Comments on: Best thing written about gaming (ever?)

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:29:45 +0000

Subscription games basically parallel the ‘energy’ mechanic, you just don’t get any energy for free. But subscription games typically avoid the ‘pay to speed x up’ transactions.

By: Ephemeron

Ephemeron — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:24:16 +0000

There are a couple of good points in there, but they are sadly buried beneath “numbers are SINISTER, psychology is EVIL” scaremongering. That article could double as a Scientology pamphlet.

By: Xyloxan

Xyloxan — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 02:43:37 +0000

I guess you just didn’t get it. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with companies trying to make money (and shitloads of it). The linked piece is about the methods to make money. The goal justifies the means? Not in my book.

By: xXJayeDuBXx

xXJayeDuBXx — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 16:52:52 +0000

Guess I should turn in my gamer card cause that link was pretty meh. Wow, what a shocker, companies trying to make money from games.

By: Azuriel

Azuriel — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 08:05:47 +0000

It almost sounds as though you are suggesting that the subscription-based model has zero influence on game design. That the way skills are handled does not lead to an optimal configuration of multiple accounts (nevermind the dual-boxed gate scout, Power of 2 promotion, etc etc). Gevlon has 8 subscriptions running concurrently via PLEX, but someone somewhere is financing it. And do you not think CCP would intervene if PLEX prices crashed or skyrocketed for purely logical, in-game reasons?

I agree with Rohan in that it is all a matter of degrees, not kind. CCP may have botched the WiS roll-out, but it isn’t going away – if anything, watch what happens to Aurum once the “F2P” Dust gets released.

By: SynCaine

SynCaine — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 04:00:17 +0000

When you say ‘cash shop’, are you talking about Aurum? The thing CCP added that failed because it had zero impact on the game? That you believe is a different degree from Farmville?

Going to pretend you did not try to compare a sub to a F2P cash shop in terms of driving design and player actions.

By: Azuriel

Azuriel — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 03:52:18 +0000

EVE without PLEX still has a cash shop, and still has a $15/month subscription model. How far away is an in-house economist from an in-house psychologist?

By: SynCaine

SynCaine — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:52:59 +0000

If you removed PLEX, would EVE be a different game?
If you removed the cash shop, would Farmville?

By: Rohan

Rohan — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:41:04 +0000

I find this post ironic in light of the fact that your preferred game is Eve. Eve does the same thing, just on a lesser scale, with PLEX. You have some people who play for free, and others who pay three or four times as much as a normal subscription.

What makes the purchase of PLEX so different from the techniques used in the games described in the article? Sure, those games are more predatory, but it’s a difference of degree, not kind.

By: Trippin Ninja

Trippin Ninja — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:17:13 +0000

Excellent article, thanks for sharing this with us. It’s nice to get a peek inside the industry like this. Pretty close to how I imagined it, glad I have something to confirm my thoughts though. The length didn’t bother me at all.