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Old 05-10-2008, 09:15 PM   #46
Disillusionist
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 83
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Re: What Does "Fair" Mean?

Not precisely a structure I've ever seen in reality. The game is free to most, but some -must- pay? You're right, it's not fair. However, the actual condition discussed is 'must pay if they don't want to put in the same work as someone who does not pay and want a shortcut'. It is -exceptionally- unfair if that shortcut's goal is available to only one player set.

By 'the game is open to anyone', do you mean that every feature available to non-payers is available to payers? You can either spend time and work for the perk, or is it only 'open' to payers? If not, I can't imagine on what planet that would be 'fair'.

I used to have that attitude. "I can outspend you. Tough luck." It's not about whether the game is FREE or CHEAP. It's about whether everyone pays the same, or pays in an equitable tradeoff. It's about equitability. I don't have a problem if everyone is charged a flat fee, even if that fee is half the lotto. This isn't an infantile rant of the haves over the have-nots.

You can call it fair for a month. It doesn't make it so. I -would- leave a game with a structure of pay-only-perks, not because of the money, but because of the unfairness.

When you consider that it's by no means really a time-versus-money issue, as in the following example:
Player A logs in for the first time. He hasn't paid for perks. He just wants to check the game out.
Player B logs in for the first time. He's got a ton of money to throw around, so he checks all the boxes, and bills his card. Voila, two people step out of the chargen, already imbalanced.

Player A sets about hunting. He's got some experience with gaming, and does just fine.
Player B sets about hunting, but he's in another area where the mobs are tougher, or he's ripping through the same area twice as fast.
And at some point, the same two players end up in PvP. One has an unfair advantage. Even if they're both in their first day.
How much clearer does the unfairness need to be?

As far as winning the lotto, I'd love to. There's a fine example of how to make this fair. (sarcasm).
In other words, the odds of making the game fair are roughly a half trillion to one. If there are perks offered to one set for money that are not offered to another for time, I agree, it's a real long-odds stretch that it could be construed as fair. Then again, I don't think this is about fairness any more.

Last edited by Disillusionist : 05-10-2008 at 09:26 PM. Reason: typos and content
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