Gamer Drops $16,000 on Virtual Sword for Unreleased Game

[erbkaiser]

Sounds suspicious. Perhaps some kind of money laundry scheme, where the "buyer" is in cahoots with the "game company"?

 

[Asuka Soryu]

So this is how the world comes to an end.

 

[deus-ex-machina]

Hey. Hey there's--- um... there's some children dying in Africa. No? Virtual sword that has yet to exist. Okay, just figured I'd ask.

Come on! The guy has that kind of money to spend on an in-game sword? Do you really think he cares about poverty? Actually, maybe he does. Who knows? Maybe he has already donated much more money to charity but no one really likes to boast about the money they give.

 

[Khada]

That makes me angry, that money could have gone to such a better cause... when is a digital sword for a game you don't even know you'll like ever worth $16,000?.. When you're a loaded douche bag.

 

[Iron Lightning]

ehh, rich people have bought stupider, more expensive things.

 

[Nurb]

The biggest news story about this F2P MMO is also the biggest problem with F2P models; making the experience a grind or "inconvenient" enough to encourage players to purchase digital items and perks that create an imbalance the more one pays. This makes the "pay to win" even jab more true because the sword has to be overpowered enough to justify that much real money spent on a digital item that he ultimately doesn't own.

Free-to-play isn't the future because creativity and the experience are stifled by walls and grinds developers have to put in to make people pay unless they want to treat a game like a second job.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I would get The Addams Family pinball machine.

It's good to see another poster with some quality tastes.


Well, he's spent more on a virtual sword than I've spent on Desert Bus in 2 years. At least my money entertains people, and helps out the childrens.

He's also spent more money than I spent on my last car.

 

[Maze1125]

The biggest news story about this F2P MMO is also the biggest problem with F2P models; making the experience a grind or "inconvenient" enough to encourage players to purchase digital items and perks that create an imbalance the more one pays. This makes the "pay to win" even jab more true because the sword has to be overpowered enough to justify that much real money spent on a digital item that he ultimately doesn't own.

Free-to-play isn't the future because creativity and the experience are stifled by walls and grinds developers have to put in to make people pay unless they want to treat a game like a second job.

Your view of F2P games is narrow. Not every one is like that at all.

For example, City of Heroes [http://www.cityofheroes.com] was a subscription based MMORPG which has recently gone F2P, but they have not changed their levelling rate in the slightest for this, and almost every bit of content that existed before it went F2P is available to free players.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

...like 6,425 Asiago bagels smothered with cream cheese,

Whoa whoa whoa--where can you get an Asiago bagel with a cream cheese schmear for $2.49? Where, man, where?

Oh, on topic, right. Well, how he'd like to spend his money, supporting whatever developer studio he likes, that's on him. People occasionally have surprising amounts of dosh hanging around, waiting for something trivially awesome to spend it on. Hell, various charities rely on such things. How he wants to spend his money is up to him.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

He's an idiot. But idiots aside, this game looks good. And it's free-to-play. It might satisfy my craving for a good game set in the far east. I need a new Jade Empire game and until I can have it this will have to suffice.

Did this sale actually occur though? I only ask because if I had a new F2P MMO to promote, I'd say putting out a story like this would generate the right level of interest.

This was my first thought as well. And since I did become very interested in the game I'm even more suspicious. I'm actually stoked for this game now after reading about it and watching some gameplay videos. I can't wait for it.

If this is a marketing campaign, this honestly sounds a bit dishonest and cheap, and I would probably be even less inclined to look it up than I am right now (because I don't care much for MMOs).

But if this DID happen, then I honestly weep for humanity's future.

 

[Strazdas]

The biggest news story about this F2P MMO is also the biggest problem with F2P models; making the experience a grind or "inconvenient" enough to encourage players to purchase digital items and perks that create an imbalance the more one pays. This makes the "pay to win" even jab more true because the sword has to be overpowered enough to justify that much real money spent on a digital item that he ultimately doesn't own.

Free-to-play isn't the future because creativity and the experience are stifled by walls and grinds developers have to put in to make people pay unless they want to treat a game like a second job.

Not necessarily true. take league of legends for example. it uses free to play microtransaction model, however money cant buy unfair advantage. all it can buy is either a) cosmetic or b) same thing any player can buy, but faster. and the game does not feel like grinding as long as you have fun playing it, and due to them matching you with same strength opponents there is no "a new player playing person a person who bought all he could" sort of thing.

 

[WaruTaru]

The biggest news story about this F2P MMO is also the biggest problem with F2P models; making the experience a grind or "inconvenient" enough to encourage players to purchase digital items and perks that create an imbalance the more one pays. This makes the "pay to win" even jab more true because the sword has to be overpowered enough to justify that much real money spent on a digital item that he ultimately doesn't own.

Free-to-play isn't the future because creativity and the experience are stifled by walls and grinds developers have to put in to make people pay unless they want to treat a game like a second job.

Not necessarily true. take league of legends for example. it uses free to play microtransaction model, however money cant buy unfair advantage. all it can buy is either a) cosmetic or b) same thing any player can buy, but faster. and the game does notath feel like grinding as long as you have fun playing it, and due to them matching you with same strength opponents there is no "a new player playing person a person who bought all he could" sort of thing.

Notice he said "F2P MMO". LOL isn't an MMO. LOL's "world" is limited to the game lobby and the map the player is playing on. Creativity and experience in MOBA games consists of testing out the "new playable characters" that they dish out on a monthly basis and find the most powerful build for it.

Also, note that only MMORPGs get away with selling virtual items at outrageous prices (whether through the cash shop itself or via player-to-player transaction). If an MMO game is missing a cash shop, it will be quickly supplemented by some 3rd parties who farm and sell both items and leveling services. Speaks volume of how players are so willing to drop shitload of cash for in-game power just to stroke their epeen.

Course, if the sword's brokeness is reflected by it's selling price, that sword is going to become a hot property that'll probably go up in price once the game begins. Maybe, just maybe, that guy is making a smart move by "investing" in it now so he can sell it off at a mark up later on.

Spoiler: Tangent

I remember reading about some guy killing some other guy for some virtual items, though it was some time ago and I've forgotten where I read that from. MMO players are crazy for this ingame stuff.

 

[Renerade]

Let's just hope for his sake that this game doesn't have open corpse-looting during PVP, otherwise I'm setting up an account and ganking that dude's sidearm first thing.

I would pay to see that.

 

[anonymity88]

Now I want to know that sword's stats. For that much you'd expect to be able to 1-hit everything in the game, but then you've dropped 16k on a cakewalk of a game... interesting.

It should be the weakest sword in the game by far, that way he'll get a tremendous amount of value out of it when he has to use it 100+ times per enemy.

 

[Mike Kayatta]

Let's just hope for his sake that this game doesn't have open corpse-looting during PVP, otherwise I'm setting up an account and ganking that dude's sidearm first thing.

I would pay to see that.

For the low, low price of $16,000, I'd be willing to see what I can do.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Crazy people are crazy. But, it is their money(I'm assuming) and they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

...as well as his right to have that much money to begin with.

Unless you mean that you think he stole the money to make the purchase, that phrase scares the crap out of me.

A person's money is a person's money. If they got it legally, they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

If I take my money and go to a Wendy's and buy 30 chicken wraps and eat only 2 and then decide to throw the rest into an incinerator because I think it will be fun and make me happy, I can do that. Nobody has the right to say I can't do that with my money, because it is my money.

Yes it would be a waste of money, and food, but that doesn't matter, because it is my money.

 

[Maze1125]

Notice he said "F2P MMO". LOL isn't an MMO.

Actually, he said:

The biggest news story about this F2P MMO is also the biggest problem with F2P models.

So, he was using this F2P MMOG as an example for F2P models in general.
Now, he may have meant only F2P MMOGs, but he clearly said F2P games in general.

And even if he did only meant F2P MMOGs, I've already given a counter example to that.

 

[unacomn]

Crazy people are crazy. But, it is their money(I'm assuming) and they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

...as well as his right to have that much money to begin with.

Unless you mean that you think he stole the money to make the purchase, that phrase scares the crap out of me.

A person's money is a person's money. If they got it legally, they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

If I take my money and go to a Wendy's and buy 30 chicken wraps and eat only 2 and then decide to throw the rest into an incinerator because I think it will be fun and make me happy, I can do that. Nobody has the right to say I can't do that with my money, because it is my money.

Yes it would be a waste of money, and food, but that doesn't matter, because it is my money.

I've lived half my life in well... crap, so forgive me for not sharing the sentiment. I did phrase a bit too menacingly, but I can't help not be disturbed by what people choose to spend money on. Think of me like a fremen watching someone throw away water. No matter the circumstance, the feeling doesn't go away.