ethical question for MMORPG players

[Tiger Shark]

Yes... I do... Because of _who_ is playing... I've been to Lions games because Barry Sanders is playing... I've been to Packers games because Brett Favre is playing... I've been to Giants games because LT was playing... I've been to a Raiders games because Gerry Rice/Tim Brown was playing... etc. etc. etc...

I go to see a specific team or a specific player... and it is a lot different to watching it on TV... I do that _every_ week of the football season... In the pub

[RoadClosed]

You feel the services are worth the money, I don't. No big deal. You probably wouldn't pay for Sat radio, I do. I friggin love Sat radio. I like playing the xbox but wouldn't pay for the connection to "live" for the same reasons I wouldn't pay to play an online game. It's all relative but you cannot say a trip to an arena with the beer, the commraderie the wind and the sounds are the same as playing an online game. Although the pleasure from either may be the same.

[RoadClosed]

Brett Favre

lol, my sweety loves that dude.

[JewishIntent]

but you cannot say a trip to an arena with the beer, the commraderie the wind and the sounds are the same as playing an online game

your right i can't

but i can say that the difference between watching a game and bieng there in person is very similar to the difference between playing a single player video game vs the mmorpg and the vast number of people you interact with from all over the world. in both cases we are paying for the added "fun"

[Tiger Shark]

the vast number of people you interact with from all over the world. in both cases we are paying for the added "fun"

Hmmm.... I used to play Counterstrike _constantly_... I interacted with people from all over the world... I still chat from time to time with a chap from Norway who called himself Tor... I never paid a penny after buying the origonal software... Which takes us back to the origin of our discussion... Why do people pay to play a computer game online?

[JewishIntent]

If FF online was free i wouldn't have to pay. I gues it boils down to the fact that i can say that FF is my favorite series, and except a couple of the games with every release they get better and better. Its sorta like cable tv i guess. Im more than satisfied with my basic local channels not needing any service provider, yet feel the money for the game is worth it.

[Digoy]

Like no only does it create a unfair advantage with wealther players as they can pick up better gear. But it can also create a very large rise in inflation on the server ecomony as the Gold Pieces / Zeny / Credits / what ever is not worth as much as it use to be.
I remember this being a very big problem with Star Wars Galaxies a few years back. And with in about 6 months we did see prices nearly triple on items and services.

What players do not realise is that transactions do carry and audit trail with your player log file. So if the devs feel that the problem is getting out of control, they can start pin pointing who the farmers are.
The other thing that i do like about WOW is that a lot of the higher level items are soul bond to the player when they use them or pick them up. This ensure that the item as a one use only.

Blizzard as learnt from a lot of other mistakes that other MMORPG have made. About the only thing that they can not 100% control is farming.

[|3lack|ce]

Ok, coming to this discussion late because most of my online time today was spent playing WoW (and fighting their server issues this evening I might add. grr.)

The prime reason I quit mudding on Realms of Despair was because I knew many, many players who had 'the best equipment real money could buy'. I heartily oppose the buying and selling of game equipment, money, or characters. I oppose it because it makes a game severely unbalanced, destroying both game economy and the fun of earning the bloody stuff for yourself.

I believe that if you cannot figure out how to get an item, or the game-money to pay for an item in the game then you shouldn't have that item. How fair is it to the countless thousands of us who spend hour after hour of our time trying to earn that ever elusive uberbuff piece of equipment that we've chased like a carrot placed before a mule when one need only look it up on ebay and pay out 40 bucks for it?

IMHO people who pay for game equipment or money are foolish. They're destroying the fun they should be having in the game - much like using cheats to beat something. If they pay rl money to play the game in the first place, shouldn't they actually PLAY instead of just buying everything they want? c'mon. RL time issues? Why did this person subscribe to the game in the first place if they knew they didn't have time to play it? Was the price of the subscription broken down to hour by hour for their actual time really worth it? Are they actually going to get to enjoy the equipment/money you've purchased for them? And you scammed the seller to boot? Yeesh. You both should be shot. Were I an admin of a game I'd ban both buyers and sellers on the spot, with no chance at ever returning to the game.

Or, to quoth an old friend of mine who's used for just that purpose,

Balzhur screams, "Buyerdude, your arse is MINE!"

Nuff said.

[edit just for TS] Bro, I pay to play simply because the necessity to pay limits the number if moronic idiots online there who are there simply to annoy. We still get them, but they're VASTLY lower in number. So far I've found only a very few who were mere annoyances, and a great number of serious players - both mkillers and pvp, as well as some solid roleplay. These players greatly enhance the (already incredible) game and make it extremely enjoyable. I can see how one could become so addicted as to spend their life playing such a game - it's a fight not to :P Will I continue to pay for my play? You betcha, right up to the point where I decide the value of the relaxation and enjoyment I receive from playing it is less than the money I pay.[/edit]

[Tiger Shark]

Black:

I knew there was a reason I like you... It's just so hard to find... <LOL>

I know what you mean... I played CS constantly until I moved... Then I had better things to do... Now I haven't been back in 10 months... I'm sure I will at some point... But the entertainment value isn't there right now for me to reinvest the time to get back to the level I was at....

[gore]

Tiger.... So you pay because they are "professionals"? Like ordering a prostitute would be OK because she's a pro at what she's doing? If I'm going to pay for someone to play with balls they damn well better be mine.