn't happen in an FC game.

Already has...just not legally or FC endorsed which makes it worse IMO but there's quite a lot of people doing it.

AO on Ebay

[Demongirl]

Wanna see the ingame economy go to hell?

For starters putting an item on an auction site is easier than spamming around you're selling it, plus if you can get RL money for it easier, why would you sell it in game?

This leads to less trading of ingame items and more ebay-type selling which will quickly make in game money pretty useless.

I can't deny I've ever done this, but it wasn't a habit or regular play thing. When I played Asheron's Call (1) I had this lovely robe that was only available during a couple of the game's beginning monthly events before the creature was nerfed out leaving only pre-existing robes with the protections it had. When I was moving I was looking for extra cash and here was this robe I had that was more of a status symbol than something I'd actually use so it went up for auction. $110 for a Hoary Mattekar Robe, that sure helped the move-in expenses. I've never sold another item, but if the game-makers supported it and I didn't have an org-mate that needed something uber I found, you're damn right I would sell it on the company's site. I wouldn't waste money buying stuff on a site that isn't guaranteed that I get the item, they're taking any risk out of the sales. That's good for the buyers, as long as they have plenty of expendable income irl, but pushes more people to pay money for their bits and bytes who don't now because of the risk.

Casual trading/selling players wouldn't be what ruins it though, it would be those who would camp the living hell out of a spawn just to sell the item they get, all while keeping others from finding that item. In theory I think it could co-exist without ruining the game economy too much, but it would involve limits on how many items can be put up for a certain time period per account, not per character. And of course making sure those really hard to get items that don't drop much are made nodrop so nobody's camping a spawn for days trying to get one item to sell because that would make it so only the wealthiest players could afford it since you know someone would run a business off it. My reasoning: if I knew I could make a living off selling items from a game why wouldn't I?* A home business involving just game playing, that would be great, I could earn money anyplace I have a net connection. Unemployed? play EQ!

*answer: I'm too nice of a person/gamer and wouldn't camp through someone who came looking for something they could actually use, I'd let them go ahead even if I had been there for hours. I would never make any money.

[Lauri]

I have a feeling this kind of "support" will become common in the future of MMORPGs/Gaming.

Garriott was already touting the benefits and his excitement over it years ago. That means something, at least to me, anyway.

I'm not sure if I'd welcome this trend, though. I enjoy the escapism in these games, and worrying about my RL Monetary funds doesn't exactly induce that feeling of "getting away" and "relaxation".

This is where it would be beneficial for game developers to plan ahead concerning this - try to make it optional at best. This is a wise move, because most of their market are kids or new adults that may still rely on their parental cash flow.

[Cantara]

Well, did some reading since I played a bit of EQ2 over december/january. Apparently SOE are launching a bunch of new servers with this on, and getting some existing servers to vote whether they want it active on their server or not. They've gone as far as to say that if it does get activated on existing servers, then people opposed to the idea will get a chance to move if they really hate the idea.

From the short time I played EQ2, the game economy was always eratic. A friend tells me they finally added offline selling recently, which has stablised the prices a bit. People would just leave themselves logged in with their shops running when they went to work anyway, so I guess offline selling kept the game fair for the people who just can't leave their comps running EQ all day.

I think its a bad idea as far as the game goes, it'll only see certain mobs camped full time by hardcore sellers. Yes, people sell game items and money anyway, but until now its been accepted that they shouldn't be doing that. Adding approval to this just lays the foundation for a two tier system in the game - those that are prepared to pay RL money for items, and those that aren't. "Sorry guys, I can't follow you doctors and lawyers into the dungeon. My armour is crap, and I can't afford to pay however much more on top what I already pay to play this game..."
Considering that everyone has already paid for the game and their subscription, I think this is taking the piss.
How long before someone at SOE or any other MMO company decides what the going rate for x amount of XP is?

[Mummu]

http://www.project-entropia.com/Index.ajp

that game features direct real-game-money exchanges from the start.
you cant buy items for real money but you can convert real money into game cashe AND vice versa. interesting idea, but without depositing real money into teh game its boring, cause youcan do like nothing at the start without creds.

[Maephina]

I think this idea was inevitable. The direction the technology for video games is heading in would make it difficult not to see this as the logical next step for buying and selling entertainment over the internet. Especially in an often greedy and materialistic world of an MMO.

I also think it is a very risky idea. Although the chances are extremely slim, worst case scenario; every server for EQ II votes in favor of the exchange, and that majority was so slim it forces a large number of players in the minority to leave the game.

Like I stated that's a worst case scenario and not very likely to happen. I think it's more likely the players of EQII (and any other MMOs that adopt this idea) will probably see quite a tidy profit off of this move.

From my experience in AO , although sad, it seems there is quite a majority of players in MMOs who want nothing more from the game but the best character, the best equipment and the best of everything the game has to offer. And more often than not, they do not want to wait to get it.

This idea provides each of them the option to obtain all of their gear by spending real money to build their ideal character.
In my mind this ultimately defeats the purpose of even playing the game at all. Where will the sense of having accomplished anything to improve upon my character be if I can simply point, click and purchase everything she needs to be a kick ass toon?

The only limitation then becomes the need to level so you can accommodate that equip you just spent $50, $100, $200 dollars on because you're too lazy to go through the hassle of actually trying to camp/kill the mobs that drop it.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

After thought I just had on this issue: Just one more muther frucking thing for the government to eventually tax.

Here is a link to the letter the President of SOE, John Smedley, in which he annouced the service on the SOE/EQII site.

[Tarryk]

Indeed, Project Entropia was actually the first game to be created specifically FOR that effect. One in-game dollar is exchangable to 10 cents U.S. And there is no gaming to be had. It's all profiteering. No-one exists in that world who isn't in it for the desperate attempt to one day make money doing it.

And with sites like IGE, exchanging in-game currency in ANY game for real money has been made pretty easy.

I wish I had a solution, but you can't really create an MMORPG anymore without this scenario being involved. FC's done a good job downplaying it and steering clear, I just hope they stick to their guns. Trading accounts for money is still a bannable offense, last I knew, I hope it stays that way. Even if it's not easy to enforce, so long as the concept remains it will be comparitively minimized.

[Darth Bootay]

"r u China?"

Scary, but true.

[Switchfront]

Is that entropia game any good?

[telnarus]

As I haven't posted or been in RK for a bit. HARRRROOOOO Gridstream. I'm back. Well at least off and on.

Thought I would give you my 2 cents. My little sabatical in eq2 really shed a lot of light on folks and their behavior. I.e. total lack of self control.

EQ2's economy was screwed from day one. For one reason. Alchemists ruled the roost on pricing AND most didn't even play an alchemist to be one. They made it simply because the buy back of their products was better than anyone. They could grid chems all day and all night using various macro apps. Then charge players the same if not more to make chems for them to produce others items. I made an alchemist due to this later. My GF was gettting price gouged out the nose. So I made one. I started with 10 gold seed money and 6 12 slot backpacks. I went from level 4 alchemist to 45 in about 3 weeks. Doing nothing but grinding chemicals and selling them back to the npc vendor. When I was finally able to make chems for my GF He had 4 plat without selling a single thing to another player. The number of alchemists that used alchemy as nothing more than a money grinding machine was a large majority.

Sure tradeskilling is a thing to make money but there were folks grinding out 10-20 plat a day. Thus the EQ2 economy was screwed. Now it is starting to get somewhat stabalized. BUT you have people charging newbs Tier 5 prices for T2 goods. Thus a lot of folks leave the game.

Now when you make money the old fashined way, i.e. earning it through good service. Now you have the people that hoard money undercutting trying to run folks out of business. Case in point: My GF who charges fair prices for service rendered. Got yelled at by a 15 year old that was still carrying a grudge because she wouldn't make poison vials for him. He was calling her crook and going off. Needless to say he looked really bad. But he made an alt and leveled it to 50 in 2 weeks because his main could harvest freely unlike those that worked their ass off buying, trading and so on. And starts undercutting all the other jewelers because all of them save him agreed with fair pricing with my GF.

Needless to say, the proof is in the pudding. On our server, she was the first and still to this day be the only tradeskiller that has a large amount of money that shows on the top ten and actually associated with a guild. All the rest are low level alts of hoarders. As I told him, when the rest of the server shows some balls to actually attach their name to their wealth ranking then and only then can he bitch about someone prices. No comment as expectted.

But, the moment you even have the remote possibility of make "rl currancy" in a game people lose their minds. They lose control over their actions whether they have an impact on society or not. So it is safe to say. SOE is to scared to boot the hoarders with so many people leaving. Even though those folks are the reason people are leaving the game in droves. The game is great. the problem is the amount of gold from the initial release is impossible to remove from the server without a complete server wipe. So in short, it is a very bad move for SOE to even establish such a precidence. In all actuality UO set this same function Several year ago. Where you can buy money and characters pre-designed directly from them.

Let's just say, MMORPGs are becoming nothing more than a money pot for macroers and exploiters.

Telnarus
<215 Agent>
First Order

[Anastu]

Is it true that in EQ2 you can actually order pizza from in-game? If so, then the guy ordering it will be named "LAZIEST IDIOT EVER!"

[Tarryk]

Yes, /pizza in EQ (dunno about EQ2) brings up a Sir Pizza (or Pizza Hut, can never remember) web site.

[Maephina]

Yes, /pizza in EQ (dunno about EQ2) brings up a Sir Pizza (or Pizza Hut, can never remember) web site.

Works in EQ II as well from what I've been told (just fyi)

[Boinky]

Yes they gots that in EQ2 (didn't realize EQ 1 as well) - now if they combine the 2 things so you can pay for the pizza in phatz they might have something

Sir Pizza: Large Pepporoni & Sausage? That'll be 2 plus 12 Swords
Knight Guy111: OK, here's a Bag of Holding as a tip

[Maephina]

Yes they gots that in EQ2 (didn't realize EQ 1 as well) - now if they combine the 2 things so you can pay for the pizza in phatz they might have something

Sir Pizza: Large Pepporoni & Sausage? That'll be 2 plus 12 Swords
Knight Guy111: OK, here's a Bag of Holding as a tip

lol I betcha if the delivery people or pizza hut employees are EQ players you could pull this off now.

[epiphonic]

in EQ II i get polled as to whether or not i think its ok.

I think it fuggin rules, way to go SONY!!