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Threshold, May 07 2006,00:20
I think this is one of the examples of the different cultures between a free mud and a commercial one that gives out perks for money.
A player in a free mud would normally assume that by buying a T-shirt from the website, he'd be doing exactly that; buying a T-shirt, no more, no less.
Why? Because nobody ever got any in game advantages for buying T-shirts in a free mud. It just never happens, so it's not expected.
On the other hand a player in a commercial mud would assume that when buying a perk, he'd not only be buying the actual perk, he'd also be buying better treatment from the Admin, in case he got into a conflict with another player, who was not a paying customer.
Why? Because in commercial muds that use the pay-for-perks system, this is how things work. The players that never pay any money for perks may be allowed to play the game 'for free', but they will also be regarded as second rate citizens.
And in case you think I make this up to be mean, here is a quote directly from 'the horse's mouth';
I give you Matthew Mihaly, 17th Feb 2000 on Mud-dev:
See what I mean?
By the way, as for the specific services he mentions, I've seen several free muds where players can buy exactly those things, but of course from in-game currency, not real money.
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