I go to Pomona College, in the same Claremont University Consortium as Harvy Mudd and that honor system does indeed exist, as well as here and at the other 5C colleges (Pomona College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Harvy Mudd College, and Claremont McKenna College).
On the other hand, my school's "fight chant" for sports games goes something like "Break their fingers, smash their knees, we've got higher SATs!" Let me also point out that we're in the lowest possible sporting bracket.
The cost issue has always been the thing that kept me away from these. I can take a stiff price up front for a game, but not some kind of monthly fee. The way I use games, I'll hit something hard for a month or so, put it down, and then pick it up again 3 months later for another go. With this system I'd end up spending a lot of money for the pleasure of having a CD in my CD Wallet.
As for the comment that this is a substitute for a paying job. . . no, it's not. BUT you have to remember that the people who are doing this arn't necessarialy your 30 year old 9-5er's. Back in my younger days (high school) I spent a significant ammount of time on a Mud. Job market sucked, I needed money for computer games and the odd date, and then some guy offered me $100 to help him level up a bit. All told it took me 2 days at 4 hours per day to finish the task. Never did anything like it again, but it sure was lucrative in the short term. A replacement for a steady job? No. A good way for a kid without one to score some cash doing what he would be doing anyway? You betcha.
It also pisses off the section of the online poplulation which wants to enjoy the "roll play" part of MMORPG. Not so much fun to spend 6 months becoming a virtual Han Solo when some twink with $2000 buys something a little more powerful than you, gets bored, and blows you out of the sky.
My problem with that outlook comes from the fact that in this sort of game, whether it be a MMORPG or a MUD/MUSH/ect, there are two types of players: those who consider their online alter-egos to be the sum of all the numbers that make them up (eg the min-maxers) and those who consider it to be something more. There is a whole slew of players out there who consider that "grunt work" to be where you develop a character's history, distinctive traits, and, yes, personality. These are the people who take umbrage at those who buy accounts. Not only is it "unfair" in their eyes (eg "I worked for 6 months to build something you bought"), but many of the high level characters, the sort that should logicaly be the most interesting and have the most development and back story, end up cookie cutter clones used by people who are just interested in killing things in the most flashy way.
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I go to Pomona College, in the same Claremont University Consortium as Harvy Mudd and that honor system does indeed exist, as well as here and at the other 5C colleges (Pomona College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Harvy Mudd College, and Claremont McKenna College).
On the other hand, my school's "fight chant" for sports games goes something like "Break their fingers, smash their knees, we've got higher SATs!" Let me also point out that we're in the lowest possible sporting bracket.
The cost issue has always been the thing that kept me away from these. I can take a stiff price up front for a game, but not some kind of monthly fee. The way I use games, I'll hit something hard for a month or so, put it down, and then pick it up again 3 months later for another go. With this system I'd end up spending a lot of money for the pleasure of having a CD in my CD Wallet.
As for the comment that this is a substitute for a paying job. . . no, it's not. BUT you have to remember that the people who are doing this arn't necessarialy your 30 year old 9-5er's. Back in my younger days (high school) I spent a significant ammount of time on a Mud. Job market sucked, I needed money for computer games and the odd date, and then some guy offered me $100 to help him level up a bit. All told it took me 2 days at 4 hours per day to finish the task. Never did anything like it again, but it sure was lucrative in the short term. A replacement for a steady job? No. A good way for a kid without one to score some cash doing what he would be doing anyway? You betcha.
It also pisses off the section of the online poplulation which wants to enjoy the "roll play" part of MMORPG. Not so much fun to spend 6 months becoming a virtual Han Solo when some twink with $2000 buys something a little more powerful than you, gets bored, and blows you out of the sky.
My problem with that outlook comes from the fact that in this sort of game, whether it be a MMORPG or a MUD/MUSH/ect, there are two types of players: those who consider their online alter-egos to be the sum of all the numbers that make them up (eg the min-maxers) and those who consider it to be something more. There is a whole slew of players out there who consider that "grunt work" to be where you develop a character's history, distinctive traits, and, yes, personality. These are the people who take umbrage at those who buy accounts. Not only is it "unfair" in their eyes (eg "I worked for 6 months to build something you bought"), but many of the high level characters, the sort that should logicaly be the most interesting and have the most development and back story, end up cookie cutter clones used by people who are just interested in killing things in the most flashy way.