[MUD-Dev] character transfer in EQ

[Derek Licciardi]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Rickey
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Derek Licciardi <kressilac at home.com>

>>  2: Why not be able to give old items away or sell them.  I agree
>>  with the coinless itemless transfer for game balance reasons, I
>>  can't see where an item already in game on the old server hurts
>>  the balance of the game as you leave.  Seems to me like they
>>  want to kill two birds with one stone and execute rebalancing
>>  efforts and removal of items from the world.  Not something I
>>  would entirely pay for seeing I thought that effort was covered
>>  in the subscription.

> Item inflation in EQ is approaching collapse levels, anything that
> speeds that process up is bad.

I would agree with your statement.  My point above, was that I did
not think that was should be part of the cost of moving your
character, a value added service that you are paying for in addition
to your subscription.  I question whether this would actually
increase inflation for an already existing item in game.  If you
take the case of the character leaving that server in isolation,
then yes, there would be the same number of items with a smaller(by
1 character) player base which would constitue a higher inflation
rate. I would think that multiple moves between servers would occur
leaving the playerbase on any given server after transfers roughly
constant.  This would nullify the increase in inflation, though on a
server by server basis an increase or decrease based on total
playerbase is still possible.  Again I think I pay for the balancing
in the subsription and it is an unfair burden to place on the player
that wants to give you more money for a value added service.

>>  3: Wouldn't this restrict a potential business revenue that is
>>  nearly identical to a year's subscription(or more in many
>>  cases).  It has to take significantly more resources to manage a
>>  character for a whole year.(storage, admin, datacenter, GM,
>>  petitions...)  You would think they would be eager to accept
>>  this from a business standpoint as it has to be more profitable
>>  especially if they automated it through tools.  If you transfer
>>  with no items to an established server, how hard could it hurt
>>  the balance of the server.  *shrug*

> They're paranoid about eBay, many of the restrictions on the
> circumstances under which they will transfer characters are
> obviously an attempt to prevent this of being of any use in an
> eBay transaction.

> Of course, if they *did* allow transaction that would remove the
> long-term fraud potential from an eBayed character, many of their
> business reasons for outlawing eBay would evaporate (since they'd
> no longer be made into unwitting accomplices in that fraud).

I agree with your assessment, though it would be interesting to hear
from someone on the staff of EQ.  Personally, I consider E-Bay a
boon to the longevity of the game.  Look at the prices on E-Bay and
index the cost of say all Level 50+ characters being sold over time.
As that index declines or increases, I would bet EQ's popularity
would follow suit.  To me I would let players use E-Bay.  Hell, if I
could earn a transaction fee wrapping a value added service around
it then I would seriously consider supporting this type of activity.
>From a pure business sense, do you really care who is behind the
character in question?  As long as the character is having fun and
paying the subscription it shouldn't matter.

Their paranoia prevents them from making real money with a feature
they already have automated(ie cost effective).  Just thought they
might be able to make significantly more money.

Derek

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