As far as RMT, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the average person doesn't care. I'm sure there are a lot of gamers who come to forums who rage against that sort of thing and I completely understand why. However, the average person/player doesn't really post on forums, sometimes reads them and in many cases from what I've heard don't even know they exist. I'm sure they here that station exchange has been added and either say "hey that's great" or "ok, but I'm not going to take advantage so I don't care". There was a distinct difference when it was announced and added. And well, that could very well be coincidential I would not dare to say I know. Anyway I have the same beliefs that you have here so in a way I'm not shure on which foot to stand. (Other than ofcourse that I think things looked quite bright a few months ago.)
Oh, I wouldn't doubt that the game lost players because of the station exchange. Now, if they come back... well that's another thing.
I think players who rage against RMT should also realize that all popular games have RMT. The difference is whether or not it comes from a secondary company or the company that creates/publishes the game.
So if some players just refuse to play a game that incorporates RMT are they also extending that decisioin to games that have secondary market support? I don't exactly see a difference in the end result which is that someone is paying money for goods and services and is getting them. That end result is that someone is still getting things for cash and didn't have to take part in the game that rewarded those things.
Now, for a PvE game it is really less of a big deal in my opinion. It's when there is pvp or some sort of competition that I think it becomes a huge issue.
IN any case I hope that the people who left because of the Station Exchange will at some point reconsider.
I think you are over simplifying the situation to unrealistic measures. There is so much difference between eula breaking rmt and company sponsored rmt.
Company sponsored RMT not only encourages more people to partake, but it also changes the design goals of a company. It is a conflict of interest, because they make more money by withholding content from the players and instead selling it as an after market addon. Something as slight as reducing AA experience (just for example) can push more people towards buying xp potions to supplement what was once a pure in game effort. It is a huge conflict of interest when companies start to cross that line, even if the results are not as obvious as buying an uber set of armor (which is something soe is considering). There are far to many factors that are in control of the game company that affect their revenue from rmt to not pose a conflict to good game design (fun first).
Vanguard was the wrong game for station exchange anyhow considering the playerbase. Kind of like buying shoes for cat.
Hey guys, I just wanted to stop in and mention that if you guys have any questions about Vanguard or any SOE games please reply to the article in my original post or feel free to bring it up in our forums and we will do our best top get them addressed(by speaking to SOE directly).
As far as RMT, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the average person doesn't care. I'm sure there are a lot of gamers who come to forums who rage against that sort of thing and I completely understand why. However, the average person/player doesn't really post on forums, sometimes reads them and in many cases from what I've heard don't even know they exist. I'm sure they here that station exchange has been added and either say "hey that's great" or "ok, but I'm not going to take advantage so I don't care". There was a distinct difference when it was announced and added. And well, that could very well be coincidential I would not dare to say I know. Anyway I have the same beliefs that you have here so in a way I'm not shure on which foot to stand. (Other than ofcourse that I think things looked quite bright a few months ago.)
Oh, I wouldn't doubt that the game lost players because of the station exchange. Now, if they come back... well that's another thing.
I think players who rage against RMT should also realize that all popular games have RMT. The difference is whether or not it comes from a secondary company or the company that creates/publishes the game.
So if some players just refuse to play a game that incorporates RMT are they also extending that decisioin to games that have secondary market support? I don't exactly see a difference in the end result which is that someone is paying money for goods and services and is getting them. That end result is that someone is still getting things for cash and didn't have to take part in the game that rewarded those things.
Now, for a PvE game it is really less of a big deal in my opinion. It's when there is pvp or some sort of competition that I think it becomes a huge issue.
IN any case I hope that the people who left because of the Station Exchange will at some point reconsider.
Station Exchange at least in regards to Vanguard has made NO impact. Go and search whats offered BY OTHER PLAYERS at the exchnage. Last time I looked there was a handful of plat for sell(at prices higher than most goldsellers) and just a handful of character for sale( alot of them stupid stuff like below lvl 20). So anyone who used the Station Exchange as an excuse to leave Vanguard was already looking for ANY excuse to leave.
That is somewhat incorrect. I signed up and didn't know about the RTM stuff. When I found out, I almost cancled before even finishing the download of the game.
Simply put: Every big city has drug problems but they don't go opening up vendor stands to sell the stuff themselves.
So no, I don't see an exodus of folks due to this as "any excuse". They see the trend the company is following and decide not to support that type of activity. Myself, I stuck around and saw how big a flop it was and decided I'll keep playing and I've enjoyed the game a great deal.
Unlike most who post here, I'm not too worried about its future. SOE has it in "self maintenance" mode as in it pays for its own future. As a newer player, I have 2 years of existing game content to play before hitting "max level" and starting to worry about running out of things to do. That'll last me quite a while with the diversity of activities in the game.
Now if I'd played since beta days, I might bemoan the lack of more content flowing out every couple months and an ever expanding world but coming in at this point... There are mass activities for me to do. Plenty of folks for me to game with when I want and tons of stuff for me to deal with solo. The world is vast and I've had a heck of a fun time exploring it and crafting items for my guys to use -- including 6 server first discoveries and 3 world first discoveries while crafting things my guys use (the game tracks that stuff and lets you know when you make something nobody else has made and the like).
Bugs get fixed. Not as fast as some games but I go back in gaming far enough to be able to point out bugs that were in EQ at ship that still exist and the like. It'd be nice if there were more subscribers to pay for more developmenet but, again, there are tons of things for me to do right now so... I'll stick around a while and have fun playing.
<snip>... If a product is half-baked, is it the products fault or the people who launched the product?
Its the fault of people who wasted time, resources and money during development with relationship drama and drug use.
Exactly,
Only the idea of costs to trully revamp the character models and their animations is reason enough for SOE to let it wither and die.
Not to mention the sheer inconsistency in gameworld design. One moment you walk into a beautiful designed zone and the next one makes your stomach turn.
To revamp that and bring everything in line to make it consistent, will cost even more.
Not to mention that Silius is litterly destroying the game piece by piece with each craptastic update.
Comments
Oh, I wouldn't doubt that the game lost players because of the station exchange. Now, if they come back... well that's another thing.
I think players who rage against RMT should also realize that all popular games have RMT. The difference is whether or not it comes from a secondary company or the company that creates/publishes the game.
So if some players just refuse to play a game that incorporates RMT are they also extending that decisioin to games that have secondary market support? I don't exactly see a difference in the end result which is that someone is paying money for goods and services and is getting them. That end result is that someone is still getting things for cash and didn't have to take part in the game that rewarded those things.
Now, for a PvE game it is really less of a big deal in my opinion. It's when there is pvp or some sort of competition that I think it becomes a huge issue.
IN any case I hope that the people who left because of the Station Exchange will at some point reconsider.
I think you are over simplifying the situation to unrealistic measures. There is so much difference between eula breaking rmt and company sponsored rmt.
Company sponsored RMT not only encourages more people to partake, but it also changes the design goals of a company. It is a conflict of interest, because they make more money by withholding content from the players and instead selling it as an after market addon. Something as slight as reducing AA experience (just for example) can push more people towards buying xp potions to supplement what was once a pure in game effort. It is a huge conflict of interest when companies start to cross that line, even if the results are not as obvious as buying an uber set of armor (which is something soe is considering). There are far to many factors that are in control of the game company that affect their revenue from rmt to not pose a conflict to good game design (fun first).
Vanguard was the wrong game for station exchange anyhow considering the playerbase. Kind of like buying shoes for cat.
Hey guys, I just wanted to stop in and mention that if you guys have any questions about Vanguard or any SOE games please reply to the article in my original post or feel free to bring it up in our forums and we will do our best top get them addressed(by speaking to SOE directly).
Thanks!
Oh, I wouldn't doubt that the game lost players because of the station exchange. Now, if they come back... well that's another thing.
I think players who rage against RMT should also realize that all popular games have RMT. The difference is whether or not it comes from a secondary company or the company that creates/publishes the game.
So if some players just refuse to play a game that incorporates RMT are they also extending that decisioin to games that have secondary market support? I don't exactly see a difference in the end result which is that someone is paying money for goods and services and is getting them. That end result is that someone is still getting things for cash and didn't have to take part in the game that rewarded those things.
Now, for a PvE game it is really less of a big deal in my opinion. It's when there is pvp or some sort of competition that I think it becomes a huge issue.
IN any case I hope that the people who left because of the Station Exchange will at some point reconsider.
Station Exchange at least in regards to Vanguard has made NO impact. Go and search whats offered BY OTHER PLAYERS at the exchnage. Last time I looked there was a handful of plat for sell(at prices higher than most goldsellers) and just a handful of character for sale( alot of them stupid stuff like below lvl 20). So anyone who used the Station Exchange as an excuse to leave Vanguard was already looking for ANY excuse to leave.
That is somewhat incorrect. I signed up and didn't know about the RTM stuff. When I found out, I almost cancled before even finishing the download of the game.
Simply put: Every big city has drug problems but they don't go opening up vendor stands to sell the stuff themselves.
So no, I don't see an exodus of folks due to this as "any excuse". They see the trend the company is following and decide not to support that type of activity. Myself, I stuck around and saw how big a flop it was and decided I'll keep playing and I've enjoyed the game a great deal.
Unlike most who post here, I'm not too worried about its future. SOE has it in "self maintenance" mode as in it pays for its own future. As a newer player, I have 2 years of existing game content to play before hitting "max level" and starting to worry about running out of things to do. That'll last me quite a while with the diversity of activities in the game.
Now if I'd played since beta days, I might bemoan the lack of more content flowing out every couple months and an ever expanding world but coming in at this point... There are mass activities for me to do. Plenty of folks for me to game with when I want and tons of stuff for me to deal with solo. The world is vast and I've had a heck of a fun time exploring it and crafting items for my guys to use -- including 6 server first discoveries and 3 world first discoveries while crafting things my guys use (the game tracks that stuff and lets you know when you make something nobody else has made and the like).
Bugs get fixed. Not as fast as some games but I go back in gaming far enough to be able to point out bugs that were in EQ at ship that still exist and the like. It'd be nice if there were more subscribers to pay for more developmenet but, again, there are tons of things for me to do right now so... I'll stick around a while and have fun playing.
Some countries do(legalise it), and some movements wants the drug to be legal to make the illegal issues and consequences less of an impact.
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
Its the fault of people who wasted time, resources and money during development with relationship drama and drug use.
Exactly,
Only the idea of costs to trully revamp the character models and their animations is reason enough for SOE to let it wither and die.
Not to mention the sheer inconsistency in gameworld design. One moment you walk into a beautiful designed zone and the next one makes your stomach turn.
To revamp that and bring everything in line to make it consistent, will cost even more.
Not to mention that Silius is litterly destroying the game piece by piece with each craptastic update.
Cheers