Double-dipping
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The Daily Grind: Have you ever bought a sparkle pony?
Two years ago, a marketing firm produced a study showing that 75% of gamers partake of microtransactions in their online games. Not long after that study was published, World of Warcraft enraged opponents of "double-dipping" by kicking off the sale of a $25 luxury mount that gamers pseudo-affectionately dubbed the sparkle pony. And then EverQuest II released a mount for a similar fee. And then TERA. And then RIFT. For all the hatred these high-end cash-shop mounts provoke, people are buying them -- enough people to make it a model worth copying. Some of these subscription games will sell sparkle anything. I'll fess up first: I bought myself a sparkle pony when Blizzard put the mount on sale for 10 bucks a while back, and I love it (it reminds me of celestial gear and creatures in Guild Wars, so I was weak!). But I still feel a little guilty. What about you? Have you ever bought an overpriced mount for cash in an MMO? Why did you do it, and do you feel the pang of guilt I do about supporting a double-dipping subscription game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Pony up $25 for TERA's new Night Mare mount
Remember when everyone was a lot of gamers were outraged that Blizzard dared to charge 25 bucks for a cash shop item in a subscription game? Well, times have changed, folks, because now such behavior is generally expected. Sony Online Entertainment jumped on the bandwagon shortly after the sparkle pony tipping point, Funcom followed suit, and dozens of other companies have done the same in recent years. The newest member of the double-dippers club is En Masse, which is offering up a fiery-hooved TERA Night Mare steed for $24.99. Frugal players can take solace in the fact that their half-the-price-of-the-whole-game mount is available to all the characters on their account, and you can read further details about the beast at the official TERA website.
Hands-on impressions of The Secret World
Last month, Funcom held a special hands-on event for The Secret World at its Montreal, Canada offices, where we sent freelancer François Blondin to cover all the exciting details. François also got to play the game for several hours, giving us a fresh perspective on what TSW has to offer MMO gamers. In Funcom's upcoming The Secret World, the game's three factions -- Templars, Illuminati and Dragons -- face off, compete, and collaborate (all at the same time!) amidst the nightmarish creatures being revealed throughout the world. But choose your allegiance carefully: Your faction determines your path and special bonuses for the whole game, and faction-switching won't be an option. Join me for a hands-on look at the game's current incarnation!%Gallery-72395%
The Soapbox: Subs and cash shops - Two great tastes that taste awful together
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. Hoo boy, The Secret World. On the one hand, I was really looking forward to it. On the other hand, it's now joined the likes of EVE Online, pretty much every Sony Online Entertainment title ever made, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and Funcom's own Age of Conan in my personal double-dipping doghouse. Yeah, The Secret World is going to have a subscription model (hooray) and a cash shop (boo, hiss, and zomgwtf). This should surprise no one, really, since game industry devs have been going all Gordon Gekko on us for a while now, but it was nonetheless a disappointing reveal on several levels. Equally disappointing are the folks who defend the subscription-plus-cash-shop model and erroneously refer to it as an example of consumer-friendly choice.
Behind the Mask: Two layers of toppings
"Microtransactions" is almost a taboo word in the MMO community. Everyone has a different opinion on it. Even here at Massively, our ideas on microtransactions vary widely. But perhaps even more frightening than the label of "F2P" is "double-dipping." Some games continue to charge a normal subscription, while still having some content featured as microtransactions. All of Cryptic Studios' current games support a double-dipping model, and Champions Online is no exception. A lot of players think this is a terrible, terrible thing. As a gamer, I understand that players want things to be free. I also understand that developers have to strike a real balance between content that's given for free and content that is sold as paid expansions or unlocked via microtransactions.
