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Um, what? Where did I imply that non-Achaea mud admins are morons? It's certainly not true. All I said was that a game focused on monster bashing is about the time you put into it, not skill, which is true. I fail to see how that's an insult. If you, as a designer, want a game that places a premium on skill, but have instead designed a game that places a premium on free time, well, live with it. It's what YOU designed or chose to implement, after all!
There's nothing lacking in quality about a game that takes time rather than skill. It's just a different kind of game. It's not my thing, but given the success of games like Everquest, DAoC, AC, and so on, it's clearly a very very popular form of gameplay.
In Achaea and many other games (Simutronics' games, Ultima Online, a whole host of Korean games, Project Entropia, etc etc), you can pay for extra services from the game provider. In all of the other big games, you can pay for extra services (or items, or whatever you want to call them) just by going to Ebay or a host of services specifically set up to sell you game-related services (usually in violation of the Terms of Services. )
Yep, I agree with both those points. Just like taking cheap shots at Achaea doesn't make their games any better, though it does help Achaea out with publicity, thanks very much.
Only if they're very close really. Most of our biggest customers cannot compete with our most skilled players. Use golf as an analogy: It doesn't matter how many thousands of dollars I spend on golf clubs. I'm never going to beat Tiger Woods even if he's using a stick he picked up in the woods and I'm using a $10000 set of golf clubs. Does my $10000 set of golf clubs let me beat someone with exactly the same amount of skill as me who doesn't have the $10000 golf clubs? A good percentage of the time, yep, but again, they give me no chance against Tiger Woods, for instance.
Now, our items do give slightly more advantage -in combat- to people, but that's also only one area of the game. In politics, for instance, there is no way to purchase an advantage, because it's -all- about skill. You're either an intelligent, well-spoken, clever person, or you're not. No amount of monster bashing is going to change who you are. In roleplaying, there's no way to gain an "advantage" (as if roleplaying is competitive to begin with) by purchasing anything.
So then, you'd also be opposed to a world that rewards time instead of skill? If so, you've basically eliminated all diku-style muds, at least in terms of their loot n' level gameplay aspects.
If all you're interested in is skill, I have to wonder why you're playing muds. Go play Quake or chess, where just about the only determining factor for competitive success is skill, not time or money.
Your post automatically assumes that virtual worlds must be competitive games. This is an invalid assumption really, as many, many players don't play for competitive reasons. How does it hurt you if I purchase a house, for instance? It doesn't. Are we just talking about simple jealousy here? I mean, what do you care if someone else in the world is included in a special RP event and you aren't? How does that hurt you? If inclusion ins your determinant, then why do you tolerate ANY barrier to entry? If you object to someone else in a virtual world participating in something you're not, wouldn't you also object to someone in the real world participating in something you're not (which is how a subscription model works if you don't have the money to pay).
In the end, it's just different strokes for different folks. Many people aren't interested in looking at muds as competitions, and so don't care what other people pay for in time or money. Some look at them as competitions and do, and some look at them as competitions and don't. *shrug* I don't care what model other games use myself. Either they will find players who like their models (and considering the single biggest text muds in the world use the pay-for-privileges model, it's hard to argue that it's an inherently unpopular model) or they won't and they'll fail. I am happy to see all text muds run by responsible admins succeed. As the saying goes, "A rising tide raises all ships."
--matt
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