|
Perhaps I take a too simplistic view to all this, but to me this seems much ado about nothing. To me, TMS is a list of MU*s that people like enough to vote for, the ones at the top of the list just have more people that like them. Some MU*s will never reach the top of the list because they don't have the large player base. This doesn't necessarily mean it's not a good MU*, it could just be that the admin of that particular game prefers a smaller player base. Basic rule of thumb, if you like MU*s with lots of players browse through the top of list, for MU*s with smaller player bases, start further down the list. In the end, the decision by a potential player to stay or leave a MU* will have nothing to do with what position the MU* is on the TMS list, it will be whether they like the MU* or not.
As for so-called "cheating", I don't think anything done by Achaea could be called cheating, it has been said time and time again that there is no rule against it. So they have encouraged players to vote, anyone on the list has done a similar thing, even if only by way of having the voting button on their web site. The way I see it, if the system Achaea uses annoys their players too much, the players will leave and then they wouldn't have the large player base to get the large number of votes. In the end it is the player's decision to vote or not, if they like the game they will continue to play and vote, if they don't like the game they will leave regardless of what position the MU* is on the TMS list.
On pay-to-play MU*s in whatever form the service provided for payment takes, if these games are so evil, why do so many people play them? Again, it is the player's choice as to whether they are prepared to pay a fee to get what they want, nobody is forcing them to play. I like the idea of having the $ symbol to indicate pay-to-play MU*s, not to single them out, but as a service to people visiting the list, some people are just not willing or able to pay to play an MU*. To identify what is pay-to-play and what is not, I suggest any MU*s that offers something in return for a fee is pay-to-play in some form or another. I also find it difficult to understand how anyone could say these MU*s are not part of the community, with such a large number of people playing them they can be and most likely are a valuable source of ideas for others in the community.
|