The Nature of Micro Transactions: Setting an Example

This post will take the form of a letter.

Dear Blizzard Entertainment,

You guys have a lot of money, everyone and their virtual dog knows this. I can say that there are three absolutes to everyday life in America today: people will be born, people will die, and you will make a ridiculous amount of money. Even through this so-called economic downturn you have continued to turn a profit. The entertainment industry has shown itself to once again be bullet proof. You good folks have so much money, in fact, that you have the ability to develop not one, not two, not three, but four projects at once (that we know of). You have essentially blazed the way for the mmo genre in the last five years. You make a move and most other developers in the industry take notice and generally follow suit in a similar fashion. So that is why I'm writing this, to ask you to take a stand on a certain issue: micro transactions.

Recently you threw down all guises and introduced full-on RMT into World of Warcraft in the form of vanity pets. You priced these two pets at $10 a piece. Charitable benefits not withstanding, I believe this is entirely too much to charge for a permanent in game item. That is not to say that you were not well within your rights to charge that amount; by all means, charge $100 if you think people will pay (god knows, someone is buying those beer steins). All I'm saying is that it is not ethical to charge so much for an in game item. And this is where setting an industry example comes in to play.

We are a capitalist country and by no means do I begrudge you your fair profit. I'll be the first person to pay that monthly fee to keep you folks in business, so that you can continue to turn out amazingly fun content. However, there is a certain line of what it is okay to charge and what it is not okay to charge that has been crossed and so we come to the $10 Horse Problem.

First lets break down the phrase at the heart of the issue.

Micro - something "very small"

Transaction - "An exchange or trade, as of ideas, money, goods, etc."

In our instance we get a very small trade of goods and money; perhaps even of ideas because the point of RMT is to increase the amount of fun one has.

However, ten dollars can do a number of things that are in no way "very small". It can fill my stomach for an evening. It can fill half my gas tank for a week long commute, and it can pay two thirds of a month's subscription to your online game. You would certainly agree that, at the very least, the last example is no small thing.

But that's really the heart of the problem here, you have let those dollar signs get in the way of better judgment and would probably care more about me keeping up my subscription than getting to school for the week. It's the ever-popular 'principle of the thing': don't gouge your customers and they will like you more. When they like you more, they will spend more. More people benefit from a $1 horse than benefit from a $10 horse. And the all important 'me' (in this case Blizzard) loses nothing because we are not dealing with physical products; sell five or five billion, it does not matter because every cent is pure profit. Yes, I very much believe in micro transactions because by their very nature they are inexpensive to the consumer, while also being profitable when introduced to a large enough group of people, in this case eleven million.

So, we come to this 'example' that I've been yapping about. And by example, I mean if you embrace the 'micro' in micro transaction then you will have the distinct possibility of maintaining your choke hold as industry leader. By lowering the barrier to entry you open up not just your own game, but the entire genre to a wider group of people. As I said, when you do something, others follow suit. When you lower prices, other RMT utilizing games must do the same or face the prospect of charging more that WoW. So, let's think long-term here:

Less expensive = more consumers, more consumers + time = more money

Micro transactions are indeed the future and the first game to fully realize that will be one to claim those tens of millions of waiting American gamers and the spot as the month after month best seller. Whether it is you, Blizzard, is entirely up to you at this moment. I just hope that all the current money and popularity has not made you so lazy and resistant to change that it ends you.

Thank you for your time,

-Max

I'm in a creative writing class and for our final semester grade we have to turn in five original poems. I just wrote this limerick and think it would be a shame to not include.

Condoms are made from polyurethane
Which, to the environment, can be quite a pain
So when you put out
You will be a gentleman, no doubt
And not throw them from a car, plane, or train.


Any thoughts, suggestions?

-Max

Off Topic: Fall Edition

I know, I haven't done much posting in the recent weeks; things at school have really picked up. However, a cold front just blew through Texas, so it put me in the mood to do a post on the Fall, so far its been a damn good one.

My dad and I are pretty big football fans (Go Cowboys!) so every Sunday at our house has been a party. We've been making a literal ton of snacks (chips & queso, salsa, vegetable dippers, mini burgers, cheese stuffed jalapenos, pigs in a blanket, hot wings, grilled shrimp, pizza, to name a few) and then sit down to watch six hours of football with family. It's great. I can't honestly say I've enjoyed my Sundays September through December more than I currently am. Looking forward to Sunday really helps to balance out all the anxiety that builds the other six days of the week.

This Sunday looks to be just as wonderful. Like I said, a cold front blew through last night so it's 67 and dry, a rare condition where I live. It makes our normally grumpy dogs happy.

Also, if you haven't heard, be sure to check by Beau Turkey's Spouse Aggro page today through 9AM tomorrow. He and his wife Leala are doing the Extra Life 24 Hours of gaming to raise money to help the Texas Children's Hospital. A worthier cause there is not. Give if you can!

Back in the summer I was glued to my computer all weekend when some guys were doing a Mario Marathon to raise money for a Penny Arcade Charity. These 24 hour gaming extravaganzas can be pretty addicting to watch.

Lastly: music. Of course!

I can't stop listening to a song called "Lust For Life" (no not that Lust for Life) by the band Girls. There's a free download floating around the internet, somewhere. These guys are the next big thing.

My friend also turned me on to a free downloadable mix called LSTN that Urban Outfitters puts out every once in a while. Like I always say: There is no music better than free music! I've found that mixes 2 and 4 have the most consistently good songs.

And because Pitchfork named it their number one album of the 2000's I finally went to Best Buy and picked up Kid A by Radiohead (for under $1!). They are my favorite band and I'd pretty much run out of excuses for not owning what most people consider to be their greatest album. Suffice it to say, all praise is well deserved and the album is perfect.

Well, anyway. Enjoy your Fall!

-Max

It being Fall, I am in search of a good, light fantasy novel. I'm currently re-reading Dragons of Autumn Twilight for the billionth time. But, if anyone has a suggestion send it my way. I'll probably be getting the new R.A. Salvatore novel soon too, though this latest series has been somewhat of a disappointment.

...what?

Just heard Aion described as a "next-gen mmo."

Still trying to figure out just what that means. Any takers?

Couldn't Help Myself

I was reading this interview on Gamespot with one of the designers of The Old Republic about how they (no surprise) want to cater to soloers and I get to the bottom and see this one, lone comment:

"In the last couple of months playing EQ2 I never grouped with anyone... most likely because there are relatively few groups that aren't guild affiliated. Same goes with WoW... I spent 95% of my time soloing. After awhile the repetitive gameplay gets boring and I quit... lets face it... MMO's are nothing but glorified chatrooms with simplistic gameplay. Guess I don't have leet chat skills :/"

I know this is more of the same: former mmo players who burned out and now love to bitch about how bad or boring the games are, but it's also just really funny. As much as I'm constantly disturbed by people who hate on this genre for no decent reason, that comment gave me a chuckle.

In other, sad news: Dungeon Runners is closing. NC Soft is doing what they do best and shutting down another game. I don't know how successful this game ever was, but I do have some fond memories of it being a good hack-n-slash free to play game. The art style took its cues from WoW and the gameplay was a take on Diablo, plus it had a really over the top sense of humor, which was refreshing. As with any game, I'll be sad to see it go.

Finally, I'd like to direct anyone and everyone's attention over to Game Breakr the new podcast by Gary Gannon. He launched it this week at the Austin GDC and had a live feed going at UStream with guests ranging from developers to Virgin Worlds folks. A good time was had by all who watched. (Especially those of us who scored some free swag. I was lucky enough to win a Plantronics headset!!) So be sure to check him out, I think he's starting to do weekly podcast shows next week.

-Max

Good Old Fashioned Nightmare by Matt & Kim
Amazing song - enjoy!

DDOU First Week Impressions

Last week saw the re-release of Dungeons & Dragons: Online, a game that has been on my radar for some time. I've probably mentioned this before, but when I was looking for my first mmo, DDO was one that caught my interest, however I was never a subscriber. The announcement that it was going free to play, though, meant that I really had no excuse for not playing it anymore. So, it went live last week as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Unlimited (Eberron Stormreach blah blah blah) and on Friday night I used their little quick start downloader to jump right in. I haven't made it past the starter town, but wow I have really enjoyed my time there, so far.

With the flood of new players coming to the game, myself included, I just thought I'd draw up a short list of Likes and Dislikes. Bear in mind, it's the small things that matter.

Likes:

• Run Speed - This was may be the first thing I actually noticed about the game. After talking to that little thief on the beach I began to try out movement...and immediately stopped. I had hit W and before I knew it was halfway up the hill to the encampment. Your running is more like sprinting. Apparently every adventurer in the D&D universe has the athleticism of Usain Bolt and at lower levels, before mounts come into play, this is an excellent thing.
  


• Journey vs. Destination - The focus of this game is very squarely on adventuring and exploration. True to its license the game puts an emphasis on story and the journey you take to accomplish a task. Yeah, beating a dungeon boss is great, but just exploring all the instanced areas is a ton of fun for an exploration junkie like myself.
  


• DM Voice Over - This might actually be my single favorite feature of the game. I'd even go so far as to say that every fantasy mmo needs to have narration like this. This goes along with what I said previously about journey and adventuring. It feels so much more immersive and epic, as if you were reading a book.
  


• Integrated Voice Chat - I'll just show how much of a noob I am and say that I never used voice chat in an mmo until I grouped with some people in this game. I know vent and teamspeak are considered the programs to use, but for casual folks like me this is a great feature. It seems that every big budget mmo *cough* WoW *cough* needs to have this feature.
  


• Climbing/Vertical Movement - Look, my avatar realized he has arms...and they aren't just for swinging a sword! Apparently vertical movement doesn't have to be limited to walking up steps or the side of a mountain...who knew?!
  


• Graphics - Unfortunately, my main gaming machine for the time being is a Dell Inspiron laptop with an integrated graphics card, so not a whole lot runs on it, or runs well on it. WoW runs so-so at low settings, Guild Wars the same, Free Realms actually runs something awful unless I crank down all the settings and stay away from high pop. areas. DDOU, however, runs great! Even with the settings on medium to high it still runs smooth and doesn't look half bad. That's big points in my book.
  


• Knows its Name - It's incredible how many games don't follow through on the promise of their name, you would think it's such a simple task. In DDOU you wake up ship wrecked on the shore, look up into the sky and you will see a dragon (check one) flying overhead. Follow the path up past the encampment and you enter a dungeon (check two) for the starting/training area. The game designers aren't wasting my time and for that I applaud them.
  


• Plenty of People - Obviously, this is mostly due to the free re-release and I don't know how large the community was before last week (although I could guess it was much smaller), but I hope the population stays high. A game this good deserves to be played by as many people as possible.

• Instances - As always, there are pros and cons to heavily instanced games like this, but what I really like are the details and options DDO gives you about its instancing. When you click to go into a dungeon a screen pops up asking if you want it set for 'solo', 'normal', 'hard', or 'elite' difficulty and tells you very roughly how long the instance will take. This is good for those (like myself) who have a more pop-in and out playstyle.
  

• IT'S FREE! - No one can argue that free isn't a good thing, especially in the case of this game. I would probably never have played it otherwise and now I'm even thinking of giving Turbine a bit of my money. If I wasn't so busy and could devote more time to the game with a steady group then they might even be able to pull the monthly sub out of me. Free to play and RMT are very obviously the way of the future for online games and Turbine seem to realize this. I wish this game nothing but success and hope that other companies see DDO as the start of big budget games going free to play with plenty of payment options.

Dislikes:

• Class Difficulties - At least the game is up front about it. From the start of the character and class creation menu they let you know that some classes are better and some worse in trying to solo stuff. Unfortunately, and probably accurately, caster classes do not fare well by themselves. Sadly, I'm partial to mages so I rolled a Wizard out of the gate and have been running when a group of more than four mobs comes after me. Even at the solo difficulty setting I've still been getting steamrolled by those damn Soughagan. At least I run like a championship track star.


• Instances - As I said above, there are pros and cons to instancing. Aside from the towns (and even within some towns) this game comprises a metric ton of instances. In this respect it could easily be Guild Wars with a different coat of paint. Even though it goes against the idea of the IP, I just can't help but wonder what this game would have been like as a persistent world.
  


• Complicated as Hell - I've never actually played a game of D&D so when I looked at my character sheet for the first time I was totally overwhelmed by all those stats. How does each stat affect how my character players? How do they determine the number of spells I'm allowed to memorize? How do I learn new spells? What is the story on action points and should I be spending them down a certain lane similar to Talent Points? These are just a few of the questions flooding my head whenever I look at the character sheet.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the game...and if you, for some crazy reason, have not downloaded this game yet, then what are you waiting for? It's free! That last part really cannot be stressed enough. This is an excellent game.

If anyone wants to group up sometime, I can be found on the Khyber server with the rest of the MMO Voices folks. My character is named Maxian Flaco.

-Max

School, Among Other Things

Hi.

Sorry for the prolonged silence. My fall classes started a couple weeks ago so I've been pretty busy with those. I'm taking creative writing and that has sort of been sapping up all my will to write anything.

I haven't been playing much either, just two games. Although, I have been greatly enjoying just those two, so that's all that matters. The first one is a browser based mmo called Ikariam. Beau over at MMO Voices organized it as the current site-wide game, so (mostly) because there was no download I decided to be social and give it a shot. It has definitely reawakened my inner colonial and town builder. Back in the sixth grade my junior high had drawings every Friday during lunch for random prizes. It was mostly stupid stuff like pencils and knick knack-y things, but every once in a while they would have fun stuff like an (original) Xbox or stereo or something. On a particular Friday one of the lesser prizes was a little game called 1602 A.D. I put all of my tickets, which was like five, in to this one drawing and ended up winning. I get the feeling no one else actually entered. It was their loss; this game was awesome. To sum it up simply - and it was a pretty simple game - you colonized islands. There were certain mission goals you could achieve, or you could just play until the game stopped finding crap to throw at your settlers, or all your settlers died. I mostly played the later kind of game. I love these kind of "sit and knit" games where you throw out some instructions every once in a while and watch what happens. This is pretty much what Ikariam is only it's in a Greek setting and even slower paced. If you want to find me I'm on the U.S Iota server (there are Brit and U.S. servers and they don't tell you there's a difference) at the coordinates 63:61, my town's name is Solarium.

The other game I've been playing is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I've had this game forever - and yes I know there's a sequel out now - but I've never bothered beating it. So, I thought I'd just start over and see how far I could get on this long weekend. So far I have killed tens...of hundreds of rats, ha.

Anyway, I hope all is well and I will probably be back sometime in the near future, hopefully to finish up one of those two-part articles I started a while back.

-Max