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SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers

Justin Olivetti — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Economy, Launches, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It was the best of times in The Old Republic, it was the worst of times. Even though BioWare's freshman MMO has yet to officially launch, so-called "credit farmers" are already hard at work setting up operations to sell in-game currency via third party sources. Shacknews identified one company, IGXE, as spearheading the assault on SWTOR's economy, although that company certainly is not alone in attempting to bypass the EULA.

On a brighter note, the Collector's Edition of the game has already shipped to many (but not all) customers, and Darth Hater has a massive 20-minute unboxing video to show off all of the physical goodies that come inside. If you're curious or are still waiting for your own CE to arrive, you can view the action-packed video after the jump.

Continue reading SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers

SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth devs answer your F2P questions

Jef Reahard — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic, Dev Diaries

You've got questions about Fallen Earth's free-to-play conversion, and the dev team's got answers. The latest Fallen Earth blog entry spills the beans on everything from what happens to existing subscriptions to character slots to various functionality limitations.

Surprisingly, GamersFirst is allowing free-to-play customers to make use of the auction house, mail, and trading systems, but this may change "if gold farmers get totally out of control." There's also good news for pre-existing Fallen Earth subscribers who would like to convert to a free-to-play account but are worried about losing access to their alts. "If you had ever bought the game or paid for a subscription, those character slots were included with your game, so they belong to you regardless of the change in business model," writes Joseph "Linus" Willmon. Head to the official Fallen Earth dev blog for more.

Fallen Earth devs answer your F2P questions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TERA implementing chronoscrolls to combat gold farming

Jef Reahard — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Economy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, TERA

TERA isn't releasing in North America for several months yet, but the folks at En Masse are already taking steps to curb the inevitable tide of gold farmers sure to be washing up on Arborea's beaches in 2012.

A new dev blog released over the weekend outlines the introduction of chronoscrolls, and those of you who are familiar with EVE Online's PLEX system will probably see several parallels between the two mechanics. "If you've never purchased gold, and you're wondering why this new chronoscrolls system is a good addition to the game, consider this: Whether chronoscrolls exist or not, other players are buying gold from real-money traders. By creating the opportunity for players who already buy gold to purchase it legitimately, we help eliminate the incentive for real-money traders to target TERA," says producer Patrick Wyatt.

TERA implementing chronoscrolls to combat gold farming originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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North Korea employing MMO hackers to fund government

Jef Reahard — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lineage, Business models, Culture, MMO industry, News items

What's a dictator to do when his third-world economy is wheezing along on its last legs? Hack some video games, of course! According to a report in the New York Times, North Korea's Kim Jong-il unleashed an army of young computer crackers on popular South Korean online gaming portals to find ways to make quick cash.

South Korean authorities claim that a squad of approximately 30 hackers operated from a base in China and were given the mission of breaching online gaming servers (including those of the immensely popular Lineage) to set up bot factories and automated farming collectives. The digital booty was then sold to gamers for a reported $6 million over two years.

Chung Kil-hwan, a senior officer at South Korea's International Crime Investigation Unit, says that the hacker group "reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales, and other illicit activities."

North Korea employing MMO hackers to fund government originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Chat: Broke and richer for it edition

Justin Olivetti — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Economy, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Global Chat, Miscellaneous

Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

This week we're looking at all things money: Who has it, who doesn't, and why it makes the world go 'round. Naturally, Massively writers are richer than seven kings of Arabia combined and aren't concerned with such petty matters, but it seems to weigh heavily upon some of your heads. Hit the jump and let's see what the buzz was like in the comments section this past week!

Continue reading Global Chat: Broke and richer for it edition

Global Chat: Broke and richer for it edition originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Chat: Dollars and cents edition

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Economy, Opinion, Global Chat, Miscellaneous

Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

Global Chat this week is all about money. Be it real-world cash or piles of virtual gold, money is the foundation of much of our MMO experience. Ready to see what some of our best commenters had to say about all sorts of transactions this week? Follow along after the jump!

Continue reading Global Chat: Dollars and cents edition

Global Chat: Dollars and cents edition originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BBC suggests gold farming may bolster poorer economies

Jef Reahard — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Economy, MMO industry, News items

Who says gold farmers are devilspawn and deserving of a fate worse than death? Well, a lot of MMO gamers say that, but a news blurb on the BBC's website suggests that some virtual currency farmers may have a higher purpose after all.

Citing a report at InfoDev.org, the BBC posits that gold farmers are simply filling a role in the global supply and demand economy. "Western players who have limited time for gaming are buying game cash, gear and high level characters from people in China and Vietnam that are paid to play as a job," the article states.

The BBC also notes that the most recent global virtual sales estimates put the total market worth in the neighborhood of $3 billion. Approximately 30% of that is generated by legit players, 50% comes from bot farms, and the remaining 20% is pilfered from compromised accounts. Whether or not you tremble in anger at the thought of MMO gold farming or dismiss it as a modern-day reality, it seems as if it's here to stay, and according to the BBC, it might even provide economic aid to poor nations. "The virtual economy can have a significant impact on local economies despite its modest size," according to the article.

BBC suggests gold farming may bolster poorer economies originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Are you in favor of alternative currency?

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Economy, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

It seems to me that more and more MMO developers are utilizing alternative types of currency in our games. Whether they're tokens, barter scraps, or golden leaves, we're now having to chase down all manner of currencies to get the goodies we want.

Our subject for discussion today: Is this a good thing or not? On one hand, I can understand that alternative currency helps to limit the amount of damage that gold sellers and farmers can do, and it provides incentives for players to participate in certain zones or activities. On the other hand, it feels as though these alternative currencies are cluttering up our bags, confusing our minds, and devaluing the standard currency in the game.

So looking at your favorite games, are you in favor of barter systems and tokens as an alternative to gold, silver and copper? Should every game have a barter wallet if so? Or do you wish that devs would cut it out and stick with one type of money as the standard?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Are you in favor of alternative currency? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New sci-fi novel features gold farmer protagonists

Jef Reahard — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items

Ever wanted to read about the exploits of young gold farmers toiling away in Asian sweat shops and ruining/enabling your MMORPG experience? Science fiction author and Boing Boing founder Cory Doctorow thinks you might, and has devoted his newest novel to fleshing out the torrid existence of a group of young grinders who decide to organize.

When we say organize, we don't mean making lists or using spreadsheets to farm at the optimum rate, but rather, organizing as in worker's unions. Doctorow has made an audio excerpt of the novel, titled For the Win, available on his web site. He calls the book a spiritual successor to his Anda's Game short story, and has targeted it specifically to a young adult audience. For the Win debuts on May 11 and will be freely available online under the Creative Commons license.

New sci-fi novel features gold farmer protagonists originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The lesser of two evils is still evil

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Exploits, MMO industry, Opinion

There are a lot of choices we face where we don't so much pick a good option as we pick the option that's least negative. Most people would argue that going to work is a better choice than faking illness and calling out, but not really a choice they like. Kill Ten Rats recently posed an interesting question along the same lines: would you rather your game have gold farmers or cheaters?

As the full piece argues, gold farmers are the greater evil to the companies running the game -- they aren't paying customers and they're disrupting the playerbase. But the average player is more likely to run into cheaters than gold farmers, and they're more likely to have a direct negative effect upon the experience of the game. Yet teams tend to be more active in pursuing gold farmers (witness Aion's theatrical destruction of them) because cheaters, to the company, are a slightly lesser problem.

Obviously, it's not a binary equation, and some games (such as Final Fantasy XI) place both at an equally high target priority. The fundamental question, however, is an excellent one -- cheating jerks, or RMT bots? There's no good option.

The lesser of two evils is still evil originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CEO of SecurePlay discusses account security

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, News items, Massively Interviews

Anyone even slightly in touch with the MMO community is aware that account security has been an even bigger concern than usual for the past few months. While it's more in the forefront of everyone's mind these days, it's important to remember that this isn't a brand new problem. It's very important for people on both sides of a game -- both the player side and the development side -- to work to make player accounts as safe as possible.

Steven Davis, CEO of SecurePlay and the mind behind PlayNoEvil, has been watching the events with interest and spent some time recently talking to us about his take on the situation as well as overall account security. Follow along after the jump and see what he had to say.

Continue reading CEO of SecurePlay discusses account security

CEO of SecurePlay discusses account security originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC China 09: Netease speaks on combating botters

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

GDC China 2009 is currently in high gear until tomorrow, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about some of the panels today! One of the highlights for the MMO industry was certainly the talk given by Yunfeng Lin, the design director at NetEase, on keeping up with botters and bot programs.

NetEase, the operator of the three Westward Journey games, Flyff (and here's the American version of Flyff), and the 100 pound gorilla that is World of Warcraft, is in a very unique position to speak on the troubles botters present to online communities. Westward Journey and World of Warcraft both draw huge numbers of people in China, but that also means they draw a huge number of botters.

Continue reading GDC China 09: Netease speaks on combating botters

GDC China 09: Netease speaks on combating botters originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What do you think of the WoW downtime in China

Lesley Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Expansions, MMO industry, Patches, The Daily Grind

For the citizens of China, Azeroth is silent. During the transition from The9 to NetEase, the servers have been taken offline leaving millions of people with nothing to do. There are other MMOs, plenty in fact. Some from the west and loads with that distinctly eastern vibe. Yet I'm sure WoW has the vast majority of the Chinese MMO player base suffering major withdrawal and pining for Azeroth. Of course, many will have transferred to Taiwanese servers where Wrath is already live, up to date and there is no downtime but the vast majority will be left waiting.

The most contact we have with Chinese players is usually through whispers asking if you want to buy gold, gnome corpses in Ironforge linking to websites, phishing scams and bots. I admit, I've noticed a marked decrease on my own server and the corpses have moved to Stormwind instead. Gold farmers aren't exactly the most positive form of contact and most Chinese players seem to be branded gold farmers regardless (guilty until proven innocent) and treated with disdain. So readers, how have you found the last couple of weeks in Azeroth? What do you think of the forced downtime? How do you think this will effect Chinese players (and I mean players, not farmers or bots)? Do you play on a Chinese realm? Have you migrated and rerolled or are you playing the waiting game?

The Daily Grind: What do you think of the WoW downtime in China originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Is there a difference between item malls and gold farmers?

Shawn Schuster — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Making money, The Daily Grind

With the recent news of China banning the exchange of virtual currency for real world currency, it brings up the future of gold farming in that country, and possibly the world. While China is certainly not the only country which employs MMO gold farmers, it's often labeled as the biggest offender. There is certainly a difference between trading real world money for virtual money and trading virtual money for real world money, but this new China legislation shows that the legalities of both practices are becoming real issues to lawmakers.

So we're curious to know how you feel about the whole process of trading in either direction. It was once a stigma among gamers, but many companies are adopting this practice in a legal way, conducted by item stores and in-game currency exchange. Besides the fact that these item malls are supported by the game studios, do you see a difference? If so, what are they? Discuss!

The Daily Grind: Is there a difference between item malls and gold farmers? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MapleStory joins the wild world of Twitter

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, MapleStory, Culture, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Casual, Humor

Twitter needs to be classified as an addictive drug, we think. We seem to be using it, and we just can't stop ourselves anymore. We keep telling ourselves that it's just a simple RSS feed where we're limited in what we can type out to others, yet we keep going back to that internet street corner, begging for just one more tweet...

But hey, we've gotten company recently! MapleStory has created their own Twitter page as well, joining the rest of the world in answering the question "what are you doing right now?" If you're interested in the 2D MMO, just drop by their page and sign up for their tweets to stay atop of in-game news. Right now, they seem to be flaunting their recent gold farmer bannings (remind us to never get on MapleStory's badside), as well as talking to some of their fans regarding their MapleStory achievements.

Now, if you could excuse us, we feel we need to tweet again.

MapleStory joins the wild world of Twitter originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 May 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arming yourself in the battle against LotRO gold spam

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Legal, Academic, Education

Following the release of their first paid expansion, Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria developer Turbine has released a reminder of their policy concerning gold-selling and real money transactions (RMT). The reminder post was written by Senior Game Master "Nod" on the official forums, and it contains their no-nonsense code of conduct when it comes to dealing with gold selling.

The rules themselves are fairly typical of an MMO's anti-RMT stance, yet this post also gives players information on how they can deal with gold sellers, spammers, farmers and gold-selling websites themselves. For example, to report a gold spammer, "right-click their spam in your chat window, click on Chat, then click Report as Gold Spammer. This will automatically block the spammer and report the spam to In-Game Support." If you've found yourself getting annoyed by the onslaught of gold spammers that plagues games as they increase in popularity (like LotRO), this information should help you in your battle.

Arming yourself in the battle against LotRO gold spam originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warhammer mod automatically reports tell spammers

Samuel Axon — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, Warhammer Online, News items

According to a ticker at the Warhammer Online Herald, Mythic has banned over 4,000 WAR users for gold farming and selling. Now to further the battle, its representatives at the Herald have suggested that players download a third party UI mod called "Spam Me Not" which not only automatically blocks incoming gold seller spam tells, but reports the sender of the tell.

We haven't used the app, so we don't know how well it works. It might block legitimate tells from friends. If you try it out, tell us how that works for you.

The post at the Herald says that the mod is not endorsed by Mythic, although one would think that mentioning it on the official site is at least a tacit endorsement. Mythic did go on to say that players should continue using the game's built-in spam reporting features as well.

Warhammer mod automatically reports tell spammers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gold farmers top the 500k mark worldwide

Shawn Schuster — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Economy, Game mechanics, Legal

We all knew it was a big problem, but gold farming has reached record proportions, despite the constant enforcement by game developers. In a recent study by the UK's Manchester University, nearly 500,000 people in developing countries now earn their living by farming for virtual gold, with 80% of this industry centered in China.

Professor Richard Heeks, head of the development informatics group at Manchester and author of this report, says that gold farming has gone from a cottage industry to a significant economic sector in many developing nations. In fact, the industry has seeped into criminal gang territory with credit card fraud and violent crime being introduced to the mix. Yet despite this illegal activity, we get a nice summary quote from Steven Davis, the chief of game security firm Secure Play: "You could get rid of it, but you would get rid of one of the most fundamental parts of player-to-player interaction."

Gold farmers top the 500k mark worldwide originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two WoW gold farmers arrested in China

Tateru Nino — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Economy, News items, Legal

Unfair revenue distribution is a concern in many economies. In China's, however, it is a crime. Two gold-farmers, Li and Zhang, were arrested by Chengdu's Shuangliu county authorities after Li ratted on his partner Zhang.

Li and Zhang had gone into business last August, and with 20 employees had raked in around 1.6 million Renminbi (???) -- that's getting towards a quarter of a million US Dollars. That's not bad for what amounts to seven months of gold and item trading on World of Warcraft, now is it?

With China cracking down on assorted online gaming activities that are either too intrusive, or have destabilizing economic effects, we don't think either Zhang or Li will get off lightly. Why, we wonder, did Li turn Zhang in? There's got to be a good story behind that.

[via PlayNoEvil]

Two WoW gold farmers arrested in China originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 May 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What's the best way to curtail RMT activity?

Akela Talamasca — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Guild Wars, Business models, Economy, Exploits, Making money, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Legal

As noted in our recent Guild Wars post, there's more than one way to skin an RMT cat, if you'll forgive a labored metaphor. Quite aside from simply hunting the farmers down and feeding them to the Sarlacc beast, banning and possible litigation are merely the most commonplace ways to deal with these issues. Clearly, this problem isn't going to just fix itself or go away, and many have lost accounts thanks to these activities.

Have we seen the best solutions to the RMT crisis? What hasn't been tried yet?

The Daily Grind: What's the best way to curtail RMT activity? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kwari model: Can RMT be taken to the next level?

Chris Chester — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Making money, Academic

I was in the bathroom the other day, reading Games for Windows (because let's be honest, where else would anybody read GfW?) and they had an article on an extremely interesting, though vaguely troubling new shooter called Kwari. Its basic premise is that players pony up a small amount of cash, the amount varying depending on the stakes of the game, and players lose or gain a portion of the pot based on their fragging prowess. Or to put it more simply, it's like online poker, but instead of cards, there are bullets. Designer Eddie Gill of Kwari Limited was hoping that in adding a financial incentive to the basic shooter model, it would result in an experience that was much more intense for the players involved. And if he took in a cut of the profits as well, what's the harm?

By all accounts, Kwari utterly fails at delivering an engaging shooter experience, so whatever sociological implications the game would have had were rendered moot because of sloppiness on the developer's part. Still, this perception that online games could be tweaked to be a form of online gambling got me thinking. Is this business model just a developer supported real-money transaction (RMT) scheme, or is it even deeper down the rabbit hole of Shylock-esque shamelessness?

Continue reading The Kwari model: Can RMT be taken to the next level?

The Kwari model: Can RMT be taken to the next level? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard defeats Peons4Hire gold farmers in court

Michael Zenke — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, Culture, Economy, Events, real-world, MMO industry

In news likely to have repercussions for similar cases, Blizzard has handily won their lawsuit against the gold farming outfit Peons4Hire (aka Game Dollar). The permanent injunction [pdf] they were awarded in the suit's settlement effectively means you'll never see a Peon spam message in your mailbox or chat window ever again. The original suit was filed because of Blizzard's belief [pdf] that this gold spam 'diminished players' game experience and cost Blizzard subscribers, bandwidth, employee time, and ultimately, revenue.'

The injunction deals with that by prohibiting Game Dollar/Peons from selling virtual assets from World of Warcraft, or powerleveling characters in the game. They're also legally enjoined from using the chat or in-game mail system to advertise their service ... possibly the first time I've seen a court case refer to a virtual world's specific forms of communication. Beyond all that, Game Dollar is further prohibited from investing in a new company that engages in these activities.

Read on for ... the catch. (There always is one.)

Continue reading Blizzard defeats Peons4Hire gold farmers in court

Blizzard defeats Peons4Hire gold farmers in court originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard tells trial account users to shush

Chris Chester — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:29:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Exploits, Game mechanics, Patches

Word has it that, in response to the widespread use and abuse of trial accounts on the part of gold spammers, character-leveling outfits, and RMT humbuggery in general, Blizzard has eliminated the ability for users on trial accounts to invite party members to groups, which joins their recent embargo on broadcast communication in World of Warcraft entirely.

One can't help but wonder if there was a better way to go about achieving this same end of curbing the spammers. Perhaps they could have implemented more thorough standards for authentication prior to being given a trial key, or maybe implemented some sort of referral program where an existing player could "vouch" for a trial user and give them the full benefits they enjoyed before this hotfix. Trial users are usually the most vulnerable and least knowledgeable subset of newbies, and to remove their ability to communicate with the world around them just seems a bit cruel to me.

We all know the spammers are going to find another way around it, after all. They're quite the creative lot.

[Via WarCry]

Blizzard tells trial account users to shush originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A legal, in-game "Wal-Mart" of virtual goods coming to an MMO near you

Eli Shayotovich — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, Interviews, MMO industry, Virtual worlds

Two very large names have joined forces to help battle the illegal (and increasingly annoying) digital Black Market that exists to sell virtual in-game goods. Backed by $24 million in investment money, Mitch Davis (the former Massive in-game-ad firm founder) and Sony Pictures Digital vet Andy Schneider will launch Live Gamer, a publisher-supported service that creates a secure platform for real-money purchase and the sale of virtual goods.

Already on board are MMOs and virtual worlds from Funcom GMBH, Sony Online Entertainment, 10Tacle Studios, Acclaim, GoPets and Ping0 Interactive (the company that provides access to the online, multi-player component of Hellgate: London), and they're willing to work with any publisher. With backing such as this, we may soon see a siesmic shift in the virtual goods landscape.

Nearly every MMO is now plagued by these despicable gold farmers and Real Money Traders bent on selling their warez, regardless of their legality. Even my beloved City of Heroes and Villains has recently been targeted with endless spam that fills in-game Email boxes and brazen "live" players (often named "jkjkljlkj") who will approach you trying to offer their services. A concerted effort from within the industry itself to stop these griefers is long overdue. Hopefully this will be the spark that ignites a widespread change.

A legal, in-game "Wal-Mart" of virtual goods coming to an MMO near you originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LotRO reps talk demographics, casual play, console plans

Samuel Axon — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:59:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Interviews, MMO industry, Consoles

Yesterday Gamasutra published a five page interview about The Lord of the Rings Online with Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky.

According to the interview, one third of LotRO players are over 35 because the license drew people new to MMOs -- people who came for "The Lord of the Rings first, the MMO second." Fans of LotRO often claim the game's community is more mature than that of competing games. "Sometimes game communities can be rough, just because of the nature of the competitiveness and the nature of the age range of people playing, and this is a pretty mature, fun place to be a part of," said Steefel.

Steefel and Mersky also talked about the challenges of dealing with gold farmers, what the real definition of "casual games" might be, the pluses and minuses of adapting a famous work of literature, the competition, and Turbine's option to produce massively multiplayer games for consoles. As is the case with most Gamasutra interviews, the discussion is an excellent read if you want an inside look.

LotRO reps talk demographics, casual play, console plans originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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