[MUD-Dev] Sony to ban sale ... point of view of an eq veteran

[John Bertoglio]

> S. Patrick Gallaty
> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 1:11 AM
>
> From: F. Randall Farmer <randy at communities.com>
> Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 11:56 AM
> >
> >Comments? Any EQ guys wanna share some thoughts? :-)
> >
> >Randy
> >
> >
>
> One thing that must be explained to understand some of this - is
> that one of
> the side-affects of people selling on ebay, is certain high level
> characters
> "farming" items which are then sold on ebay.  Thus, during the mid levels,
> no legitimate group of midlevel characters has a chance to defeat a
> particular NPC for instance who drops the 'Fish bone earring'
> which imparts
> permanent water breathing - because as soon as this poor guy
> spawns, a high
> level "ebay active" player who has a timer going teleports to his location
> and kills him with one spell regardless of who else might be waiting (or
> have been waiting for hours)... so that he can sell the 'fish
> bone earring'
> on ebay for $50.
>

It is clear to me that the core problem with EQ is not online trading of
items.
UO has had a steady trade in accounts for a long time with little apparent
problems. Essentially, buying an account or a quest item is simply an
trading time
for money. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Personally, it seems
somewhat silly to me . . . if you want to play the game, play the game. B

EQ's apparent problem is that some items due to design flaws available ONLY
to
players who by them outside of the game world. The post above suggests that
virtually every 'Fish bone earring' in the game will be extracted by a high
level online trader. While I admit that it is dangerous to try to code your
way out of trouble, some of the design elements in EQ are clearly arcane.

Fixed spawning locations (and, apparently spawning times) is an
embarrassment to a
design team which has done such a good job in so many other ways.
A game design which enables people to sell access to spawning areas is
ludicrous.
Sony should not ban the practice, they should make it impossible through an
ingame
redesign.

A lively aftermarket is a good thing for a game and its community of
players.

John A. Bertoglio
  _____

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| 503.781.3563
| jb at pulsepoll.com


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