Folks against gold buying have what seems to be the strongest argument supporting their cause yet. From the New York Times (and linked to Kotaku since NYT requires an account), news breaks that Kim Jong-Il has been sending the country’s PC elite into the MMO world to pave the way for gold-farming bots. On Thursday …
Tag Archive: RMT
My Thoughts on the Evolution of F2P
The topic of RMT has been huge the last couple of years. When I first started blogging in June of ’08, F2P was almost universally derided by the subscription-game crowd. It was tied with notions of poor quality and a “buy now” herd mentality driven by manipulative game design. I don’t know how true any …
Some Assembly Required: The $25 Article
Hey Guys, I’m 8 minutes late in letting you know! Sorry about that. My latest article is up at Lagwar and in it I discuss the $25 CashCat SOE just dropped on their player base. I have a question for you guys, too. Why was everyone up in arms at Blizzard and so few EQ2 …
First Lagwar Column, live now!
Hey Gang, Just popping in to let you know that my first article in my weekly Some Assembly Required column is live over at Lagwar.com now. To start things off right, I talked a little bit about MMO corporations and why I think they’re evil. Fun stuff, right? 🙂 I’d love to know what you …
To the Defenders of the $25 Horse:
Take a second to read this article because it beautifully articulates the general defense of the $25 pony. There are lots of them out there but Cuppy was kind of enough to throw them all into one. First, let’s acknowledge a few things: Value Added Transactions (you can’t call $25 micro) are here to stay. …
Screw the Pony, Think of Your Sub.
Like a lot of other players, I was a little taken aback today when I read about Blizzard’s latest addition to their cash shop: a $25 flying horse. Unlike the pets, this is the first truly functional additional to the cash shop we’ve seen and marks a transition out of the sphere of vanity items. …
Time to Understand the Gold Farmers
Happy Easter, everyone! Hopefully this day will be filled we happy times and laughter with your families. My own awaits this morning, but I wanted to stop in and share a sentiment in the spirit of the day. Let’s cut the gold farmers some slack. I know that’s not something you’d expect to hear from …
The Multiverse – Episode #7: “MMO Divorce”
Hey Everyone, We’re back at it again, with Episode 7 of The Multiverse. This week, we talk about RMT, where MMOs are headed, and whether or not Global Agenda and MAG are really MMOs. We also talk a little bit about Final Fantasy 14, the outbreak of nude mining in Mortal Online, and Lego Universe. …
Confirmed: It’s not stopping at the pet store
From Eurogamer, yesterday: According to VG247, Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime told the Activision Blizzard investor conference that the company sees micro-transactions as an important part of World of Warcraft’s future. “We… expect digital sales to increase in the future, and plan to take advantage of it,” he said. His comment follows the appearance of the …