>Maybe he's already trying!

Oh...good point. I really ought to wear my good glasses.

> I only have an hour a day to game.

Maybe he's already trying! Go girl.. eh guy!

> I'm only out to be among the best.

Then why are you wasting your time with video games? Do you really want to make that million before you're 25? Go big guy!

The time thing is what gets me.


I'm competitive, and like kicking ass. With a MMORPG I need to invest significant time to be impressive, otherwise I'm just a drone.

I only have an hour a day to game. With an action game I can go on, whup ass for 45 minutes, and be the dominant player on the server.


It's not something I complain about, it's the nature of the beast, and why I avoid them. Being one of a few thousand identical characters doesn't interest me. I'm only out to be among the best.

This already happens. They are just legitimatizing it, and making it available to everyone. I see no problem with it. If the game companies were smart, they'd do this themselves and get a cut of the take.

Here is the blog of a guy that is trying to make a living doing this:

http://www.juliandibbell.com/playmoney/index.html

This guy provides some interesting insight.

-TPFKAS2S
http://www.braglio.org

Well said Jeff.

I think time is the biggest factor to succeed in an MMORPG, and no amount of money (or game equipment) can compensate for that. When I used to play EQ, I could only play 20 hours a week, and my friends could play 30 or 40 hours. It wasn't long before I couldn't group with them any more. No amount of in game cash was going to change that. So you have better equipment. Whoopdi Doo! Still can't play with the big dogs.

It's not that big a deal. If someone wants to spend their real dollars for game cash, more power to them, if that is fun for them. If you find it more fun to play the game and earn your rewards, more power to you. It's easy to keep yourself separated from it if you choose to.

-TimK(drekhead)

Pascal said, “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realize that.”

Richest=best, screw that.

Well, except that's not really true. There are a lot of ways to succeed in an MMORPG. Unfortunately, every single one of those ways seems to irk somebody.

You can spend more money than others.
"Dammit! That rewards the rich! I don't want to compete with that!"

You can spend more TIME than others.
"Dammit! That rewards the lazy and jobless! I don't want to compete with college students!"

You can have more FRIENDS than others. (Who will twink your character if you request it.)
"Dammit! That rewards the popular! I can't compete with people who aren't totally off-putting! I got enough of that in High School!"

You can spend more THOUGHT on your character development and read the (numerous) strategy web pages for your given game. Level smart, not necessarily fast.
"Dammit! That rewards people who... um... can read, I guess. DAMMIT!"

Or, lastly, you can just say, "What? There are other people playing this game that are more l33t than ME?!?! Oh. I see. Well, I guess I'll endure." and have fun with the damn game at your own pace in your own way.

It's just not that complicated.

Jeff

Sad.

I think its a crock and its just another reason I wont play MMORPGs. Richest=best, screw that.

This already happens. They are just legitimatizing it, and making it available to everyone. I see no problem with it. If the game companies were smart, they'd do this themselves and get a cut of the take.



-TimK(drekhead)

Pascal said, “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realize that.”

Why would SWG and Ultima allow something like this? That is all we need, real world discretionary spending affecting your leet-hax0r skills in game. Earn the rewards IN-game and enjoy them in-game, otherwise the whole escape of video games will be lost in consumerism.

The BBC puts its context sensitive links on the righthand side of the page, it's hidden under the title "RELATED INTERNET LINKS:"