A Stimulus for New Encounters

[starlon]

How about a stimulus for funding new encounters, as opposed to the stimulus gold hackers get from the benefit of a new expansion hitting the market and all the returning players it brings? There's gold in them there hills. Hackers want it, and they're determined they'll get something out of the deal, even if you have an authenticator. Current best account upkeep practice is to either make it as a business owner -- grind grind grind le pant -- or do what most naturally lazy humans do (we are freaking lazy if we invented the freaking TV remote...) and find any other option available. Why there's an option available 24/7. They'll deliver in-game currency in your hands, on the server and toon of your choosing, and within minutes if you know where to go -- 10k gold for less than 18-20 bucks, easily. (Current market values apply.)

The best argument in favor yet: fiat currencies such as the US dollar are made up anyways.

One argument against this is it'll just be Blizzard wanting even MORE money. Tis true. No harm in that. Oh wait, isn't Blizzard supposed to be All Evil and Powerful? Shenanigans. The gray-market will exist simply because Blizzard can't compete with hacker prices. How low can you go? Blizzard's got the upper hand though. They're not going to hack your account.


Yes, I bought gold, and now I have a hacker who's made a regular hobby of stalking me. Getting banned is the least fear of mine right now. In making these most serious suggestions, I'm doing basically the same thing as a Mexican lawmaker would do to formally deal with the drug cartels by suggesting we legalize the drug trade entirely. The drug cartels would fight, and they're not very forgiving as we're witnessing in Mexico lately. Legalizing drugs would put the drug gangs out of business, and leave them to sort out other black markets -- black markets which may very well be easier to deal with without all that revenue flowing into the black-markets from drug sells. The bonus to legalizing illicit drugs is that the black-market vanishes. So will the gray-market of Gold Selling if in-game currency purchases are "legalized." No more spam. No more hackers. Far less authenticator mishaps. You'll feel safer about installing addons, cause project repositories can easily be compromised if password protection is used (I did this with the addons I've authored in fact, and now I'm a little wiser) instead of ssh authentication, but even still risks are still involved.

And I will so boldly claim that players will be much happier. They're here for the content, not for their skills and talents (which may very well not exist at all, but hey he's a good healer) it takes to make it as a business owner. Is business ownership a de-facto requirement for a mere game? You choose to play, but there's little option for people limited with time. There are a lot of other responsibilities to deal with as a viable WoW player, especially PVE players, and more governors over gear and consumable acquirement can be established. That's exactly why the Gold Selling Trade is so lucrative. People don't have the time to devote to farming herbs or mining. It takes a lot more business sense to make something out of blacksmithing or other crafting trades, and I really hate that I'm expected to grind for hours or else make a buck on my lack of viable business practices. About the best I did at gold making was when auctioneer was hard to deal with, so lazy people (they're common after all) didn't bother with the addon, even if Gold Making Guides suggested it and made commentaries and tips about the addon.

This also opens a niche market for certain in-demand gathered items, such as fish feast materials. If the player doesn't have real money to spend on in-game gold, or would else get his ass bopped by the wife for buying in-game currency at all, then there's still an opportunity of doing it the "Old Way." There's a demand, so therefore you can almost expect a supply chain. And the prices would work themselves out, possibly more expensive due to the lower amounts of supply.

The one biggest flaw about World of Warcraft, and other MMOs, is the gray-market gold selling trade. Everyone hates spam. Everyone hates the spam throttle on Trade chat. Maybe part of that was due to bickering and people calling others "noobs" for wanting to borrow gold for respecs or whatever. Is telling them "farm for it like everyone else, noob!!!!oneone" really the best answer to this? Who's the real noob? The lazy player wanting to bum 100 gold for some fundamental upkeep to his toon, or the rampant attitude that "Everyone's buying gold anyways. I guess I'll get hacked too." It never works out for the good if you deal with thieves. That's a fundamental rule in many RPGs. It's just never so REAL as dealing with Gold Sellers -- that you're dealing with thieves just to live happily like the little lazy "noobs" we are, and thus actually see some actual content -- the very core reason we play WoW in the first place. Blizzard is driving off customers not only by requiring sound business practices as a pseudo-prereq to playing the game, but they're also allowing gold spam, which is I think the worse mistake Blizzard is currently making. They've been fighting this issue ever since I started playing. There was a player on my realm back in Vanilla, and he got banned for selling gold to pay for a Christmas for his kids. He wouldn't have lived this course of being banned so readily if there wasn't a risky demand in the first place for gold sellers. There's a Demand, therefore much effort is put into providing the supply, and furthermore making a real world livelihood in a rough economy.

Gold hackers are good. I mean real good. We're funding their innovative new hacks, us gold buyers are, and other hackers are learning new cutting edge hacks through the spread of information. They're too good. Have you guys not noticed that Anonymous and LulzSec have been hacking the planet? These gold sellers are better than them, and then some. These are professionals by any standard.

This insistence that the economy of WoW be as strict as possible actually hurts the economy. The economy's largely influenced by the thieves themselves! It's an economy out of control at the lowest level.


My last suggestion is do away with the majority of BOE epics and rares. Don't make a market where only the real-world-richest players have first dibs on new BOEs entering the market. The BOP and BOE flags can be used to control the economy in more detail and with more effectiveness than the current model.

Innovate the economy. Don't give it up to thieves.

[Kendian]

Id have to say, Starlon, that you make some very valid points. I do hate the spam throttle (lol) and I do believe that BOE's are only available for people (In that first rush for newness/gotta have it NNNOOOWWW!!!) who either A.) Spend so much time grinding/farming/raiding that even hygiene becomes secondary, or B.) Take the quick, slippery route, and buy in game currency. I can even see where Blizzard entering into the real world trading of aforesaid currency, could implement a safer (as far as account security is concerned) playing environment. Yet, for them to take such a step is inconceivable, because they provide the supply, and we, as players provide the demand, and I don't see that changing, in the foreseeable future. Honestly, it was a good thing to read, well thought out, and logical. I LOVE this community~

Edit: Didn't EQ at one time have different servers for people who bought/sold gold? Or am I not remembering correctly?

[Dridzt]

1. Blizzard can "make" in-game gold out of thin air,
(if you want legitimate examples look at the guild-bank perk)
unlike the gold farmers that have to farm it or steal it.
Nothing of x effort can ever compete with something of 0 effort.

2. This is a 12+ game, do you really want kids playing in an environment where the - albeit artificial - natural laws can be circumvented with metaphysical muscle?

3. Less time to play is (arguably) slower "progress" through all aspects of the game.
What's the rush? Why is slow equivalent to less fun, you're consuming content at the rate which your playtime allows.

I recently finished a 1 calendar month "project" of leveling my first clothie (a night-elf mage).
It was both to help with the guild achievement of classy night elves and give me another perspective after playing tank and healer for years.
Total time /played to 85: 6 days, 10 hours. (spread over 30 calendar days)
Professions: Enchanting + Tailoring both at 525, Cooking at 525 as well.
Total Gold / Mats funded from my mains: 0.
Total Gold on hitting 85 after training all abilities AND learning Artisan flying: 4.230.

I'll be perfectly honest in saying that I found your title misleading and your post a convoluted way to justify your own gold-buying and nothing much in the vein of actual arguments in it otherwise.

I view the base subscription as an entry fee to a fantasy world with its own set of rules I have to play by, once I do gain entry to it.
I expect Blizzard to provide me with content as I consume it, if they want me to keep playing their game that is.
I understand that I may have to buy new content packs (expansions) to gain entry to new areas and content.

Paying real money for any pre-existing in-game assets (including in-game gold) as an incentive for the company that can create such assets as simply as doing a database update (no development time whatsoever) is the definition of a scam, I'd feel a total idiot supporting such a business model.

Edit: As a disclaimer, I have no intention of ever paying anything other than the base subscription.
I have no beef with people that pay for character transfers/renames, buy premium or vanity items,
but if this game ever gets to the point where it's officially "ok" to gain an advantage over other players by use of out of world-game mechanics (eg. a credit card) I'll look for another hobby to spend my free time on

[starlon]

Warning: I'm stressed with time, so I likely left some confusing grammar errors here and there. I write very slowly, going over and over the piece many times. I didn't go over it one last time. Call me lazy. lol

Originally Posted by Dridzt 1. Blizzard can "make" in-game gold out of thin air, (if you want legitimate examples look at the guild-bank perk) unlike the gold farmers that have to farm it or steal it. Nothing of x effort can ever compete with something of 0 effort.

You might have missed the point when I said something along the lines of "Blizzard can't compete with the prices of the grey-market." Then after that I uttered that Blizzard had the advantage due to the fact that they offer a much safer route for gold purchases. Battle.net websites aren't going to try and inject malicious foulities (made-up word) into your 'Submit' button. If you have some protections and know what you're doing and have some fundamental sense about how hackers do what they do, and you successfully thwart their initial attempts, then you can expect even harder attempts to get into your life if they've picked an interest in you. As soon as they have your IP address the hack is initiated, although you can say that simply making the malicious webpage is part of a broader behemoth known as the grey-market of Hacker Gold Sellers. This is a savage industry, and it's allowed to run rampant, and by Blizzard themselves no less.

I guess Blizzard can begin doing what so many businesses do when they don't get their way -- buy politicians and lobby new laws meant to truly criminalize the entire market. Eventually all currencies will go under even tighter restrictions eventually, because you just don't play with currencies. Economies will falter, as we've witnessed as this huge Financial Bubble of America and The World At Large swells to dark proportions. Currencies will be deemed legal or illegal. They could ban you from bartering cars if it suits them and they're payed well enough. Business exchanges happen; it's a fundamental law of economics. People barter. It happens. We've witnessed the Gold Selling industry grow to a great size and breadth. It could be a LOT smaller (within an individual association of businesses rather than seller-buyer mayhem on meth) and safer otherwise.

This is almost an obligatory statement, but did you ever think Blizzard would attempt to address the business of selling online leveling guides? That's what the entire part about giving users essentially the best leveling guide out there was about, and one that is not easy to mimic and enhance upon. They did a great job on it I feel.

2. This is a 12+ game, do you really want kids playing in an environment where the - albeit artificial - natural laws can be circumvented with metaphysical muscle?

This is one of those "Think of the children" falsities. The same mentality goes into trying to ban violent video games.

3. Less time to play is (arguably) slower "progress" through all aspects of the game. What's the rush? Why is slow equivalent to less fun, you're consuming content at the rate which your playtime allows.

You're running on time constraints in whatever you do in life. There's a limit per second, a limit per hour, a limit per year. A limit till you die. That's the entire reason people are lazy. We're constantly pressed for time, and today's society only encourages further artificial time constraints, such as businesses not wanting to pay overtime, so you're expected to do everything in your job as fast as possible if it's tough to meet deadlines on a regular basis. That's why employees build some bad, lazy practices. We average WoW users are intrinsically worried that we won't make it before Cataclysm ends, or even through content patches. We're naturally lazy players, us gold buyers, and us TV remote users. Again, we're stressed with time -- emphasis on "stressed."

I recently finished a 1 calendar month "project" of leveling my first clothie (a night-elf mage). It was both to help with the guild achievement of classy night elves and give me another perspective after playing tank and healer for years. Total time /played to 85: 6 days, 10 hours. (spread over 30 calendar days) Professions: Enchanting + Tailoring both at 525, Cooking at 525 as well. Total Gold / Mats funded from my mains: 0. Total Gold on hitting 85 after training all abilities AND learning Artisan flying: 4.230.

I must have missed something. What is your argument here? Are you saying you level faster when you have $1000 gold on you as opposed to a few silver and a bunch of copper ore? I guess you level slower when you have to farm the ore. Hmm... Still, I think we've witnessed Blizzard getting lighter and lighter on the leveling requirements throughout the expansions. I remember epic mount at 60. I grinded AV rep for the cheap ram. lol Lots of time. There is a TON of time consumption in WoW, not just collecting gold. But still.. Is leveling characters really going to attract raiders, whom all likely have families and daily responsibilities at home... is that a viable time expenditure? Time is your primary currency; "Time is Money."

I'll be perfectly honest in saying that I found your title misleading and your post a convoluted way to justify your own gold-buying and nothing much in the vein of actual arguments in it otherwise.

Titles are typically sensational if they're going to make a strong first impression, if you know the first thing about writing. But to elaborate on how deep the title runs throughout the essay, I'll point out that every expansion, with every player returning, with pressure from the guild to meet deadlines... Grind for gear. Grind for gold. If you're crunched for time cause the guild wants to hurry up and make 20th on the server, average people are going to get lazy and take shortcuts. Thus the demand for in-game currency in exchange for RL monies.

But back to why I feel this title is appropriate. This entire Expansion Hustle is a Stimulus for Hackers. You can't deny that. It will not go away. You either do the right thing and defund hackers, or you let them continue to ruin people's lives. Cause hackers mean business. I know this for a fact. I say that if Blizzard sells gold themselves, then that's a stimulus for the creation of new dungeon encounters, which is what mainly attracts users to a game -- the actual game play itself -- the action. So to elaborate a little more, the connection between Hacker Stimulus and Encounter Stimulus took a little critical thinking to connect. Sorry for being so vague.

And if you're wondering, yes the Hacker Gold Selling Industry is profitable. It wouldn't exist if so. They're not only selling gold; they're stealing from you too! Blizzard should be raking in those profits. Games are essential in life. We are attracted to games in such a way that it's likely fundamentally genetic and primitive in nature. Think of this entire campaign of mine as a gamer's (me) desire to further the progress of gaming tech. The more money Blizzard makes, the more cool games we get. Blizzard's letting all that profit go to their users' worst nightmare -- identity theft of some sort, being hacked, having dark secrets publicized, or all of the above. What happens when people give up? I suspect more than half of the time the player quits playing WoW, if he didn't get banned anyways.

I have a few skeletons. There's not really too dark. For one I tried the whole "Drug Tourism" thing out, where you buy barely legal drugs online; or else more traditionally, you travel to the native home of said intoxicant and become one with nature. Or just get high. Honestly I learned that it was a bad move on my part. You know those synthetic cannabinoids, the so called K2? That's what I tried primarily, and guess what? It irritates my psychosis and makes me hear voices. At one point I thought the hacker was making my computer laugh at me as I searched for bugs while programming. So yeah, my hacker knows all of this about me.

He also knows that I have a very respectful relationship with the transgender community. I once had a bickering match with the owner of URNotAlone.com, a transgender match-up site. My hacker read those emails. This these confessions are likely the only thing that he has in his arsenal to further ruin me, and honestly I don't think it is going to ruin me. It's best to get it out of the way and allow people's irrational prejudices to deem me a pathetic pervert simply because I don't mind men dressing up as ladies, or else accept me as a genuinely curious individual. I'm _asexual_ meaning I'm not attracted to people physically for most cases, and even if there's something, eventually it fades away. The Online World is vast and allows us the pseudo-anonymity to look into taboo curiosities we really don't want people knowing about. A hacker stalking you is going to know things like this about you.

I found out that I'm asexual when I found AVEN, or Asexual Visibility and Education Network. (http://www.asexuality.org/home/) That's where my exploration through the transgender community led me, as they have a forum specific to transgendered discussion, and it helped me realize exactly what was wrong with my whole problem of sexual identity I suffered throughout life. I was having sex with women because I was expected to. I was confused why I didn't enjoy sex, even feeling dirty-minded afterwards, as if I did something wrong. When I realized there are actual people who identified themselves as asexual, I about cried as I had an awakening. I fell in love with my ex-gf Amy, but not ever in-love sexually. It drove her away and encouraged her to cheat on me.

I view the base subscription as an entry fee to a fantasy world with its own set of rules I have to play by, once I do gain entry to it. I expect Blizzard to provide me with content as I consume it, if they want me to keep playing their game that is. I understand that I may have to buy new content packs (expansions) to gain entry to new areas and content.

I saved this point for this comment especially. Blizzard has full control of the game progression regardless what happens with gold. I ended the entire essay with "Innovate the Economy." The supply and exchange participants are all part of the economy. Everything gold is used on is part of the economy -- small bits and pieces within a greater elephant-sized boss over the Merchant Mice. Isn't that still an economy? Need I once again mention that the entire business operates regardless what Blizzard does, and the moral thing to do is end the mayhem associated with allowing thieves to control the market and fixate on ruining people.

Paying real money for any pre-existing in-game assets (including in-game gold) as an incentive for the company that can create such assets as simply as doing a database update (no development time whatsoever) is the definition of a scam, I'd feel a total idiot supporting such a business model.

I don't see your definition of scam as too relevant when the true scam -- the one performed by our lovely grey-market Gold Selling Industry -- steals your livelihood and sometimes your sanity.

Edit: As a disclaimer, I have no intention of ever paying anything other than the base subscription. I have no beef with people that pay for character transfers/renames, buy premium or vanity items, but if this game ever gets to the point where it's officially "ok" to gain an advantage over other players by use of out of world-game mechanics (eg. a credit card) I'll look for another hobby to spend my free time on

That's certainly your prerogative, but you're right. The ability to buy in-game currency with real world money is a total advantage. I don't argue that it is not. I argue that the current market for said currency is a nightmare for too many lives. It is a moral prerogative to want this all to end. I'm afraid for my actual life, but I'm officially schizo so that's nothing unusual.

[Now read the top paragraph again.]

[starlon]

Didn't EQ at one time have different servers for people who bought/sold gold? Or am I not remembering correctly?

I think that would probably break the issue of world firsts being executed on specific servers. And it would also cause the Gold-For-Pay servers to probably be overpopulated.

[Dridzt]

I didn't miss anything.

You said Blizzard can't compete with gold sellers, I pointed out that it is the exact opposite that is true.
(as gold sellers can't create in-game currency out of "nothing" and there is a point where time invested vs reward becomes counter-productive even for people working under the most dire slave-labor regime)

My short leveling story was there to illustrate that you can level a character in a reasonable time-frame,
using resources provided entirely from the leveling process itself with no need for buying gold or leeching off your more developed characters,
since you mentioned class training and professions somewhere in all that to justify taking the "easy way".
Well I posit that the normal non-violating the terms of agreement way is "easy enough" and not un-fun.

Finally, you have my sympathy for being stalked by the gold sellers you brought into your virtual life,
but you reap what you sow as the saying goes.

[Seerah]

I'm going to go ahead and lock this thread now... I don't think it's going to go in a positive (or neutral) direction. And since buying gold is against Blizzard's ToS/EULA and we are an official fan site.... /closed.