Forums » Suggestions
Are you fucking kidding me??? This isn't some first person shooter where you can just run across an ammo pack or a first aid kit to replenish yourself. This is a sandbox game that is meant to simulate the politics, conflict and economy of a fictitious group of societies in space.
Good thing I'm not a vet and have never cheated =)
So, I normally don't speak up on Suggestions threads to give my opinion, but I have to say I really don't like this idea; it's not because I'm opposed to the devs earning additional revenue (this is a good thing!); it's because I think the real world economy should have nothing to do with Vendetta Online's player economy, other than whether or not you can afford a subscription.
Having a sizable amount of credits now actually means something, thanks to player-manufactured cap ships. This wasn't always the case. Allowing players to buy credits with real world currency doesn't mean more pilots will be hauling cap ship parts: it just means that prices for those parts will go up.
The following videos from Extra Credits do a pretty nice job of explaining the scenario. The first series is on the history of paper money, but it might give someone with no economic schooling a framework to consider. The second is on the problem of hyperinflation that many MMORPG economies face:
https://youtu.be/-nZkP2b-4vo
https://youtu.be/sumZLwFXJqE
As you can easily infer, I think selling Vendetta credits for real world currency would be a terrible thing for the game's economy. It would be similar to what happens in the second half of The Peripheral, if any of you have read William Gibson's latest novel.
Having a sizable amount of credits now actually means something, thanks to player-manufactured cap ships. This wasn't always the case. Allowing players to buy credits with real world currency doesn't mean more pilots will be hauling cap ship parts: it just means that prices for those parts will go up.
The following videos from Extra Credits do a pretty nice job of explaining the scenario. The first series is on the history of paper money, but it might give someone with no economic schooling a framework to consider. The second is on the problem of hyperinflation that many MMORPG economies face:
https://youtu.be/-nZkP2b-4vo
https://youtu.be/sumZLwFXJqE
As you can easily infer, I think selling Vendetta credits for real world currency would be a terrible thing for the game's economy. It would be similar to what happens in the second half of The Peripheral, if any of you have read William Gibson's latest novel.
The arguments that combat pilots /must/ grind trade for credits are erroneous. I have made about 1Bil total from player to player trades, selling Avalons, queen drops, SSS etc. In other words, selling off the rewards of COMBAT. I've done Proc missions for faction standing, but never have I done trade missions specifically to make credits. There are plenty of non-mission methods to make credits.
Selling a gift sub for in game credits seems like no big deal to me. GS made gift subs to allow them to be gifted, trading some in-game credits for them seems fine to me. GS still get revenue either way. If you want to sub a player who can't afford it for some pretend space-bucks, go for it. More subbed players can only be good.
Selling a dent kit, for either RL cash under the table or in-game credits... meh. Don't care too much about that either. The dent kit still had to be made by someone, so the opportunities for piracy were still there. Flying a dent still requires a sub, and some level of skill, as well as in game credits to fit it, replace it etc.
Letting us spend real world cash on fancy bling... now that should be a thing. Special skins, badges, fluffy dice to hang from our rear-view mirrors, even grey names in chat should all be purchasable "no-bonus" goodies for those of us that want reasons to throw cash at GS.
Selling a gift sub for in game credits seems like no big deal to me. GS made gift subs to allow them to be gifted, trading some in-game credits for them seems fine to me. GS still get revenue either way. If you want to sub a player who can't afford it for some pretend space-bucks, go for it. More subbed players can only be good.
Selling a dent kit, for either RL cash under the table or in-game credits... meh. Don't care too much about that either. The dent kit still had to be made by someone, so the opportunities for piracy were still there. Flying a dent still requires a sub, and some level of skill, as well as in game credits to fit it, replace it etc.
Letting us spend real world cash on fancy bling... now that should be a thing. Special skins, badges, fluffy dice to hang from our rear-view mirrors, even grey names in chat should all be purchasable "no-bonus" goodies for those of us that want reasons to throw cash at GS.
Faille++!
Having a sizable amount of credits now actually means something
Yeah it means you don't have to fucking trade to play the game. I heard about all the money making bugs back in the day that were abused.
Bunch old bastards all afraid of change.
Yeah it means you don't have to fucking trade to play the game. I heard about all the money making bugs back in the day that were abused.
Bunch old bastards all afraid of change.
I dislike pay-to-win scenarios, as people know. Also, credits are historically pretty badly inflated as it is.
Still, the reason why EVE and now World of Warcraft allow this, is because they realized they couldn't effectively prevent it. So, faced with something that tended to just go underground when pursued, they instead chose to profit from it.
I'm not advocating for that, but I will say that I understand their decisions.
There may be some.. blended mechanic or design where this makes sense for us. With enough mitigating factors to keep "most transactions legitimate" while also with enough downward pressure to "mitigate runaway inflation". The right mix of convenience and gameplay.
I don't know. But, overall, this is not a priority for me right now. Credits are not difficult to earn, and they're part of the game, and I'm more interested in creating "more of the game" so that we can have more interesting ways of earning them.. than I am in just selling them.
(The fact that I value gameplay balance over monetization probably defines me as a crap businessman. Oh well).
Anyway, I'm not ruling this out, I'm just saying I don't think it's a priority right now.
Still, the reason why EVE and now World of Warcraft allow this, is because they realized they couldn't effectively prevent it. So, faced with something that tended to just go underground when pursued, they instead chose to profit from it.
I'm not advocating for that, but I will say that I understand their decisions.
There may be some.. blended mechanic or design where this makes sense for us. With enough mitigating factors to keep "most transactions legitimate" while also with enough downward pressure to "mitigate runaway inflation". The right mix of convenience and gameplay.
I don't know. But, overall, this is not a priority for me right now. Credits are not difficult to earn, and they're part of the game, and I'm more interested in creating "more of the game" so that we can have more interesting ways of earning them.. than I am in just selling them.
(The fact that I value gameplay balance over monetization probably defines me as a crap businessman. Oh well).
Anyway, I'm not ruling this out, I'm just saying I don't think it's a priority right now.
I'm pretty sure blaqk still owes me 1 billion credits. What does that equate to in game time?
The fact that I value gameplay balance over monetization probably defines me as a crap businessman
No, it just makes you someone that values games for the sake of games.
No, it just makes you someone that values games for the sake of games.
Excactly Phaserlight. VO would be long dead if Inc would be just another greedy businessguy.
Inc, I play a game at work made by apparently successful businessmen. Its called SharePoint, and its so not-fun, other people have to pay me to play it for them. The graphic suck, and it's a total click-fest. Your game is way better. Just keep doing your thing.
Credits are so easy to get in VO and through so many different ways I cant imagine any reason to allow them to be purchased. If you had suggested the purchase of say a trident I might actually agree with it even while thinking you crazy.....
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I dont even need to read ANY comment here.
Three points...
VO is NOT pay to play, and should never be. Subscriptions should not be considered part of this.
Allowing people to pay for in game cash is a ridiculous skew to the game economy.
This is outright wrong. There are players in game who would essentially buy a trident outright by injecting cash... and others who can barely afford the subscription. Teenagers who get it paid by pocket money... And yet in vo, it is a level playing field, all players get the same start. It should stay that way.
Three points...
VO is NOT pay to play, and should never be. Subscriptions should not be considered part of this.
Allowing people to pay for in game cash is a ridiculous skew to the game economy.
This is outright wrong. There are players in game who would essentially buy a trident outright by injecting cash... and others who can barely afford the subscription. Teenagers who get it paid by pocket money... And yet in vo, it is a level playing field, all players get the same start. It should stay that way.