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Zhiroc · 08-28-2007, 01:24 AM

Oh boy. I was really trying to stay away from this argument, but it has finally gotten to it.

When is free not free?

I will try to keep this simple. In the IRE games, the only way you can level your skills is by using lessons. You get 5 lessons per character level. The rest must come from credits. If you level to 70, you will end up getting 100 free credits. This is only enough to only take 1 skill from level 1 to the next to last level (Mythical). The rest (7 other skills plus 7 mini-skills) must come from credits you must obtain through:
The ingenious part of the payment model is that once you start using credits over those you get by leveling, for the most part, either you or someone else has bought them! So in the large sense, even if you grind out the gold (and consider that your own time has no monetary value), they are still credits bought by someone.

The only aspect of "free" in the aggregate is whatever credits that IRE injects over and above their normal sales price. For example, at the moment there is a 30% sale on for the anniversary (a very generous sale, actually). And there are monthly contests called artisanals, and occasional bardics. And a lottery going on at the moment (but that costs gold per ticket).

So, can you play for free?

Maybe if you win your way to credits.

But by buying credits from another with in-game gold, it's like saying I'll buy you a ticket to the movies if you'll mow my lawn. Sure, you didn't pay the theater anything, and you paid me only an hour or two of your time, but the theater got its money anyways.

Is this free?

Not in my book. The difference between this model and all the other ones about "premium" services is that when you go to ESPN, or the Smithsonian, or even a pure pay-for-perks system, you are not paying any consideration to anyone else for using them. In the IRE system, unless you can outright win your "free" credits, you must pay another user something for the privilege, even if it is in the form of play time that you have worked at to build up in-game gold.

And that makes it not free.

08-28-2007, 01:24 AM	#162
Zhiroc Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 92	Re: What does "Free" Mean? Oh boy. I was really trying to stay away from this argument, but it has finally gotten to it. When is free not free? I will try to keep this simple. In the IRE games, the only way you can level your skills is by using lessons. You get 5 lessons per character level. The rest must come from credits. If you level to 70, you will end up getting 100 free credits. This is only enough to only take 1 skill from level 1 to the next to last level (Mythical). The rest (7 other skills plus 7 mini-skills) must come from credits you must obtain through: The ingenious part of the payment model is that once you start using credits over those you get by leveling, for the most part, either you or someone else has bought them! So in the large sense, even if you grind out the gold (and consider that your own time has no monetary value), they are still credits bought by someone. The only aspect of "free" in the aggregate is whatever credits that IRE injects over and above their normal sales price. For example, at the moment there is a 30% sale on for the anniversary (a very generous sale, actually). And there are monthly contests called artisanals, and occasional bardics. And a lottery going on at the moment (but that costs gold per ticket). So, can you play for free? Maybe if you win your way to credits. But by buying credits from another with in-game gold, it's like saying I'll buy you a ticket to the movies if you'll mow my lawn. Sure, you didn't pay the theater anything, and you paid me only an hour or two of your time, but the theater got its money anyways. Is this free? Not in my book. The difference between this model and all the other ones about "premium" services is that when you go to ESPN, or the Smithsonian, or even a pure pay-for-perks system, you are not paying any consideration to anyone else for using them. In the IRE system, unless you can outright win your "free" credits, you must pay another user something for the privilege, even if it is in the form of play time that you have worked at to build up in-game gold. And that makes it not free.