Anatal Klep
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Posted - 2008.04.13 23:50:00 -
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Let's look at the GM Guard manifesto point by point...
1. Macromining. Sure unlimited macromining is bad for the game. But that has nothing to do with RMT. Besides, CCP could stop macromining relatively easily -- they can be recognized by the software much more reliably than by players. The question is: why doesn't CCP stop them? Because cash cows are necessary to support GTC sales.
[BTW, CCP is inconsistent about this. GM Guard says macromining reduces prices so mining is unprofitable. Another GM says it causes inflation. It doesn't matter who is right. RMT itself has no effect on the game economics because it is a transfer payment *after* the ISK is farmed. Claiming RMT causes economic problems in the game is hogwash. CCP is being disingenuous to piggyback it on macromining to imply RMT is bad. Macromining is an entirely separate game problem that flourishes without RMT.]
2. Spamming. Very annoying; if I were buying ISK I would never buy it from a spammer. But CCP could stop spamming very easily. More to the point, it is irrelevant. Local gets spammed by contract sellers and recruiters too. Does that make contracts and recruiting bad? IOW, it is spamming that is annoying, not the spam subject matter.
3. Account hacking. The same caveat emptor applies here that applies to all phishing in or out of EVE. Scams in EVE are common and players bait people into losec traps all the time with CCP sanctioning. Why is RM different than weeks or months of game effort being lost? The RM is in CCP's wallet.
4. Evil conglomerates. Greed is greed and some players are going to abuse the system to do that sort of stuff without RMT. Corps don't already abuse ISK cash cows? Get real. The point is the game mechanics allow it, not RMT. Again, CCP is piggybacking RMT on an existing game mechanics problem to infer RMT is bad.
5. Customer support suffers. That I buy, but mainly because the software tools aren't in place to deal with it. CCP needs to devote some resources to this just like other playability issues.
Unstated. The real reason for being against RMT is to preserve GTC revenue by eliminating competition. CCP gets extra revenue from GTCs because players who could not afford can play more can do so (e.g., multiple accounts). So CCP makes war on ISK buyers but not on the cash cows that enable GTCs.
Also unstated. Eliminate the cash cows in the game and RMT becomes a background issue because the reduced volume cannot support the complex infrastructure required for RMT.
Also unstated. The real abuse problem is RMT is that players can buy their way into power positions. Despite CCP's horror stories, that sort of thing has to be very rare. What sort of nutcase is going to spend $1000s in RM to play a MMORPG better? As GM guard says, most of the RMT industry is based on small position players (think: noob). And the major driver for that is that the gap between a noob position and an Elder Statesman position is enormous -- much, much greater than when EVE was first launchaed. Fix that imbalance along with the cash cows and RMT goes away.
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