[MUD-Dev] Pay for Item MMOG : Entropia article on Slashdot

[Justice Ocker]

From: "John Robert Arras" <johna at wam.umd.edu>

> It's a viable business model. You convert money into data and back
> into money for people. It's called being a bank. Or maybe a
> casino, since you get to "play" with the things they give you in
> return for your money.  It won't be viable if they treat this as a
> "game" first, but if they treat it as a "bank" or a "casino" and
> take things that seriously, then they might have a chance. I don't
> think they're taking this aspect that seriously, so expect a
> spectacular crash.

Banks also fall under different international regulations than a
game.  They are treading a dangerous turf there and opening up a
whole new can of worms.  Also they aren't offering poker, blackjack,
or any other traditional casino games so they might have a hard time
attracting the gambling crowd.  In the end I agree with you, I think
it will be a spectacular failure along the same lines of the free
ISP model.  It is an interesting concept though, interacting with
the Internet through a FPS perspective.  I would think it would be a
bandwidth hog unless they tightly control patches to distribute new
content.  Unfortunately with that method it wouldn't very dynamic.

Justice



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