A pint of milk and a new costumes please
There is much chatter at the moment regarding Real Money Transactions (RMT) AKA microtransactions, this is largely due to hints that Bioware could made SWTOR will be driven solely by RMTs and with no subscriptions. Additionally in the last week other have announced RMTs for other games, SOE has released the Station cash that can used with EQ1 and EQ2, and Blizzard have introduced character remodelling service.
Recently the Shut up we’re talking, Spouse Aggro and Van Hemlock podcasts (via Virginworlds) have all taken time out this week to discuss the topic of RMTs. This lead me into think about the current climate of RMTs and the future potential for the MMO game-space.
I’m told that Eastern MMO games are more frequently Micro-transaction based than Subscription being a complete opposite to the current Western gamer model. Of course it’s not completely new method to generate extra incoming from a game, many have allowed users to buy items like server transfers for many years.
A non-subscription game that has excelled in this area is Guild Wars, allowing for various purchasing options from extra character slots to PvP Skills packs. This appears to be a rather proviductive method to generate income, outside of the Game sales.
Closer to my gaming heart is the recent NCSoft released add-on packs for City of Heroes/Villains, delivering new costume parts and emotes, In addition to allowing the in-game purchase of extra slot options, rename tokens and server transfers.
So how good is the new black?
I’m a fan of RMTs, providing they are balanced, they can generate increased/renewed interest in a game title, plus the other benefit is they give extra revenue to the games owners. Now whether that cash is then injected back into the games development, is down to the company, but either way it’s good tidings for that game in general.
I think that in the current climate of financial uncertainty, any game that is advertised as non-subscription with micro-transactions is certain to gain favour of the masses.
As the changing face of the Western MMO market morphs into a thick-skinned old man, we’ll see that main established games will ramp up their focus on RMTs content to ensure that players gaming experiences are kept fresh.
So i think that providing that it isn’t at the expense of main content development I’m very happy to pay a little extra, to see a game I like, succeed.
Unobtainable Highs
Ask any gamer and they will have favourite title in their gaming history that defines the benchmarks that we apply to each and every game we play. Whether is was in a MMO or just a standard console game, these experiences weave a complex matrix of “ideal” qualities that us gamers tend to seek out in each new game.
It is this normally jaded hindsight that determines how we each evaluate and judge a game.
For example I recently completed the campaign mode on Medal Of Honor Airborne, I really enjoyed the MoH titles before so was quite looking forward to playing this.
There are some wonderful scenes and missions,but I was quite shocked when I finished it in a few sittings.
Once completed I instantly begin to evaluate and comapre it to the original game and to more recent games like Battlefield and Call of Duty.
I’m not a tester or reviewer so I get to cherry-pick only those games I’ve a high chance of enjoying anyway, but many fall short. The first thing that struck me was the duration of the game, I managed to complete it in under 8 hours, which was considerably shorter than the original title. This is a feeling that I got in Call of Duty 4 and thats a big reason for me avoiding COD 5 at this time. One recent exception to the rule was Rainbow Six Vegas which I played last year, that delivered a sizeable chunk of campaign mode game play that wasn’t over in the blink of an eye.
Sadly it seems alot of recent games fall to capture my attention or provide enough enjoyment, well at least for it to match up to my seemingly inflated expectations.
Wednesday night Teaming
Our usual Wednesday group is still fighting the good fight in Paragon City, I thought I’d post a quick recap of our recent adventures over the last 3 weeks.
26 – Nov
After our first task force event we needed a relaxed session and took to some missions in Faultline. This zone is very cool and this was my second time doing missions there. Our fully time Tanker played by Van Hemlock was now earning XP after 2-3 weeks of self-sacrifice by being exemplared down to team with our lower characters.
We also had an unexpected visit by Rockjaw and we were also joined by Andy, who found us via the Limited Edition folks. A rather good time was had by all and we all obtained or edged closer to level 20.
03 – Dec
Last week we decided to unlock the Midnighter Club for the members of our group. This arc fitted perfectly into our teams time restrictions, it’s pretty short set of missions, 2-3 instance missions and a few talk to contacts. The nice part about completing this is that everyone gained a badge as well as access to the Midnighter club. This is handy for 2 reasons, the first isn’t that important until level 35 when you get to travel to Cimerora, the second is rather handy method of hopping between the 3 connecting zone (a hero side only trick).
10 – Dec
This week due to technical problem after the lastest issue release Shuttler wasn’t able to log into the game. We decided to save the planned Task Force until next week and jumped over to the Rogue Isles for a little Villain action. After a little thought we opted to take a run at the first Villain Task force. The Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force is a fairly short and fun task force, and compared to the Positron one it’s a piece of cake.
It also helped that Rachy and I had completed it a few times beforehand.
In the end I think everyone had a good time, which is the underlying aim I guess.
