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The Tattered Notebook: Learning from EQII's free-to-play model
What a long way EverQuest II's come! If you had said back in 2004 that the game would not only go free-to-play but have microtransactions and emerge largely intact, I probably would have run to get my pitchfork. But here we are in 2012, and EQII's website has a huge green button that says "Play Free" in big letters, with a long list of special deals on station cash and Marketplace items. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I want to look back at the evolution of EQII to see how it successfully transitioned while gauging where it's headed down the road when it comes to its payment model. The official move to free-to-play might seem like the final hurdle, but I think we still have a few more around the bend.
SOE VP talks microtransactions and the future
If you're a fan of Sony Online Entertainment and curious as to how free-to-play and RMT will affect its stable of MMOs in the future, ZAM's got a new interview that's worth a read. The piece features Laura Naviaux, senior VP of global sales and marketing for SOE, and she shares an interesting nugget relating to digital currency and real-money player markets. "I think everybody gets excited about potentially being able to create user-generated content to sell it to their peers, etc. There are a lot of different ways to slice and dice that, and it's something that we're watching," Naviaux says. She also speaks to the success of EverQuest II thanks to its free-to-play switch, as well as some of the more popular cash shop items (mounts currently account for approximately 25% of the game's revenue). Finally, Naviaux acknowledges the challenges inherent in the business model going forward, and how they stem in large part from knowing how much is too much. "I don't think that anybody wants a game where you can outright buy power that makes the game unfair and un-fun, and that is a line we don't want to cross. But there are a lot of shades of grey in there, and that's something we want the players to determine," she explains.
The Perfect Ten: Non-vanilla server rulesets
I've always thought that rulesets are a golden opportunity for MMO developers to get creative with their products and try something fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, most every MMO these days, new and old, adheres to the four "vanilla" rulesets that have been in place since Pong. You have your default PvE, your same-as-PvE-except-we-have-a-naming-policy PvE-RP, and the two player vs. player variants: PvP and PvP-RP. Those are all well and good, but... y'know... couldn't rulesets be used to create fascinating variations on these games? It turns out that yes, yes they can. While the vanilla rulesets are the vast majority, there does exist a group of fringe rulesets that dared to walk the different patch, er, path and made versions of MMOs that are a bold and refreshing flavor. Like blue! Sometimes these new rulesets were whipped up to inject new life into an aging title, giving players a valid reason to come back and see the game from a different perspective. In this week's Perfect Ten, we're going to check out just how wild 'n' wacky server rulesets can get!
The Tattered Notebook: Looking back at RMT through a futuristic monocle
As I logged into EverQuest II this past week, I was greeted with a promo to redeem my free festive sparker. Sorry, make that my FREE festive sparkler. Anyway, as part of the promotion, I could visit the Marketplace, scoop up my sparkler, and then use it to participate in the lighting of fireworks at the major cities in Norrath to receive place-able fireworks for my house or guild hall. I have to say, it was an odd moment. First off, I had to pause to make sure I hadn't accidentally logged into my Free Realms account that I play with the kids because sparklers and fireworks seem more appropriate there. Second, I was trying to recall a time in EverQuest II when an in-game quest, tied to a live event no less, actually required possession of an item from the Marketplace. In EQII, we've come a long way when it comes to cash shops and microtransactions, and EVE Online's recent controversy surrounding the Noble Exchange really puts things into perspective. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look back on EQII's RMT evolution -- through EVE's ill-fated monocle.
EQ2's Live Gamer opening postponed
SOE has informed EverQuest II players via the game's official community website that the opening of the Live Gamer service has been delayed. The originally stated launch date was March 31st. No new date has yet been provided. The Station Exchange -- the service Live Gamer is to replace -- ceased operation Thursday. In this new announcement, SOE noted that it will update a status thread on the official forums with new information at some point.If you're not in the loop about Live Gamer: it's a company that works with game publishers and developers to provide legitimized RMT (Real Money Trading) services to users of MMOs. SOE has had all sorts of problems in the past with credit card fraud and gold farmers, and it hopes the folks running Live Gamer will have much better luck. Is this delay just technical in nature, or have new concerns arisen? It's a bit late for second thoughts, so this is probably just a technical bump in the road, but we'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for updates.Oh, and if this is all new to you: before you raise your eyebrows too high note that, as with Station Exchange, Live Gamer service will be limited to the specified RMT-friendly servers.
SOE begins migration of Station Exchange to Live Gamer
The EverQuest 2 Players page has a post up on the start of the Station Exchange's migration over to the Live Gamer service. Sony Online Entertainment and Live Gamer made the announcement of their alliance last month, with the third-party company soon to be in control of SOE's unique publisher-supported RMT service. The 27th, specifically, is the last day that Sony Online will be running the service.Starting on the 31st, Exchange (operating only on the Bazaar and Vox servers) will be completely transferred to Live Gamer. Already users are no longer allowed to start auctions with a 12-day timespan. Service users will have to register with the Live Gamer Exchange prior to using the service. Users who register before the 27th will actually be given a unique in-game EQ2 house item: a Pot of Gold. Somehow strangely appropriate, eh?
SOE President crushes EQ2 / Live Gamer speculation
This past weekend, Sony Online Entertainment's Grand Poobah, alias John Smedley, was out and about dousing the fires and dismissed SOE's alleged takeover by Zapak. (SOE had for a measly 300 million? What a crock.) During his flurry, Smedley also dispelled the crazy speculation talk regarding SOE's new partnership with Live Gamer over on the lovable EQ2 Flames. After the initial announcement regarding the two joining forces; the hysteria pot stirred yet again. The biggest concern was that the grey-market service would intrude on EQ2's non-Station Exchange servers."We aren't going to be allowing RMT in any way, shape or form on the non-exchange enabled EQ II servers. Period. End of statement. If we catch people, we ban them and have been for a long time now. The truth of the matter is it's very difficult to combat them, but we have people at SOE who fight the good fight each and every day. In the near future you're going to see us becoming a lot more public about this then we ever have been. I think we've done a bad job at communicating just how seriously we take this fight.We're interested in working with LiveGamer because they are unique in the RMT world due to the fact that they are pledging (and are putting technology behind it) to not buy from farmers. Farmers are the bane of our existence at SOE. They cause us endless amounts of grief and do real financial damage in a meaningful way."
