TalonBot
12-12-2008, 12:32 PM
Filed under: Patches (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/patches/), Odds and ends (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/odds-and-ends/), Blizzard (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/blizzard/), Making money (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/making-money/), Wrath of the Lich King (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/wrath-of-the-lich-king/), WoW TCG (http://www.wowinsider.com/category/wow-tcg/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2008/02/zz7528f231.jpg
Real-money trading (http://notadiary.typepad.com/mysticworlds/2008/02/eve-online-sanc.html) is one of the most debated aspects of MMO gaming at large -- some games don't actually charge a monthly fee, and instead what they do is sell ingame items for real world money (http://www.massively.com/2008/07/07/planet-cazmo-adds-rmt-and-sees-upswing-in-user-traffic/). Want that hot sword for your character? Put in your credit card and pay up. Blizzard, obviously, has never really subscribed to the idea, since a lot of players think it's unfair (http://www.massively.com/2008/05/19/south-korean-judge-defends-rmt/) to make how much money you have in the real world a part of the game you play. Nevertheless, there is a lot of money to be made in selling virtual items for real money, and Blizzard has come up with their own form of RMT in terms of server transfers (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/11/pve-to-pvp-paid-transfers-now-available/), name changes (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/10/character-re-customization-available-for-a-small-fee/), and now gender changes (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/10/character-re-customization-available-for-a-small-fee/) as well.
Blizzard has rules for their RMT, though, and Zarhym lays a few of them out (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=13393781451&sid=1): they won't charge for any item that means anything in game -- cosmetic items and looks are fair game, but actual gear or "integral services" (whatever that means exactly) is a no for them. They won't charge for anything that was free before, so creating up to 10 characters on a realm, for example, will always come with the subscription (though adding more may eventually be possible with an extra charge). And Blizzard's RMT comes as a game mechanic itself -- they choose to charge for things not just because there's a cost for them, but also to "curb their frequency," to keep all players from doing them all the time.
It's an interesting idea, and it's definitely a lot more player-friendly than charging for things like, say, horse armor (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/03/download-oblivions-horse-armor-for-a-price/). You could also argue, of course, that something like the WoW TCG (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/WoW/en/) is also a kind of RMT scheme, since you have to pay real money for real cards to get in-game items (even though Blizzard has made sure those items are cosmetic as well). But paying for transfers and changes is a little sneakier -- Blizzard is slowly wading into RMT, so far successfully dodging all the sharks in the water.http://www.wowinsider.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.wowinsider.com)Blizzard's version of RMT (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/) originally appeared on WoW Insider (http://www.wowinsider.com) on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1399560/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/#comments)
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WowInsider/~3/483001775/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2008/02/zz7528f231.jpg
Real-money trading (http://notadiary.typepad.com/mysticworlds/2008/02/eve-online-sanc.html) is one of the most debated aspects of MMO gaming at large -- some games don't actually charge a monthly fee, and instead what they do is sell ingame items for real world money (http://www.massively.com/2008/07/07/planet-cazmo-adds-rmt-and-sees-upswing-in-user-traffic/). Want that hot sword for your character? Put in your credit card and pay up. Blizzard, obviously, has never really subscribed to the idea, since a lot of players think it's unfair (http://www.massively.com/2008/05/19/south-korean-judge-defends-rmt/) to make how much money you have in the real world a part of the game you play. Nevertheless, there is a lot of money to be made in selling virtual items for real money, and Blizzard has come up with their own form of RMT in terms of server transfers (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/11/pve-to-pvp-paid-transfers-now-available/), name changes (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/10/character-re-customization-available-for-a-small-fee/), and now gender changes (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/10/character-re-customization-available-for-a-small-fee/) as well.
Blizzard has rules for their RMT, though, and Zarhym lays a few of them out (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=13393781451&sid=1): they won't charge for any item that means anything in game -- cosmetic items and looks are fair game, but actual gear or "integral services" (whatever that means exactly) is a no for them. They won't charge for anything that was free before, so creating up to 10 characters on a realm, for example, will always come with the subscription (though adding more may eventually be possible with an extra charge). And Blizzard's RMT comes as a game mechanic itself -- they choose to charge for things not just because there's a cost for them, but also to "curb their frequency," to keep all players from doing them all the time.
It's an interesting idea, and it's definitely a lot more player-friendly than charging for things like, say, horse armor (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/03/download-oblivions-horse-armor-for-a-price/). You could also argue, of course, that something like the WoW TCG (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/WoW/en/) is also a kind of RMT scheme, since you have to pay real money for real cards to get in-game items (even though Blizzard has made sure those items are cosmetic as well). But paying for transfers and changes is a little sneakier -- Blizzard is slowly wading into RMT, so far successfully dodging all the sharks in the water.http://www.wowinsider.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.wowinsider.com)Blizzard's version of RMT (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/) originally appeared on WoW Insider (http://www.wowinsider.com) on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/) | Email this (http://www.wowinsider.com/forward/1399560/) | Comments (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/12/12/blizzards-version-of-rmt/#comments)
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WowInsider/~3/483001775/)