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Investors sue game operator for stopping gold-farming
No, I'm not making this up. In October Giant Interactive Group Inc took action against gold farmers in their MMO, Zheng Tu Online (reportedly the most popular online game in China in 2006, with 1.3 million active subscribers). Giant changed the game-mechanics to prejudice against gold farmers, just one month before their IPO in November. Well, after kicking out all those gold farmers who were paying subscribers, concurrency figures fell, as did total registrations - and the investors are apparently cross with Giant for both not disclosing their action against the gold farmers, and using the registration figures for September (before the rules-change was made) in their IPO registration statement, instead of the October figures.
Exteel is live and ready for the masses
Players waiting to tear it up on some Mechanaughts in NCsoft's latest MMO, Exteel can jump right in now that the game is live after a successful open beta. There is no database wipe, so any players that participated in the open beta will be able to play with their same wrecks. Exteel is an online 3rd person shooter featuring customized mechs, and the gameplay more or less revolves around beating the living crap out of your opponents with a large arsenal of weaponry. Our own Chris Chester posted a first impression look during the open beta that is definitely worth reading if you are considering playing the game. Exteel is free to play and free to download. Exteel is supported by RMT (real money trade) -- Exteel's micro-payment system is called NCcoin which will allow players to purchase more powerful weapons, skills, and parts for their Mechanaughts. Combat is high-speed gunplay, melee combat, think fast or die tactics. Decide on one of four battle modes: Death Match, Team Death Match, Territory Control, or Last Stand. Blends the immersive thrill of an FPS with the furious and brutal intensity of Hong Kong gun-play mixed with the feel of classic robot anime. Minimum and recommended computer specs. Any Massively readers give Exteel a spin during the open beta? What did you think? Does RMT kill this for you? I'd rather deal with the RMT aspects in this type of MMOG than have to shell out for another subscription to be honest with you.
Maple Story invites retailers into the game world
Hot on the heels of the announcement that Nexon's MapleStory would be invading 7-11s, the company has passed on word that retailers are now being invited into the game world. In a twist that sounds almost too hilarious to be true, Nexon is going to be sending Maple players to virtual versions of the mega-retailers on themed quests that will promote both the retailers and the availability of Nexon Game Cards in these stores. The special quests will prompt users to complete various tasks and visit any of these chains to earn their own virtual Nexon Game Card, which will provide Maple Points, the in-game currency of MapleStory. "We're now able to provide a new and unique avenue for major businesses to reach consumers," said John H. Chi, CEO and president of Nexon America. "Nexon creates the exclusive, branded content, retailers receive a powerful, direct line of communication and our players get a new, rewarding gameplay experience. High visibility through new content and interactive rewards makes it a win for everyone!"While this may seem something like a joke, this is definitely news worth taking seriously. Best Buy and Target don't just hand around their brands to anybody; it's a testament to Maplestory's growing cachet here in the US that this partnership is going forward. For more on Nexon's virtual sales practices, Min Kim's keynote at this year's Austin Games Conference might be helpful. Next Generation has a close look at the American approach to Nexon's business model. The technical term? Microtransactions.
The Daily Grind: Gold farming in your favorite game
Though not every game developer discusses it, pretty much any game with a currency has an issue with people farming for funds and reselling them for real world cash. What we're asking you for this morning's Daily Grind is how farmers impact your game play experience. Are they a daily hassle? Do you have to fight them for the best farming spots? Have they caused massive inflation in your game's economy? Are they constantly spamming you with messages? Or are they completely inconspicuous? Let us know the game you're playing and how gold farmers have changed -- or not changed -- the way you play.
MMOG pirates jailed for running illegal Priston Tale servers [updated]
Jail sucks, jailed in China probably sucks a lot more. Going to jail over running illegal Priston Tale servers -- the irony and endless puns are hilarious. Five Chinese men were arrested earlier this month when they were busted for running illegal MMOG servers and were also found with defrauding Prison Tale with their own bootleg RMT services. RMT stands for real money trade, which is the activity of selling in-game commodities in exchange for real-world currency. The five men are facing a stiff three million yuan (almost $400,000) civil lawsuit from Priston Tale's license holder, Shanghai Yetime Network Technology Co Ltd. The supposed mastermind behind the operation, 33 year-old Yan Shaodong, bought a Japanese version of the game back in 2006 raising the question if Yan actually believed, or was sold a legit license. Yan recruited the others, ages between 17 and 32, to help with logistics, translation, server maintenance, and promotion. They were all paid for their pirate services, maybe in duped potions -- that would do the trick. Yan claims that Shanghai Yetime never sent a cease and desist letter, and that if they had, he would have complied with their demands and shut operations down. Uh-huh, right! Apparently, Yan's pirating endeavor earned 70,000 yuan total, but during court proceedings he proclaimed no profit was earned and that they were operating at a net loss. What I want to know is if those players who thought the servers were legit and who bought any items ever saw a refund after the illegal servers went dark? Yea, I didn't think so either. Take heed, if you ever take a trip to China, setting up your own illegal MMOG server and selling in-game items isn't the best plan. There's always farming gold...[updated: Remind me not to make posts wee-early in the morning without having my coffee first!] :)
FFXI "Special Task Force" takes on cheaters
Square Enix proves once again that they are willing to bring the hurt on people who use hacks or exploits to gain an unfair advantage over other players or destabilize the economy of Final Fantasy XI. In a Special Task Force Report, they break down the approximately 8000 bans and suspensions that they've doled out since this time last month. Among the groups most actively targeted are people using illegal fishing bots, Chinese gil farmers, and people abusing the auction house system for use in real money trading schemes. In so doing, Square plucked a staggering 2.3 billion gil from the hands of cheaters and money traders.It makes you wonder why more companies aren't actively reporting the numbers of exploiters and gold farmers that they're busting every month. It's not like we don't know the practice exists, just tell us what you're going to do to stop it!
Is gold buying being used to launder money?
Law of the Game postulated that gold sellers would make an effective way to launder money for criminal organizations. Now, I can't say that I find his idea to actually have to pay real tax in-game money (which, at least in WoW's case, isn't even really yours, as Blizzard has repeatedly stated that all in game items and assets belong to them) but I can understand that, if Symantec is right and real life criminals are using our MMO hobby as a means to not only make money but to clean up money made from other, illicit activities, then eventually something will have to be done to make it less attractive to them. At present, gold selling or RMT (real money trading) is a incredibly safe business for people to commit crimes with (as, for an example, stealing your password in order to convert all of your character's gear to gold that can be sold to others) because it's new territory. The new danger would be that not only is there money to be made in the trading of on-line gold and items, but there's even more money to be made in using that trade to conceal yet more money made through already established vices and crimes. Which, to be honest, kind of messes with my head: the idea that someone pretending to be a stealthy rogue or bloodthirsty brute of a warrior could in fact be helping honest to murgatroyd killers, thieves and pushers to conceal how they made their money by buying pretend gold with real money.
A one-hour delay on AH winnings in 2.2
Alright, so maybe this morning's "final 2.2 patch notes" weren't so final. They were based on the files distributed with the patch, and there are a couple things that got changed after those files were put together. One is the Daze mechanic not having been retuned as the patch notes claimed (that change in fact got repealed last time on a very special episode of Daze of Our Lives). There is also a change that isn't in the (shipped) patch notes: when someone wins an auction that you're selling, it takes an hour for the gold to get to you.Apparently you get an in-game mail as soon as the item sells saying the sale is "pending," and then an hour later, you get your cash. Nethaera simply says "By adding in the delay we can better track transactions to assure the legitimacy of them;" I'm betting it has something to do with the gold sellers' new tactics. When will you learn, Blizzard, that the gold sellers are like the borg? You can stop one of their channels, but they will simply adapt and find another. Resistance is futile.Nah, I'm just kidding. One more inconvenience in the way of the RMTers is one more step in the right direction. In this case, it may be a little inconvenient, and it certainly makes playing the AH somewhat harder, as reader Vynn points out (thanks for the screenshot, by the way), but maybe that's not such a bad thing either. How do you guys feel about this change?And as Blizzard loves to claim, the latest patch notes can always be found at http://worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/. Those notes do contain the AH change and don't erroneously list the daze change. The reason I don't always use that source is because it usually takes a few hours after patches for the notes to show up there.
How gold sellers are transacting business these days
I was reading the Se7en Samurai blog today and found an interesting post about gold sellers. Stormgaard went to a site advertised by one of those delightful spammers in Ironforge and discovered an open letter to their customers describing how they were currently conducting business and why they changed their methods. It seems that the changes that Blizzard has made to the mail system has forced the gold sellers to change their tactics. They can no longer simply send gold through the in-game mail system because of the hour delay and the new "anti-transaction system". Face to face trades are out of the question for this particular company due to the time difference between their customers and their country.Everybody now: awwwwwww!
Exclusive Interview: Wowhead and Affinity Media
I was actually running Wailing Caverns with a few guildies from IctfB on last Friday night around midnight when I heard the news: Wowhead had sold for $1 million to Affinity Media, the company that supposedly ran IGE, the notorious goldsellers. We'd received a tip from someone who claimed he used to work for IGE, and we rushed to get the story up and also make sure it was right-- word was that Affinity didn't own IGE any more, and that Wowhead had maybe sold because of that.Still, in the week or so since, players have had plenty of questions. Did Wowhead sell out to goldsellers? Did Affinity really sell IGE and are they really out of the goldselling business? And why did Affinity want to buy yet another database when they already owned both Allakazham and Thottbot? And perhaps most importantly, what kind of changes would come for Wowhead?WoW Insider got a chance to sit down for an exclusive chat with both John Maffei, president of the ZAM content network at Affinity Media, and Tim Sullivan, CEO of Wowhead, to talk about Affinity's past, the sale of Wowhead, and what's coming next. They wanted to clear up questions, and we wanted to get answers. To read the full, exclusive interview, click the link below.
Wowhead on the acquisition
This is what I like to see. Wowhead, as promised, posted a much more detailed page on their acquisition by (as they put it) the ZAM network. According to Tim "Evilseed" Sullivan, Wowhead's CEO, "[ZAM] have no relation with IGE. They are all about content and building communities and tools to help gamers, just like what we've done with Wowhead." A very interesting Q&A follows; here are the bits that answer the questions that I've been most concerned about:Q: Didn't you sell to a bunch of gold sellers?Tim: Nope, and that would have been a deal killer. The ZAM guys are an independent content business, and they don't promote RMT (Real Money Trade). Period. You will never see gold ads on Wowhead or their other ZAM sites. We made sure that was true before proceeding.Q: What is the deal with Affinity Media? Why all the secrecy?John [Maffei, president of ZAM]: Affinity Media is a privately held company with gaming assets that operate independently. This includes the ZAM Network. The reason we are not more forthcoming in what the company owns and does it there are a lot of moving pieces. At one point, the company owned IGE but it was sold this spring. It was a private transaction so we can't reveal details. As head of the content network, I was thrilled we sold.
Machinima commercials for virtual products
As most everybody knows by now, you can sell (virtual) stuff in the (virtual) world of Second Life. It should therefore come as no surprise that sellers are using advertising to hawk their wares. One Second Life denizen (Nylon Pinkney, who blogs here) created three ad spots to stimulate demand for the Nylon 35mm, the Nyloid Super Color 1000, and the Nylonic VHS Camcorder. There's real money to be made selling virtual goods for virtual dollars. How long before the first virtual ad agency is founded for the purpose of creating sexy spots for virtual goods? Better yet, how long before established advertising agencies hire real sluts starlets to appear in said spots? Right now, all of the advertising we've seen is first-party and generally incomparable to advertising seen on prime-time television. That will eventually change, but when? [Via The Daily Graze]
Cash card taps into virtual funds
The MMORPG Project Entropia is known for its economic experiments, with pieces of virtual land being bought for high real-world prices. This latest news breaks the barrier between real and virtual money even further, however; a new cash card will let owners withdraw from their ingame balances using real ATMs.Some MMOs entirely shun the idea of converting money earned online to real money, but Project Entropia is taking this to the other extreme. The game's economy is built around real-money transfer, so a move like this simply adds a logical ending to the cashflow pipeline, with developer MindArk sitting in the middle profiting from the whole process.[Thanks, pandlcg]
Guild Wars: Character slots for cash coming soon
Buying virtual goods with real money is becoming a trend these days, but this new Guild Wars announcement turns the game's small number of character slots (four) into a money-spinner: starting this summer, you'll be able to buy more slots for $9.99 each. The upcoming expansion, Factions, will also provide more slots, so the number of characters on a single Guild Wars account should be approaching that of other MMOs soon.Other virtual services that cost real money include realm-to-realm character transfers (EverQuest) as well as approved real money transfer (Second Life) -- micropayments for a little bit of database juggling are on the rise, though Guild Wars at least has an excuse for charging for extra functionality, as it has no monthly fee.
Sony loves mag's stance against RMT
Sony placed a full-page advertisement in the April 2006 issue of PC Gamer congratulating that magazine on their recent decision to stop taking advertisements from companies that amass huge piles of gold and other virtual items in games like World of Warcraft and Everquest in order to sell these virtual goods for real money. (The practice is often referred to as "real money trade," or RMT.) First, we've got to give props to PC Gamer, because they've taken an editorial stance against advertising that they feel harms certain game environments. More game magazines should be willing to turn down advertising revenues when they feel it compromises editorial quality. That said, Sony's note sounds a little whiney. They write, "For every fix we make in our games, for every new tool we develop for our customer service teams, there are literally thousands of unscrupulous people around the globe looking for ways to poke holes in our games and find exploits in our worlds." Replace "games" and "worlds" with "software" and you've got a statement that could have been written by any company developing Internet-enabled applications. Welcome to the Intarwebs, dudes! Address complaints to Al Gore, plz thx. (Click image for a version large enough to read in full.)
Chinese gold farmers documented
This six-minute video is a teaser for an upcoming documentary that examines the practice of hiring low-cost Chinese labor to farm virtual goods for sale in richer nations. It's the new new sweatshop. More affluent nations have always outsourced their drudgery, and games that are full of such menial labor are susceptible to the same outsourcing movement that's swept through other industries. It makes sense that well-to-do gamers will outsource repetitive, mindless work. A professional who makes the equivalent of $50 per hour (about $100,000 per year) would be foolish not to spend $10 per hour to skip the boring parts of World of Warcraft. He's got better things to do with his time. The trouble is, outsourcing tends to result in the online replication of the real-world divide between rich and poor. Is it fair that rich people are allowed to skip the low-level gruntwork while poor gamers must suffer through it? Whatever happened to the egalitarian ideal that makes places like World of Warcraft so appealing? Whatever the case, don't blame the customers, and don't blame the Chinese. Blame Blizzard. And Canada. [Thanks, Probot and WoWInsider]
The history of real money trading in MMOs
There have been some hefty discussions going on recently at WoW Insider concerning buying gold and accounts, and the subject of gold farming's fast becoming a favourite amongst MMO commentators. However, the phenomenon of real money trading (RMT) is not a new one, and Terra Nova have been digging into its history.An interesting comment is that powerlevelling another character wasn't originally a service done for cash: "Men did it for women in the hope or expectation of some kind of emotional or physical relationship." Nice work if you can get it. According to Richard Bartle and Jessica Mulligan, selling items for money dates back to about 1987, and character sales have been happening since at least 1989. However, both were on a much smaller scale than the items available to purchase through eBay today; the universally-known auction site has certainly helped RMT take off and attain a much higher profile than it had in its early days.
