Is it real?

I think that micro-transactions can work well, so long as it doesn't imbalance the game. One game that I think got it right is Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online. When it went F2P, the game was so addicting that people (myself included) gave in and began buying items from the online store. The items you buy in the store don't necessarily make your character stronger, but you could buy things that would speed up travel times (horses, instant travel, run speed bonus, etc.) or you could buy different cosmetics to create a unique looking character. One of the best parts of LOTRO is that you could earn points toward the store just by playing the game and completing deed quests. However, I don't believe that last part is essential to a successful F2P game.

After one year LOTRO went F2P, Turbine had doubled their revenue. So, while many games have done cash shops the wrong way, it is definitely possible for GGG to make money on the game while still allowing players to use and enjoy the F2P model.

Oh yea, games like Runes of Magic and 9Dragons were like that. You could buy things like mounts or crafting items that were typically a pain to get (They do it on purpose!) and it allowed you to make a little more money but in the long run it didn't really make much of a difference. I'm all for the micro-transaction system. If they can make money by selling, more or less, useless items, then by all means =P

"

Cynesium wrote:

Oh yea, games like Runes of Magic and 9Dragons were like that. You could buy things like mounts or crafting items that were typically a pain to get (They do it on purpose!) and it allowed you to make a little more money but in the long run it didn't really make much of a difference. I'm all for the micro-transaction system. If they can make money by selling, more or less, useless items, then by all means =P

Runes of magic...uh this game is so pay2win it's unbelievable.

For one the cash shop currency can be traded for gold, you can buy gear basically with real money with this system. Not to mention cash shop items could be embedded onto your pay2win bought gear, and not to mention these cash shop orbs are vastly superior to free play orbs.

Runes of magic is a terrible example, and a wrong one at that. LOTR is an alright one but still falls short, as you can buy stat tomes (while these stat boosts drop ingame, they don't until high level raids and are very rare, while a person with cash can buy them at like level 10 and have a huge advantage).

I do not believe this game could possibly be ruined by mentioned and promised microtransactions. GGG seems to care about their fanbase and any broken promises coming to the F2P deal will lose customers, not gain them, they know better.

A: Maplestory is awesome mainly because it has really low graphics requirements which means just about anyone in the world can play it.

B: Steam massively sucks and would be a terrible solution. I will pay to pimp my characters if the game is good.