thoradh
AirHawk Alliance
Freelancer Alliance
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Posted - 2007.03.14 00:23:00 -
[1]
Interesting stuff folks...No, I mean it REALLY IS intersting!
Well, at least to lil ole me it is, so there 
You see, a few years ago, I friend of mine decided he wanted to stop just being an avid gamer (was in right at the start of the MMO genre, and against my wishes i.e. dragged me kicking and screaming into gaming too, decided eventually to develop his very own TMO).
Now, a TMO is a Tiny Multiplayer Online game, perhaps a few hundred subscribers, and its just for fun, and cause we (as in the people we know) are all software heads, and well why the hell not eh? Its not for the cash, its becuase he loves gaming, we all help in ways to get the thing out there, and we've spoken lots about 'just how do you make a virtual universe thats fun and allows you to stretch what you already know'...
Now the thing is, after this particular TMO went 'live' (its listed on MMORPG btw  ) I was, well asking for a few of the uber items in-game to 'magically' appear in my inventory, and it was of course in the interests of testing and making the thing more realistic (the man knows me well in RL and trusts me that I'd never under any circumstances mess with the overall direction of the game). So, after imbibing verious untaxed stimulants on night, we were having the 'craic' as it were, and I joked that I'd own up some n00bs and smack talk in local that I was on the 'inside' and I'd always own n00bs and thats how it was!
The man's reaction was interesting (after cleaning up the spray of beer etc). He said that he'd not really be able to ban me, but it would of course cause OUTRAGE in the community, and would probably destroy the game in a pretty short while...
I assured the man I was of course joking, and would never under any circumstances either allow myself to become wittingly involved in such blatant cheating of the rest of the playerbase, or allowing myself to be associated with ANY game that had such a dispicable action proven.
Now here's the thing...just suppose, that I was someone with a 'win at any costs' attitude (I know, its an extremely mechanistic Darwinian behaviour) and decided that at some point, when this little game was beginning to attract large numbers of subscribers, and I suggested to this chap that I could invest large amounts of RL cash to finance the explosive development of the enterprise, and that my 'win at any costs' attitude meant I made it clear that I would want my guild, corp, alliance or whatever, to have 'preferential' treatment, and that I would in fact ensure vicious competition in-game, and so enhance its publicity, and subscribers, would I be wise to enagae in such an activity?
Well, I'd loose a friend for sure, though I'd be doing exactly the right thing by protecting my RL investment, and at the same time, making real my 'win at any costs' attitued in an ideal no-consequence virtual sand-box, and by the time the smelly stuff had hit the fan, my RL cash would be prefecly safe (repaid) and, well, have a good laugh at the expense of the players I'd managed to con...
In conclusion...just exactly who owns CCP? Who has invested RL cash in CCP? When? How much? And, of course, can MrK please check this stuff out asap and lets see what can be seen
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> Noli illegitimi carborundum!
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