[MUD-Dev] [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy!

[Matt Mihaly]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Paolo Piselli wrote:
> --- Paul Schwanz <pschwanz at comcast.net> wrote:

>> It is also most likely the group, 'People who have copious
>> amounts of free time to with which to "purchase" their cumulative
>> characters.'

> Of the two players - one of whom has 'purchased' their character
> with money, one of whom has 'purchased' their character with
> logged time - which player is more valuable to the game (and thus
> your bottom line) in the long run?  Which player has a greater
> perception of investment in their character?  Which player has
> contributed more to in-game social networks?  Which player is more
> likely to be respected by other players?  Which player will remain
> a loyal customer?

Depends on who is doing the selling. In the case of our games,
there's absolutely no question who is more valuable: The player
buying things from us.

> IMO, a player who has 'purchased' their character with logged time
> is more likely to contribute to the long-term health of the game
> in many ways.  OTOH, it is concievable that a player who has
> 'purchased' their character with money is more likely to grief
> play, demoralize players who cannot afford to buy power, and
> otherwise negatively impact the long-term health of the game.

Well, in my experience, that's highly incorrect regarding the grief
play.  The people who go the buying route are MUCH less likely to be
troublemakers than the people who did it via time. I don't know if
that's because the people who buy things via time tend to skew to a
younger demographic or what, but in almost every case, the bigger
the customer the less likely he/she is to engage in grief play.

As for discouraging other players, consider the opposite case. The
#1 reason I, and a number of people I know, don't play the MMORGs
like Everquest and such is because we're too poor in free time to
afford it.

--matt
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