We played together a few years ago, back before you founded Scoundrels Cove. I'd gladly donate gold, but my account has been dormant for ages. Long live AAR!
Maybe Galad can pull off another scam or two....y'know, for the Indonesians.
Even though the production values of the show itself could use some improvement, at least they had the decency to pick good games.
The last award show (was it SpikeTV?) was much more embarassing to gamers. Madden 2004 was selected as game of the year. Jesus, it wasn't even last year's best FOOTBALL game, and they gave it the GOTY.
Then there was a friend of mine who got a "Ultimate Mega Final Jeopardy Triple Stumper," where he correctly guessed the response before the clue was even given, knowing only the category, and all three contestants got it wrong. As I recall, his head exploded. That was quite a day.
I got one of these also. The category was American History, and I blurted out "Who is Hannibal Hamlin?" The answer was "He was the first Republican to serve as Vice President."
One person didn't know, the other two picked Andrew Johnson. I have to admit, my head ALMOST exploded.
The thing is, the Jeopardy writers toss plenty of clues into their "answers", and generally reward players that have Intro level knowledge of a wide variety of subjects.
Impossibly hard trivia -
STAR WARS
"This person played Boba Fett in the original SW films."
"Who is Jeremy Bulloch?"
Typical Jeopardy question -
STAR WARS
"Jeremy Bulloch played the role of this deadly intergalactic bounty hunter."
"When watching a preview for a movie, I have discovered that the more other movies are mentioned the worse the movie being advertised will be. For example, there were a lot of crappy sci-fi movies coming out directly after the Matrix saying things like "If you liked the Matrix, you'll definately love [insert movie title here]." It is almost garaunteed that this movie will be bad."
There may have been others, but the only movie that I remember describing itself as better than The Matrix was Equilibrium.
However, these privileges are things that you are supposed to work for months to get, and in turn paying the company who made the game multiple months' worth of fees to do so. By paying someone else for the privilege/house/item/whatever, you bypass the monthly fee and the work involved and, by doing so, rob indirectly the game maker of some of their money.
The in-game work involved doesn't get avoided because the seller has to acquire it from the game before he can sell it.
Right now, you can buy 1 million SWG credits for $15-20, depending on the server. In a sense, you're not buying the credits. You're paying for the time it took that person to accumulate those credits, and the convenience they provide in delivering them to you, in-game.
It's more like paying for a service than for an actual good.
"Ok, am I the only one who sees the problem with this logic? What "casual gamer" would spend $1000 on such a thing? When I think casual gamer, I think of someone who debates whether spending $49 on a new game is worth it."
"Casual gamer" usually refers to someone that has a mild interest in gaming, but it can also refer to someone that doesn't have the time to devote 2-3 hours/day for gaming. It was much easier to find playing time before I worked full-time, and it took another hit after I got married. As much as I'd love to play for six hours straight, it just isn't possible for me anymore.
I'm exactly the type of player that those e-Bay auctions are targeting. Hardcore gamers with good paying jobs (that get even better with overtime!), and never enough time to play. Lucky for me, I got over my MMORPG addiction (Ultima Online), and I haven't allowed myself to get sucked into any of the newer ones.
I have nothing against buying resources, housing, in-game items, or even advanced characters because for the most part, getting these items yourself involves "work". Of course, there's some satisfaction in working towards gaining these skills/items/money for yourself, but for the most part, the game requires you to endlessly repeat a tedious, boring activity until you're sufficiently skilled or rich enough to start having fun.
The truth is, many aspects of skill or resource gathering are less like "gaming" and more like "work". Sometimes it's possible to macro skills and leave it running during non-gaming hours, but in my experience, you need to be at least semi-active in the game.
If I'm getting zero enjoyment out of resource gathering, I'm not going to want to waste my ever precious gaming time on "work", especially since the typical MMORPG requires several hours of it to get anywhere. As to whether I'd consider buying in-game currency on e-Bay, it all boils down to choosing the option that involves the least amount of work for me.
My job is a relatively comfortable one, so working overtime isn't much of an inconvenience, especially since my hourly rate jumps an extra 50%.
Let's say I want to buy something that will greatly increase my enjoyment of the game, and it'll cost me X amount of resources. If it takes me three hours to accumulate X amount of resources in-game, but only 30 minutes worth of RL overtime to cover the cost of buying it on e-Bay, I'd PayPal that money in a heartbeat. It doesn't even have to be overtime, since I budget a certain amount of my income for entertainment anyways, but either way, it's a more effective use of my time than grinding it out in-game.
If I was barely making ends meet working a minimum wage job, then obviously I wouldn't be in a position to spend the rent money on anything gaming-related. Likewise, if I was making 150k a year, I probably wouldn't mind dropping $1,000 for an account that would take me 200 hours to make, assuming it's a game that I'm very interested in playing long-term.
Sounds like we need to coin a new term for hard-core gamers with little time to devote to games. Considering the latest demographic surveys, I can't be the only one like this.
Slashdot Mirror
Awesome idea, Joe.
We played together a few years ago, back before you founded Scoundrels Cove. I'd gladly donate gold, but my account has been dormant for ages. Long live AAR!
Maybe Galad can pull off another scam or two....y'know, for the Indonesians.
Gio (AKA Gioman the disarm thief)
Yes, you can find it in the U.S.
It's a fairly common Cuban dish that you can find in many South Florida restaurants. It's known as "rabo encendido" down here.
Even though the production values of the show itself could use some improvement, at least they had the decency to pick good games.
The last award show (was it SpikeTV?) was much more embarassing to gamers. Madden 2004 was selected as game of the year. Jesus, it wasn't even last year's best FOOTBALL game, and they gave it the GOTY.
Then there was a friend of mine who got a "Ultimate Mega Final Jeopardy Triple Stumper," where he correctly guessed the response before the clue was even given, knowing only the category, and all three contestants got it wrong. As I recall, his head exploded. That was quite a day.
I got one of these also. The category was American History, and I blurted out "Who is Hannibal Hamlin?" The answer was "He was the first Republican to serve as Vice President."
One person didn't know, the other two picked Andrew Johnson. I have to admit, my head ALMOST exploded.
The thing is, the Jeopardy writers toss plenty of clues into their "answers", and generally reward players that have Intro level knowledge of a wide variety of subjects.
Impossibly hard trivia -
STAR WARS
"This person played Boba Fett in the original SW films."
"Who is Jeremy Bulloch?"
Typical Jeopardy question -
STAR WARS
"Jeremy Bulloch played the role of this deadly intergalactic bounty hunter."
"Who is Boba Fett?"
"Well if that was the case then this place would be called heaven." It's not heaven. It's Iowa.
"When watching a preview for a movie, I have discovered that the more other movies are mentioned the worse the movie being advertised will be. For example, there were a lot of crappy sci-fi movies coming out directly after the Matrix saying things like "If you liked the Matrix, you'll definately love [insert movie title here]." It is almost garaunteed that this movie will be bad."
There may have been others, but the only movie that I remember describing itself as better than The Matrix was Equilibrium.
In that example, the ads were absolutely right.
Father of gaming (producer/creator) - Shigeru Miyamoto.
Father of the gaming business - Hiroshi Yamauchi
However, these privileges are things that you are supposed to work for months to get, and in turn paying the company who made the game multiple months' worth of fees to do so. By paying someone else for the privilege/house/item/whatever, you bypass the monthly fee and the work involved and, by doing so, rob indirectly the game maker of some of their money.
The in-game work involved doesn't get avoided because the seller has to acquire it from the game before he can sell it.
Right now, you can buy 1 million SWG credits for $15-20, depending on the server. In a sense, you're not buying the credits. You're paying for the time it took that person to accumulate those credits, and the convenience they provide in delivering them to you, in-game.
It's more like paying for a service than for an actual good.
"Ok, am I the only one who sees the problem with this logic? What "casual gamer" would spend $1000 on such a thing? When I think casual gamer, I think of someone who debates whether spending $49 on a new game is worth it."
"Casual gamer" usually refers to someone that has a mild interest in gaming, but it can also refer to someone that doesn't have the time to devote 2-3 hours/day for gaming. It was much easier to find playing time before I worked full-time, and it took another hit after I got married. As much as I'd love to play for six hours straight, it just isn't possible for me anymore.
I'm exactly the type of player that those e-Bay auctions are targeting. Hardcore gamers with good paying jobs (that get even better with overtime!), and never enough time to play. Lucky for me, I got over my MMORPG addiction (Ultima Online), and I haven't allowed myself to get sucked into any of the newer ones.
I have nothing against buying resources, housing, in-game items, or even advanced characters because for the most part, getting these items yourself involves "work". Of course, there's some satisfaction in working towards gaining these skills/items/money for yourself, but for the most part, the game requires you to endlessly repeat a tedious, boring activity until you're sufficiently skilled or rich enough to start having fun.
The truth is, many aspects of skill or resource gathering are less like "gaming" and more like "work". Sometimes it's possible to macro skills and leave it running during non-gaming hours, but in my experience, you need to be at least semi-active in the game.
If I'm getting zero enjoyment out of resource gathering, I'm not going to want to waste my ever precious gaming time on "work", especially since the typical MMORPG requires several hours of it to get anywhere. As to whether I'd consider buying in-game currency on e-Bay, it all boils down to choosing the option that involves the least amount of work for me.
My job is a relatively comfortable one, so working overtime isn't much of an inconvenience, especially since my hourly rate jumps an extra 50%.
Let's say I want to buy something that will greatly increase my enjoyment of the game, and it'll cost me X amount of resources. If it takes me three hours to accumulate X amount of resources in-game, but only 30 minutes worth of RL overtime to cover the cost of buying it on e-Bay, I'd PayPal that money in a heartbeat. It doesn't even have to be overtime, since I budget a certain amount of my income for entertainment anyways, but either way, it's a more effective use of my time than grinding it out in-game.
If I was barely making ends meet working a minimum wage job, then obviously I wouldn't be in a position to spend the rent money on anything gaming-related. Likewise, if I was making 150k a year, I probably wouldn't mind dropping $1,000 for an account that would take me 200 hours to make, assuming it's a game that I'm very interested in playing long-term.
Sounds like we need to coin a new term for hard-core gamers with little time to devote to games. Considering the latest demographic surveys, I can't be the only one like this.