virtual-goods
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DotA 2 pink war dog courier sells for $38,000
Pricey items aren't just for MMOs -- MOBAs are getting in on the action as well. DotA 2 secured its place in the ranks of titles where in-game items have sold for exorbitant real-life sums when an ethereal flame pink war dog sold for a whopping $38,000. The war dog is a courier, an item used to transport items from your team to your base as well as from the base to your team. Why did this particular virtual item fetch such a hefty amount? According to the seller, this item is a very rare combination of the most sought-after courier type, effect, and color; only four others are known to exist.
EVE Online creator CCP revving up for mobile release
Touch Arcade recently had a chat with CCP, the Icelandic developer behind the popular MMO EVE Online, and while there aren't any announcements yet, it certainly sounds like they're gearing up for some iOS apps, or even maybe a client for the game itself. EVE's been on the Mac for a while now, and there have been some third-party attempts at bringing parts of the game to iOS. But CCP has just released a companion game called Dust 514 on the PS3, and that means it's probably time they start thinking about tying in iOS and other popular mobile platforms as well. There's an app called Neocom coming from CCP to the PS Vita, and Executive Producer John Lander calls that app a "tracer bullet" to see if the community's interested in more mobile offerings. Neocom allows players to customize their weapons and buy and sell virtual goods for the game, and that seems like an excellent set of functionality to bring over to iOS as well. Lander says that there are lots and lots of possibilities, and that CCP is planning on stepping up development this year, hopefully moving towards lots of little projects with quicker turnarounds. At any rate, there's something coming from CCP for sure. "This time next year, you will have EVE Mobile in your hand," Lander told assembled fans at a recent company gathering.
Free for All: Justifying the subscriptions I maintain
Subscriptions are a funny thing. For as long as I can remember, they've represented a level of quality to many gamers. To those players, only those funny Eastern MMOs didn't have a sub. Granted, I loved a lot of those funny Eastern games and didn't care how a game monetized itself. Watching Western players spin on a dime about subscriptions has been a pretty weird experience. The Western developers have changed as well, providing tiered services and other models that would have been seen as suspicious only years ago. I've been known as a free-to-play guy for a while. Heck, I was originally hired here at Massively to cover free-to-play games. Now that there are more free games than not, this column has spread out a bit, covering multiple topics. Payment models do still come up, as they did this week. I thought it'd be cool to examine the subs I do maintain and why -- not press accounts or accounts from long before I began working at Massively, but accounts that I choose to pay for with my own money.
South Korea banning trade of in-game items
South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will enact a ban on commercial trading of in-game items starting next month, the Korea Times reports. Like the online gaming curfew, this move is aimed at reclaiming students' time for non-game-related activities. The ban specifically targets the use of bots that allow automatic collection of items, which the ministry estimates as the source of 60 percent of items on the virtual market.The ban also prevents arcades from handing out gift certificates for in-game items, as that has resulted in the certificates being traded for cash.A different restriction on virtual goods was recently enacted in South Korea's neighbor, Japan: the Consumer Affairs Agency banned the "compu gacha" scheme, in which players buy randomly selected virtual items, with bonuses for the completion of sets.
The Soapbox: If you want to sell special items, just do it already
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. I've argued before about the merits of being an honest cash-shop salesperson. You have to be upfront, blunt, and willing to take some heat. Bigpoint is one of my favorite examples of a cash-shop dependent developer simply because it says what it means and means what it says. It sells items, sometimes powerful items, in several different titles. Granted, the studio usually offers a way to get those same items through in-game means, but that doesn't make for as good a story. We reported on Bigpoint a while ago when its reps essentially said that if a developer is going to make an effort to sell in-game items, it should do it the right way by making those items have a significant impact on the game by being either powerful or desirable. I cannot agree more. Bigpoint is a car lot that sells beautiful luxury automobiles. It also sells junkers and even gives out a lot of cars for free, but its charity once again does not make for a good dramatic write-up. I tend to think that if you you are going to make a cash-shop, depending on the style of game, of course, you as a developer have got to consider just what sort of impact you want that cash-shop to have on your players, and you can't be afraid to push your idea from the beginning. But just get on with it.
Daily Update for March 21, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Mobile is the fastest-growing segment of social games
The iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices are a growing source of revenue for those selling virtual goods, says a report from Inside Virtual Goods. The report looks at the virtual goods market and tracks sales from mobile devices and social games like those on Facebook. Though social games will remain the leader with US$2.9 billion in sales expected this year, mobile gaming is on the rise. Mobile virtual good sales are expected to climb to $500 million in 2012, up from $350 million in 2011. And this is just the beginning. "Mobile gaming is still hitting its stride," said Justin Smith, the founder of Inside Network, in an interview with Venture Beat. While social games tend to attract older females, the Inside Virtual Goods report claims mobile gaming attracts a different audience. Being on Facebook is important, but the social network shouldn't be a games-only outlet. The winner in this market will be the company that can target both demographics by launching on Facebook and mobile devices at the same time. [Via Venture Beat]
GDC Online 2011: CCP on virtual goods in EVE Online
Remember Monoclegate? CCP sure does, and at GDC this week, the company reflected on some lessons learned from its introduction of virtual goods to EVE Online. Associate Producer Ben Cockerill from CCP games offered a candid look at what the team learned through both player response and market data. While the initial launch of virtual goods in Incarna sparked a fierce objection on the forums and even in-game protests and riots, things have settled down quite a bit, and CCP seems confident that it is headed in the right direction now. Read on for a look at why virtual goods were introduced into EVE Online and what the team has learned so far.
CCP releases EVE's emergency CSM meeting minutes
There's no drama like internet spaceship drama, and the boohoos stemming from last summer's EVE Online Incarna expansion -- and the associated monoclegate controversy -- continue to make waves. CCP has finally gotten around to releasing the minutes from the "emergency" Council of Stellar Management meeting that took place in Iceland from June 30th through July 1st. According to CCP Xhagen, the lengthy delay was due to the fact that "it takes time to create a document that everyone can accept. It is important to keep in mind that CSM meeting minutes are not released unless both CCP and the CSM give their approval." The document summarizes the discussions and presents the brouhaha surrounding captain's quarters performance, the Noble Exchange, and CCP's future plans for virtual goods from the perspective of both devs and player representatives. The PDF ultimately serves as a useful summary of EVE's latest drama explosion, and you can read it in its entirety by following the link below.
Study suggests one in three gamers has purchased virtual goods
Let's say you're playing an MMO with two of your mates. They could be online friends, real-world friends, or some combination of both. According to a new study conducted by PlaySpan and VGMarket, one of you has used real-world money to purchase virtual items. The research was compiled last month and samples a pool of 1,000 gamers drawn from a VGMarket database. While the one-in-three statistic is interesting in its own right, even more compelling is the evidence that suggests 57 percent of participants purchase virtual items on a monthly basis. You might think that social networking games are responsible for the lion's share of these percentages, but VGMarket's data show console games with online play accounting for 51 percent of the purchases, with social titles claiming second place at 30 percent (MMOs came in third, if you're curious). The study presents quite a number of curious factoids despite its relatively small sample size, and you can check out all the findings at the official PlaySpan website. It's also worth noting that downloading the full study requires providing PlaySpan with your personal info via a web registration form.
Free for All: EVE drama due to bolster waning TV soap schedule
Much was said recently about the latest EVE Online "drama." If you've talked and written about MMORPGs as long as I have, you'd be very rich if you were paid a nickel every time you heard the word. Drama, when applied to the world of MMOs, ends up feeling like a funeral for an insect... more than a little dramatic. As someone who has played EVE a bit off and on (I have a six-year-old account, but only a 10,000,000-SP character), I was more than a little surprised at the response -- but not really surprised. In fact, the recent drama -- hell, any EVE drama -- comes off as rather humorous. The same thing happened when World of Warcraft began selling the infamous sparklepony or when Lord of the Rings Online decided to sell a special skeleton steed in its cash shop (I was lucky enough to get one during the holiday event). Players screamed that they would be canceling, that they would protest in some form or another, and that they would never buy a product from the developer, go anywhere near anyone who shared the same name as any of the developers, or even utter the name of their poor, lost avatars again. Yet, here we are. Every time something like this happens, it happens for a few distinct reasons. Click past the cut and I'll fill you in.
Chinese prisoners forced to produce virtual gold, real profits for their guards
The virtual goods economy of massively multiplayer online games may be thriving, but it's also stimulating an undesirable side-effect: exploitation. A former detainee at a prison in Heilongjiang province, China, has told the Guardian about how he was habitually forced into playing MMOs like World of Warcraft for the collection of loot, which the prison guards would then resell online for as much as ¥6,000 ($924) per day. Such totals would be the product of up to 300 inmates working 12-hour daily shifts, though predictably they saw none of the profits themselves. The unnamed source was at a "re-education through labor" camp where the usual toil would involve actual, rather than virtual, mining. The profitability of the online market has seemingly inspired prison bosses to move with the times, however, with business being so brisk that the computers "were never turned off." A Chinese government edict from 2009 is supposed to have introduced a requirement that online currencies only be traded by licensed entities, but it's believed that the practice of using prisoners in this fashion continues unabated.
World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than 'real' economy
A report commissioned by the World Bank's infoDev unit has cast fresh light on one of the more fascinating aspects of our brave new interconnected world: the virtual economy. The "third-party gaming services industry" -- where wealthy but impatient players have someone else grind away at online games for them in exchange for monetary reward -- is one of the focal points of the study, chiefly owing to it having generated revenues in the region of $3 billion in 2009 and now serving as the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. What's encouraging about these findings is that most of the revenue from such transactions ends up in the country where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with some of the more traditional international markets, such as that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the producing country. The research also takes an intriguing look at the emerging phenomenon of microwork, which consists of having unskilled workers doing the web's version of menial work -- checking images, transcribing bits of text, bumping up Facebook Likes (naughty!), etc. -- and could also lead to more employment opportunities for people in poorer nations. To get better acquainted with the details, check the links below or click past the break.
15 Minutes of Fame: Cory Doctorow on gold farming
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/04/15-minutes-of-fame-cory-doctorow-on-gold-farming/'; A conversation with Cory Doctorow plunges into the matter at hand so quickly that it's almost impossible not to imagine yourself falling through an internet-era rabbit hole of pop culture and technology. Doctorow is all about synthesizing ideas and spitting them out in as accessible a fashion as possible, and the ground he manages to cover in a single stride can be mind-boggling; he's a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger, father, gamer ... A former WoW player and husband of gaming standout Alice Taylor (also previously profiled here in 15 Minutes of Fame), he's widely known as the co-editor of Boing Boing and author of the bestselling young adult novel Little Brother. Doctorow's latest young adult novel, For the Win, pries open the seams of the shady scene behind MMO gold farming. Its young protagonists are gold farmers and gamers themselves. Doctorow has woven his own experience and sensibilities with focused research to outline a world of gold farming that sprawls far beyond the lines of cartoon-image gold farmers that most of us have painted in our heads. We chatted by phone with Doctorow for this lengthy conversation on gold farming and game economies, plus a companion piece at our sister publication Massively.com on gaming culture and his recent fiction.
15 Minutes of Fame: Cory Doctorow on gold farming, part 2
Cory Doctorow: Well as practical matter, I think that you can't not. At the same time, here in World of Warcraft, we have the dungeon finder system that some people say may be actually helping to break down some of the server communities and relationships that exist in the game.
Zynga shutting down Street Racing game, offering credit for in-game purchases
Casual giant Zynga is shutting down its Street Racing game on August 2, immediately rendering void all the in-game items players bought with real money. Zynga offered no explanation in the announcement, simply suggesting that players try other Zynga games. Naturally, people whose fake worlds have crashed around them are upset, starting a petition in Zynga's forum to stop the game from disappearing. Zynga told Develop that it wouldn't be offering refunds on the money spent in-game, opting instead to give credits equivalent to the cost of any purchase made in the last 90 days, plus an extra 100 units of virtual currency, all usable in other Zynga games. Which is really going to satisfy the people planning to stop playing Zynga games when Street Racing goes away.
Free for All: Charmed, Zentia, I'm sure
Charm is one of those words that, as a kid, I never really understood. I always pictured some southern gentleman, lemonade in hand, wooing powdered belles from his porch on a hot summer's day: that's how I defined it. But now I think I understand it so much more, and I often wonder why this industry seems to often ignore the word, or has no idea what it means. It's easiest to explain it this way: You cannot be charming by acting cool. If you act cool, it comes out cheesy. The movie The Matrix, for example: trying to act so incredibly cool, but comes off only cheesy. You must simply be cool to be charming. You can also be truly wide-eyed, which is charming. Or innocent, which is much rarer, but still charming. Be warned: Top Gun was considered very cool, and Tom Cruise very charming, in their time. Shirley Temple, mainly because of the time period her movies were made in, is still charming. A Christmas Story is very, very charming. Reese Witherspoon's work in Election? Oozes charm. Roy Orbison? Cool and charming, despite looking like a grandmother. The same applies to MMORPGs. Seriously. Some games are trying to be way too cool, and should just relax a bit. Be fun. I recently discovered one of the most charming games yet in Zentia.
Study claims that women spend double what men do on virtual goods
Worlds in Motion is reporting on a new survey that takes a look at purchases of virtual goods and money. PlaySpan and VGMarket surveyed just over 2,200 people between the ages of 13 and 64 regarding their purchases of virtual goods and currency. Women are the big spenders here, particularly when it comes to in-game money. They spend an average of $50 per year as opposed to the $25 a year that men spend. The gap is a bit smaller but still significant when it comes to actual in-game items. Women spend an average of $55 a year and men an average of $30. The survey covered a few other similar results, including combined spending and a different result when overall median spending was compared. The full survey is an interesting read, particularly considering the increasing popularity of microtransactions in the MMO world.
Study finds that 75% of online gamers purchase virtual goods
Are you one of the steadfast, stalwart gamers who absolutely refuses to shell out money on cash shops, microtransactions and virtual services apart from subscriptions? If so, you're in the minority -- a study by VGMarket showed that three out of every four online gamers purchased a virtual good in the past year. This shouldn't come as a surprise, however. The survey isn't strictly indicative of MMORPG gamers; it was taken from over 2,200 players who were either part of PlaySpan Marketplace, Facebook, or purchasers of Ultimate Game Cards. Still, the results are fascinating, as a whopping 64% admitted to spending money on cash-shop items at least once a month, with 9% going so far as paying for virtual goods on a daily basis. Other statistics from the survey are equally interesting. PC gamers spent an average of $37 a year on virtual goods, and PayPal is by far the most popular method of payment. Oh, and the most-purchased good? In-game currency. (There, that shouldn't be too controversial, right? Right?) You can read the full survey results over at VentureBeat!
It's coming... FarmVille heading to iPhone and iPad
Some will cheer, others will groan, but it seems that the love-it-or-hate-it Facebook game, FarmVille, is on its way to iPhone and iPad. A recent search of domains has uncovered both farmvilleiphone.com and farmvilleipad.com, both reserved by the same company currently overseeing Zynga's official FarmVille website. This means that sooner or later, we'll probably be seeing official clients for Apple's mobile devices. I've played FarmVille, and I find it to be not so much a game as a "social engine" -- it's basically a bunch of hooks to keep you "playing" and keep you passing gifts and virtual items between your friends. But it's definitely popular, and having official apps for the iPhone (or perhaps even just sites made to access on the iPhone -- the main game is currently done up in Flash) will likely only increase that popularity. It'll be interesting to see if Zynga makes its way over to these platforms. Ngmoco has already usurped part of the FarmVille mindshare with its popular We Rule game, but if the real thing shows up, it's unclear whether people will go back to the original, stick with the new, or even play (and spend money on) both. We'll have to see. [via Joystiq]
