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DCUO Source Presents, The Dungeon:
A Farmer's Life
Hello Sourcers! In this edition of the Dungeon we'll take a look the bane of MMO players everywhere, Gold Farmers.
Quick...for any old school MMO players....what's the number one problem affecting your favorite game? Some of you may have said Nerfs, O.P. Classes or Grinding, but a nearly universal majority will probably state: Gold Farmers! For those who don't know, what is a Gold Farmer? And Why are they so hated?
Gold Farmers are player characters who actively perform repetitive tasks that earn monetary credit or items of value in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game. This could be as simple as earning currency by exploiting aspects of a game or by repeatedly performing menial tasks to gather stocks of valuables in the game. Gold farmers then attempt to sell these items for Real World Money. Many gold farmers work for large-scale companies who offer the sale of in-game currency and valuable items, but also high-level accounts and even offering to "Power Level" a character, effectively doing all of the "work" for a player who simply wants to play the endgame of an MMO.
The problem with Gold farmers is dual-fold. The first issue is the irritation for players. Gold farmers frequently take items that other players may be seeking for legitimate uses such as quests, increasing players' wait and frustration for items or Non-player characters on a respawn timer. In addition, players' in-game communication is constantly affected. Companies trying to sell the gold that they've farmed are known for sending repeated messages in-game, advertising their services, effectively "spamming" the players. This can come in the form of in-game Mail, direct whispers to each player and General Chat. This is all falls under the irritation that gold farmers and sellers can cause among a particular MMO populace.
The next major area that is affected by Gold farming is each game's virtual economy. The economic balance of a virtual world is a delicate balance. Modern Massively Multiplayer Games have a specific and overt, intentional balance between currency and items. The more money that is available, the more items can cost. So in effect, Gold farming inflates the price of goods sold between players, such as in Auction Houses. Unfortunately, some see the Gold Farming/Selling problem as an inevitablity...Seeing as it is players themselves, although a small percentasge, who perpetuate the businesses and influence them to continue their practices. After all, businesses exist to make money...to prosper and thrive. If players stopped paying for gold...for max level characters....and for power levelling services, then wouldn't the Gold Farmers eventually move to a more profitable business?
Unfortunately, for all of their End User Agreements, MMO publishers have yet to prevent players from purchasing content from theird parties on a large scale to stop the problem.
So what if another tactic is employed?
To date the idea of a triple A quality MMO selling items to players has been sort of taboo. Thus far, most MMO's that have offered microtransactions in lieu of a subscription. In fact, some recent MMO's have forgone the monthly subscription after limited success only to change to free to play and incorporate microtransactions. The in-game items vary from cosmetic changes, to consumable items and even weapons and armor. The response was so impressive from the fans, that the game increased their revenues by 500%. Freerealms, launched with No subscription, but offered microtransactions from the get-go. To date, the game has over 9 Million registered players, and it's believed that nearly half of those players regularly purchase content for the game, including the Trading Card Game which is tied to it.
What if an company attempted a core quality traditional subscription based MMO, yet also incorporated regular microtransactions within the game? What if the players could openly purchase items in a game such as World of Warcraft?
DC Universe Online stands in a unique position. First, with it's business model having yet to be released, there is an excellent opportunity for innovation and surprise. There are no set expectations on how the game will be paid for. And while it's certainly difficult for me to a accept that a game of its caliber and quality could be free-to-play, it's entirely possible that we could see some creativity at work in this department. We could see the advent of a lower tier monthly fee with optional microtransactions available. Or possibly a tiered system which could give players in-game 'credits' to use, based off of the price of their subscription (i.e. $10 sub with 200 points, $15 sub with 500, etc.) to name a few possibilities. The point is, MMO developers and publishers can combat Gold Farming very effectively by controlling the sale of in-game items themselves. With SOE already publishing Freerealms, they have the basic framework with which to implement these microtransactions.
This is but one exploration of a solution to the Gold Farming problem. The idea is that if players could purchase the items directly with real world money, they'd refrain from purchasing money from Gold sellers. But in all reality, this is but one method that MMO publishers have to combat the problem. Only time will tell how SOE will fight this issue in DCUO. All we as future players can do is refuse to be part of the problem.
~Vicious
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| Last Updated on 30 |