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Zhiroc · 01-05-2006, 10:16 AM

OK, I'll grant you that, but they all do revolve around credits, not IC actions in the game for the most part.
These take RL OOC talent to do. I haven't the talent, nor the inclination to do art, poetry, or prose.
So OK, you can work for a game and get paid for it. To me, time is money. I'd value mine at at least $50/hour.
You can't seriously count on luck as a mechanism to fund advancement, can you?
Depending how they're given away, this might at least by an IC thing. But still, winning events is not something you can control.
Being a guide is a valuable and worthwhile activity, and those who spend their time doing should be compensated. However, again this is compensation for time spent.

Remember, I am not against pay-to-play. I do it all the time. I bought Aetolia credits, and if I kept playing, would do so again. I simply maintain that it should be considered something more than pay-for-perks and perhaps a little less than pay-to-play.

I also maintain that the games do not adequately document up front the amount a player might be expected to pay. The normal pay-to-play game model uses a nice, predictable, and documented fee structure.

The sneaky part is in grabbing new players, who don't know, and actually can't tell from game docs how much they will be paying. So let's do a back of the envelope calculation. My guild has a doc telling you that it will take 294 credits (about 1750 lessons, I don't remember precisely) to trans a skill. Is that documented anywhere in the help files? No (at least I'm pretty sure not in Aetolia--I never found it). Why not? I hope it isn't to keep new players from figuring out the payment required if you choose to buy the credits.

Let's see: I have 8 major skills. Let's add in 4 extra mini-skills for a total of 12. That would take 3528 credits to trans them all. Subtract the 166 credit-equivalent you get for getting level 100 (1000 lessons / 6). So that's 3362 credits. Current prices on the site, for buying 2000 + 1500 credits is $1022 (getting only 3400 credits only saves you $7, so might as well get the extras).

You know, I only spend $131/year on my graphical MMORPG, which is a rather typical cost for a 12-month sub. By the way, the above amount is therefore 7.8 years of subscription costs for my MMORPG. So this is not a small amount of change. And note, the above is all for advancement. No perks here.

This somewhat reminds me of those "free" contests you can enter, that then begin to send you puzzles where you can buy hints/word lists/etc. to get you the best scores.

I'm not saying it isn't worth it--that determination is for the player. I'm also not saying that you can't find ways to get "free" credits, though I don't consider the examples above good general mechanisms (where your "free" play generates them--only grinding for cash to buy credits fits that bill, and in that case, you're likely buying credits someone else has bought).

01-05-2006, 10:16 AM	#166
Zhiroc Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 92	OK, I'll grant you that, but they all do revolve around credits, not IC actions in the game for the most part. These take RL OOC talent to do. I haven't the talent, nor the inclination to do art, poetry, or prose. So OK, you can work for a game and get paid for it. To me, time is money. I'd value mine at at least $50/hour. You can't seriously count on luck as a mechanism to fund advancement, can you? Depending how they're given away, this might at least by an IC thing. But still, winning events is not something you can control. Being a guide is a valuable and worthwhile activity, and those who spend their time doing should be compensated. However, again this is compensation for time spent. Remember, I am not against pay-to-play. I do it all the time. I bought Aetolia credits, and if I kept playing, would do so again. I simply maintain that it should be considered something more than pay-for-perks and perhaps a little less than pay-to-play. I also maintain that the games do not adequately document up front the amount a player might be expected to pay. The normal pay-to-play game model uses a nice, predictable, and documented fee structure. The sneaky part is in grabbing new players, who don't know, and actually can't tell from game docs how much they will be paying. So let's do a back of the envelope calculation. My guild has a doc telling you that it will take 294 credits (about 1750 lessons, I don't remember precisely) to trans a skill. Is that documented anywhere in the help files? No (at least I'm pretty sure not in Aetolia--I never found it). Why not? I hope it isn't to keep new players from figuring out the payment required if you choose to buy the credits. Let's see: I have 8 major skills. Let's add in 4 extra mini-skills for a total of 12. That would take 3528 credits to trans them all. Subtract the 166 credit-equivalent you get for getting level 100 (1000 lessons / 6). So that's 3362 credits. Current prices on the site, for buying 2000 + 1500 credits is $1022 (getting only 3400 credits only saves you $7, so might as well get the extras). You know, I only spend $131/year on my graphical MMORPG, which is a rather typical cost for a 12-month sub. By the way, the above amount is therefore 7.8 years of subscription costs for my MMORPG. So this is not a small amount of change. And note, the above is all for advancement. No perks here. This somewhat reminds me of those "free" contests you can enter, that then begin to send you puzzles where you can buy hints/word lists/etc. to get you the best scores. I'm not saying it isn't worth it--that determination is for the player. I'm also not saying that you can't find ways to get "free" credits, though I don't consider the examples above good general mechanisms (where your "free" play generates them--only grinding for cash to buy credits fits that bill, and in that case, you're likely buying credits someone else has bought).