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KaVir · 01-09-2006, 07:43 AM

No, they could just create a new account each month. They wouldn't even have to discard it - they could bring it back out of stasis once they got another player to pay it for them.

In both cases, in order to play the game fully you need cash invested into your character.

If you don't invest cash into your character, you will not be able to compete with other players. For a mud which focuses on PvP combat that is a pretty severe handicap. The fact that you can get other players to invest that cash for you doesn't make the game 'free'.

No, I believe pay-for-perks muds can be 'free', but not if some of those perks can only be reliably obtained via cash, as is the case with credits. Whether you pay it yourself, or get another player to pay it for you, the fact still remains that in order to play the game competitively you need to invest cash into your character.

According to Zhiroc, it takes around 294 credits to max out a skill. In the example he gave, with 8 major skills and 4 mini-skills, it would take him 3528 credits to max them all. Subtract the 166 you get for playing your way up to the top level and that leaves 3362 credits which someone needs to buy, costing $1022 (enough for 7.8 years of subscription costs for Zhiroc's favourite MMORPG).

That's over a thousand dollars per character, and it has to be paid for by the same customers who are being told that the mud is 'free'. Over 95% of that character's skills will have been trained with cash, funded by customers of the mud. Less than 5% of the character's skills will have come from the player working their way up to the maximum level.

01-09-2006, 07:43 AM	#260
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	No, they could just create a new account each month. They wouldn't even have to discard it - they could bring it back out of stasis once they got another player to pay it for them. In both cases, in order to play the game fully you need cash invested into your character. If you don't invest cash into your character, you will not be able to compete with other players. For a mud which focuses on PvP combat that is a pretty severe handicap. The fact that you can get other players to invest that cash for you doesn't make the game 'free'. No, I believe pay-for-perks muds can be 'free', but not if some of those perks can only be reliably obtained via cash, as is the case with credits. Whether you pay it yourself, or get another player to pay it for you, the fact still remains that in order to play the game competitively you need to invest cash into your character. According to Zhiroc, it takes around 294 credits to max out a skill. In the example he gave, with 8 major skills and 4 mini-skills, it would take him 3528 credits to max them all. Subtract the 166 you get for playing your way up to the top level and that leaves 3362 credits which someone needs to buy, costing $1022 (enough for 7.8 years of subscription costs for Zhiroc's favourite MMORPG). That's over a thousand dollars per character, and it has to be paid for by the same customers who are being told that the mud is 'free'. Over 95% of that character's skills will have been trained with cash, funded by customers of the mud. Less than 5% of the character's skills will have come from the player working their way up to the maximum level.