Quinc4623
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Posted - 2011.06.24 07:46:00 -
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"The Gordon Gecko Issue" LOL, well a strong smirk anyway. That line by itself implies they don't take themselves, or the idea of virtual goods too seriously. They probably see a certain oddity in the idea, but still seem to be fast waking up to the fact that everyone else is going in this direction and they don't want to be the only ones with an out dated business model. Perhaps they're just chasing a business fad, but there are advantages to such a model. They seem to be hoping for some mix of the new and old.
They see good potential for virtual goods. But there is a fairly obvious acknowledgement that overdoing it would be problematic. "Too much consumerism will ruin the experience (think tourist traps)" a bullet point that most CCP employees have read by now. Yes the one above acknowledges that it can be a good thing. So...they plan to have some but not a lot, a moderate amount of people getting their kicks via Aurum.
EVE does work without Aurum, as years past have shown. However I believe EVE will also work with it, as the up coming years will show. We don't need this leak to be aware virtual goods are coming. The question we should ask is the same CCP is asking each other, is how they will implement this, and to what extent?
They're obviously going to do it with vanity items. It might be weird to think of eve being something with vanity items, special hats, and bric a brac for your room, but that doesn't ruin the experience. How could it? Just ignore the weirdo with the hat!
Aurum for useful items is a whole 'nother thing, and it seems they recognize that and are quite simply split on the issue. There might be a limited variety of items one could get, but again they seem to recognize the issues. The tourist trap feel, or feeling like you have to pay twice, they want to avoid that too.
However page 5 does make me groan. It is quite cynical. The example: It might be true, though more likely it was noisy pessimistic vet VS newbies using features that were already there when they picked up the game. It might be ugly, but a frank analysis of customer behavior and what sort of things they might pay for is just good business. They would hardly be the first company to take advantage of brand loyalty.
I suppose one could think of it as this: However much RL money EVE is worth to you, that's how much you'll end up spending. The question is will the extra content be worth the extra cash?
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