[MUD-Dev] Are eBay sales more than just a fad?

[John Buehler]

> Matthew Mihaly
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 11:35 PM

> In the end though John, you're arguing a losing battle. The only way I can
> conceive of that would stop people from selling and buying characters or
> whatever is to remove all value from the characters or items, which means
> you have to ensure that no one cares even the slightest bit about them (as
> if even one person cares about something, it has value). Of course, in
> that case, your game isn't going to make any money or have any players
> anyway, so it is a moot point.

I agree that one way to completely eliminate the monetary value of virtual
stuff is to eliminate their value TO anyone.  I also agree that's an
essentially useless pursuit.  I've already got a game with no value designed
if anyone wants to play it :)

The point here is that there is a question of what is desireable for the
overall well-being of the genre.  If sales of characters, skills, items and
such result in the fostering of a mercenary mindset on the part of players,
then mercenaries will be more common.  If a game company says "We not only
sanction sales, we do it ourselves!".  What game community will result?  Do we
want games that encourage businessmen to farm items for sale to other players?

Imagine visiting Disneyworld and finding that a significant number of park
visitors are actually businessmen who get paid to ride the rides as many times
as they can.  They aren't enjoying what they're doing, it's a job.  So you
find yourself surrounded by people who aren't having a good time, and as soon
as they get off the ride, they rush back into line again.  They don't concern
themselves with anything except the money that they're going to make for the
number of times that they sit in a ride.  The atmosphere of the park suffers.

You're arguing that people are willing to buy virtual stuff, so let's sell it
to them.  I'm arguing that people are also willing to buy drugs, sex, perjury
and a number of other things.  A customer's willingness to purchase something
doesn't make it inherently healthy for the community at large.  My claim is
that turning virtual stuff directly into a business is unhealthy for the game
community at large.

You have made prior comments that joining in the game experience itself is
paid for in many cases.  The difference is that the starting point for all
players is the same - varied only by the player's actual abilities.  When the
starting point for players is different due to real world money, those who do
not have the money will not bother with the game - they can't use their brains
to be the achievers.  Such is the case with lots of smart kids out there.
They thrive on achievements due to using their brains.  That would seem to be
a much better system of checks and balances than having money.

JB





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