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The Daily Grind: Do you care if players get free max-level characters?
Poor Dave Georgeson. All he wanted was a bit of discussion regarding the possible (not definite, nor even probable) implementation of free level-90 characters as an enticement for returning to EverQuest II. What he got was a 16-page (and counting) thread full of whining about how it's grossly unfair to those who've "worked" for their levels. Never you mind the fact that Guild Wars has had a similar system in place for the last six years, or that Age of Conan started giving away free levels (and, essentially, free max-level characters if you subscribe long enough) in 2010. Georgeson ran afoul of that segment of the MMORPG-playing population that loves to grind, and the only thing that certain grind fans seem to enjoy more than the treadmill is forcing other players to partake of it with them. What about you, Massively folk? Are you outraged that some folks consider the grind an unfortunate (and disposable) fact of MMO life, or are you content to live and let live? Do you care about free max-level characters? 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!
EverQuest II's Georgeson mentions free max-level toons, community foams at the mouth
EverQuest II producer Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson recently touched off a firestorm of controversy by asking the fantasy game's community how it would feel about a win-back promotion featuring free max-level characters. Predictably, the howls of protest are still reverberating around the internet, and EQ2Wire has a bit of analysis regarding both the discussion and the high-level flying mount portion of the game's latest expansion that led to it. Despite the fact that Georgeson was clearly engaging in a bit of speculative thinking with the community (i.e., there are no plans for EQII insta-90s), and despite the fact that Guild Wars has been offering max-level PvP toons since 2005, the EQII discussion quickly turned hostile and demonstrated the minefields that developers must occasionally navigate when engaging their playerbase.
