Goblin Squad Member
|
I also imagine PFO will support transferring characters from one account to another, just like most other games do.I think I've only played one MMO that allowed that... You and I must have very different gaming experience.
Hrm, doing the research now, maybe it's not as many as I thought.
SWG did it. WoW does it. Eve does it. LOTRO says "not at this time, but stay tuned."
I wouldn't be surprised if PFO supports it, but I can easily see it being very low priority.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I was saying that it will be possible to sell accounts, even if it's against the license agreement. And that I imagine they'll support character transfers, in which case it will be possible to sell characters even if it's against the license agreement.
Having done the research about which games actually support transferring a character from one account to another, I'm less confident they'll support that any time soon.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I think it's inevitable. But the mechanic to do it may not be something we build for a long time. Players will clearly do it on a gray market no matter what so the sooner we implement a secure system for doing it the better.
The more inevitable transaction you implement in game reduces the incentive for the grey market to exploit your game! I hope you build as many into the launch structure as possible! I hate gold farmers and account hackers...
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
The danger to any MMO is the individuals with large amounts of both time and money.
The classic example is some unfortunate individual who due to an accident/injury is house bound or confined to a wheel chair and at the same time has received vast amounts of money in insurance compensation. In some games individuals like this can have minimal game knowledge/skills and just dominate entirely through being online 24/7 with real life money to burn on addons.
So far the proposals for PFO go some way towards limiting the effect these people can have. The power curve is slow building and the gold curve seems to be less relevant than usual.
Sure someone could invest in training a toon for 6 months without allocating skills and then sell it at a profit to someone else wanting a head-start - but the purchaser would not be gaining any advantage over a legitimate player who just started 6 months earlier.
|
CEO, Goblinworks
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
@Neadenil Edam - I fail to see how someone with a lot of time & money is a problem.
The problem is that RMT is a business filled with criminals. They make as much (or more) money from infecting your computer with malware and using it as a part of a botnet, or keyloggers to steal your identity than they do selling virtual gold & goods.
They are a plague on the MMO business because of the unending customer service hassles they cause. People who blame the game software for their problems who are shocked to discover they're running boxes so contaminated with scary bad stuff they should be put into biohazard containment. People complaining that their accounts have been hacked, their credit cards charged without authorization, and worse. All because some folks want to use real money to make playing their chosen game more fun, and the makers of those games try to erect artificial barriers to letting them do that.
The money isn't the problem. The time isn't the problem. The criminals are the problem.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
@Neadenil Edam - I fail to see how someone with a lot of time & money is a problem.
The problem is that RMT is a business filled with criminals. They make as much (or more) money from infecting your computer with malware and using it as a part of a botnet, or keyloggers to steal your identity than they do selling virtual gold & goods.
They are a plague on the MMO business because of the unending customer service hassles they cause. People who blame the game software for their problems who are shocked to discover they're running boxes so contaminated with scary bad stuff they should be put into biohazard containment. People complaining that their accounts have been hacked, their credit cards charged without authorization, and worse. All because some folks want to use real money to make playing their chosen game more fun, and the makers of those games try to erect artificial barriers to letting them do that.
The money isn't the problem. The time isn't the problem. The criminals are the problem.
Ryan I agree completely! I encourage you to build every type of RMT into the game client and keep the criminals out of PO!
Goblinworks Executive Founder
|
Tradeable training time will be available for cash. Coin will be available for training time. Just about everything in-game will be available for coin.
Just about every item can be acquired for money through legitimate channels. Grey market channels will have to beat that exchange rate to get any business, cutting into the profitability of the criminals.
Transferring characters is an interesting angle; if permitted, will there be a large number of placeholder characters collecting XP for resale?
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
So does this mean that you're going to break the usual formula, and allow players to sell accounts and/or characters? As that's the real question of this thread.@Neadenil Edam - I fail to see how someone with a lot of time & money is a problem.
The problem is that RMT is a business filled with criminals. They make as much (or more) money from infecting your computer with malware and using it as a part of a botnet, or keyloggers to steal your identity than they do selling virtual gold & goods.
They are a plague on the MMO business because of the unending customer service hassles they cause. People who blame the game software for their problems who are shocked to discover they're running boxes so contaminated with scary bad stuff they should be put into biohazard containment. People complaining that their accounts have been hacked, their credit cards charged without authorization, and worse. All because some folks want to use real money to make playing their chosen game more fun, and the makers of those games try to erect artificial barriers to letting them do that.
The money isn't the problem. The time isn't the problem. The criminals are the problem.
I'll answer that with a quote. emphisis mine.
I think it's inevitable. But the mechanic to do it may not be something we build for a long time. Players will clearly do it on a gray market no matter what so the sooner we implement a secure system for doing it the better.
I know it was mentioned that if they ever added player created modules (content) that they might sell this content in the RMT store and split the profit with players. So why not regulate selling characters, sell them in the RMT store and split that profit with players as well? It's just a wild thought and I might well be missing many things that make this impossible.