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Zhiroc · 08-28-2007, 01:53 AM

Like I said the IRE system is rather ingenious.

What makes it not free is not that I have to buy something from another player. As you say, every game has an economy. (Edit: I take that back. Most MUDs have an economy. I play MUSHes these days, and most of those have no economy.)

It's that this specific purchase (of credits) is an indirect chain from me to the other player, and then to your company. You make the same amount of money (well, disregarding volume discounts perhaps) if 2 players buy the credits from you, or 1 buys them, and I play for "free" by buying the credits from them with time and effort. It's like a sublease.

Broadcast television is free because I don't have to give a consideration to those entities (the advertisers who fund the stations) in order to watch. But in the IRE games, I must either pay IRE, or give a consideration of in-game gold to another player to advance.

08-28-2007, 01:53 AM	#166
Zhiroc Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 92	Re: What does "Free" Mean? Like I said the IRE system is rather ingenious. What makes it not free is not that I have to buy something from another player. As you say, every game has an economy. (Edit: I take that back. Most MUDs have an economy. I play MUSHes these days, and most of those have no economy.) It's that this specific purchase (of credits) is an indirect chain from me to the other player, and then to your company. You make the same amount of money (well, disregarding volume discounts perhaps) if 2 players buy the credits from you, or 1 buys them, and I play for "free" by buying the credits from them with time and effort. It's like a sublease. Broadcast television is free because I don't have to give a consideration to those entities (the advertisers who fund the stations) in order to watch. But in the IRE games, I must either pay IRE, or give a consideration of in-game gold to another player to advance.