[MUD-Dev] Buying benefits

[Matt Mihaly]

On Mon, 11 Jun 2001 Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Marian Griffith [mailto:gryphon at iaehv.nl]
 
>> This may perhaps be true for the current crop of game players,
>> but I would hardly believe this is true for anything more than a
>> minute minority of people around.  Look at how much people are
>> willing to pay for an armani suit. It may be better quality, but
>> that much? Or haute couture for an even more extreme example.
>> Ever seen what is shown on the catwalks? Most of that stuff is
>> hardly fit to wear not even if you do happen to have the
>> proportions of a top model, and a total lack of embarassment...
>> Some of those dresses are sold for a whole lot more than 600
>> dollar.  How about adding a zero behind it, and putting at least
>> a 1 in front of it...  A Gaultier, a Lagerfeld or a Misaki could
>> very well exist in an online game for casual ga- mers.  Fashion
>> avatar design :) There may not be a market for it at the moment,
>> but as our life integrates more and more with virtual life as
>> currently enjoyed in muds, it is almost inevitable.

> I've been playing the latest beta of anarchy online, and
> interestingly, there are tonnes of clothes that have no function
> other than fashion. They are described as if they were pieces by
> fictitious designers. I nearly had to buy a pair of tiger stripe
> trousers last night, but funds were a bit tight :) They have shops
> full of nothing else but designer clothers.
 
> Of course, AO doesn't require the use of real money to buy items,
> but to me thats a seperate issue anyway. Online games cost money
> and time to run, so how you finance it is almost immaterial
> (although personally I dislike the idea that by spending more
> money, people can beat me (like you said in another post, I'm a
> bit of an achiever.))

It's not a separate issue, because the reason clothes for the sake
of fashion (which most MUDs have. It's nothing new.) was being
discussed was in the context of players valuing them highly. If AO
doesn't sell them directly, and if players value them, then they'll
sell them on Ebay. When they start selling for $600+ I'll be
impressed, though it won't be for a long time.

--matt

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