[MUD-Dev] [News] Virtual goods--Oh, the controversy!

[Douglas Goodall]

At 11:12 AM 4/12/2004 -0700, Jason wrote:
>From: John Buehler

>> Consider my statement in terms of what I thought was the original
>> question: why do people gripe about people buying levels
>> (characters) and items.  I spoke in an attempt to illustrate a
>> mindset that explains why people don't like it.  I'm not trying to
>> justify the ethic of the level grind.

> You potentially could also look at it this way. In competitive
> auto racing there are classes based on performance (Which also
> roughly equates to monetary investment) If I am taking my little
> home-built daily driver to the track, I do not have to compete
> with an open wheel, full ground effects formula ford or a 500hp
> twin turbo Porsche or Viper.

> Disregarding the entire level grind debate, MMO's are competitive
> and letting someone purchase goods is like forcing a miata to race
> the porsche. Where it gets to be questionable in my opinion is,
> letting a porsche enter the race is obviously not fair, but what
> about someone buying last years race winning miata?

I wonder if you could (or should!) divide your players into
"leagues" the way I was always in the "best" soccer and swimming
leagues for my age, but the "worst" basketball or baseball
leagues. I.e. a level 10 player with level 40 gear is in the "Twink
League" and can't PvP a player with even-level gear. Or a player who
spends 30 hours a week on-line is in the "Hardcore League" and can't
PvP a player in the Casual League.

At the very least, you'd have to be careful with the names and class
envy. The "eagle/bear/deer" names given to the three reading groups
in First Grade didn't fool anyone...
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