Credits, Gold Farmers and other such matters.

[JenShay]

I would like to start off by saying that I find this subject highly controversial and that I am not sure I would like to see it implemented. In fact as I stared at my blinking cursor that was at the beginning of this sentence, I gave a great deal of thought to not making this suggestion. However, curiosity and the opportunity to discuss the hypothetical has won out.

First off, anyone using this would need someone with a paid account that is say two years old or older to add their names to a list with, "I vouch for this person that they are a regular player with no hidden intent to the best of my knowledge."
(That is to cut back on gold farmers using it.)

Okay, the crux of the suggestion:
Allow people to pay for SL only access per month with a substantial amount of credits.
This can be paid by the org, a benefactor or by a fr00b earning it with just RK content and getting someone to vouch for them. It can only be used for SL only accounts and not to reduce the cost of full ones or to pay for full ones.

Why consider doing this at all?

• It would be a massive credit sink.
• Long time fr00bs are unlikely to upgrade anyway.
• If the credit amount is high enough, (100M?) most people may not want to keep paying it or might not be able to raise those funds each month. So it would be like a trial period.
• ---> It would mean there are more people in areas that fully paid accounts access for them to team with.
• Give some of the SL and XP drug and you might hook some people that would otherwise not subscribe.
• It is one way of giving a friend some trial time in the Shadow Lands when you introduce them to the game with no extra RL$ cost to you.

It is highly likely that I will end up arguing against this and trying to get the thread locked or deleted.

[Grumpymcfart]

it's....a very interesting idea, but I'm not so sure it can work, I mean, what about perks? you get the one month for your froob, BAM now you have perk points, so, what happens if you perk a couple of things?

[Boruto]

I think it would be applied to those accounts with SL only.. since "demoting" an acc from sl to fr00b status isnt something you can do the account would just freeze mate.

[JenShay]

*Nods* Can't go back.

[Flyingengi]

Actually...it's a cred sink that would actually use.

[Mailana]

Allow people to pay for SL only access per month with a substantial amount of credits.

Why consider doing this at all?

• Long time fr00bs are unlikely to upgrade anyway.

McDonalds, allow people to pay for stuff off your dollar menu with a used McDonalds wrapper.

Why? Because if they're eating off your dollar menu you probably weren't making much money off them anyways. Just give it to them free, so more people will be eating at McDonalds.

They'll be paying in wrappers so they'll be fixing a tiny part of your litter problem, of course they'll be generating more litter every time they buy, and they wont touch the vast litter problem the paying customers generate, but lets pretend that that is a net benefit so we can get you to give away free food to noncustomers.

It doesn't make any sense, except as a short term marketing gimmick to trick people into upgrading their froob accounts to sl accounts then making them pay real cash for the monthly fee later. Froob/Sloob accounts shouldn't be designed for your benefit, they should be designed for Funcom's benefit. Giving froobs ability to play sloob by farming pearls 5-10 hours a month isn't a net benefit to Funcom, and wont touch the huge credit pools many longtime payers have.

[JenShay]

So, make it higher. I was just guessing at the 100M.

Point is that it would be another method of getting more people for sl00bs to team with where they want them.

[Mekh]

Sounds somewhat like what you can do in EVE Online, where I believe you can pay for your game time with in-game credits.
PLEX


So far as I've heard it works great there as people can use in-game credits to pay for some months, while paying with regular money for others... basically as it suits them best.

So making it optional would maybe be a better option.
More people could afford to pay for AO, therefore more people would play AO, therefore more people would be able to find people to team up with, therefore more people would be happy when they log on and start looking for stuff to do, but can't solo.

Only downside I can really see to this is cred sellers.... If cred sellers can sell credits cheaper than what it costs to pay for AO regularly, then it's definitely a bad option.

[Legion84]

One argument why would Funcom let people pay for game time with ingame money that belongs to them... ok it gets them into a paid account which once they fail or give up farming credits to pay for they have to pay real cash to keep it going, what's not to say they will delete their account or just quit it's a risk they will have to take, but funcom will gain no RL money which makes their world go round and helps maintain the game, Just one side to it from my point of view!

[Shonta]

Make Paid Points tradable. Make them able to be used to pay a monthly subscription. Allow people to trade them to other players for credits and then people can buy subscriptions with credits but it has to be sold by other players.
Some people have too many paid points acumulated though so it might have to be a different curracy. The point is, it would legalize selling game time to other players for credits.

That would make for a interesting experment. I wonder what it would do to the credit sellers... lol

[JenShay]

By the way, I have not played EVE and only now that you mention it remember this feature that you speak of. Where I got the idea for this thread.

... Only downside I can really see to this is cred sellers.... If cred sellers can sell credits cheaper than what it costs to pay for AO regularly, then it's definitely a bad option.

Keep the price higher. Work it out so that it is say 50% more than to just pay for the SL only.

One argument why would Funcom let people pay for game time with ingame money that belongs to them...

Noticed there is a shortage of players?
Noticed that paid accounts want more people to team with in SL?
Noticed that this is only activated by a player with a two plus year old account so someone has to say they want that player in SL with them?
Noticed that this option is not available to full accounts so as long as it is used as a method they will always be stunted? Thus feel compelled to pay up if they ever want to be on par with the other subscribers?

(Why am I not arguing against this already? I started this for a bit of a debate and a venture into the hypothetical, not because I think it is a good idea.)

Make Paid Points tradable. Make them able to be used to pay a monthly subscription.

I do not like this idea. Paid points should remain for social items only.

[Shonta]

I do not like this idea. Paid points should remain for social items only.

I agree.
Funcom should make a system where people can purchase points that are added to the account that can be used to upgrade the account with expansions, apartments, scout mechs, and other items that effect the whole account.
Allowing them to be allocated to one charector so that one could trade it would be another possibility that would bring more money into the game by letting other people pay for expansions for those who cannot afford to, do not have credit cards (like me) or live in a country that doesn't have access to credit or debit cards that work with FC.

[JenShay]

... Allowing them to be allocated to one character so that one could trade it ...

See, some how that sounds like gold farming or something similar, which I disagree with. Yet, the vouching could be sold for credits too.

[JenShay]

Wrong thread. Anyone else want to chew on this or has it run its course?

[Brofist]

Funcom wouldn't make any money off this.

Never EVER going to happen.

[byteflush]

What makes you think that they won't make any money on this?

As for the original idea, i don't know... I kind of like it, mainly because of the huge credit sink, but I do believe it does have some issues...

[drlongfellow]

A better idea would be a new booster pack that puts new cool things on RK but needs XXX expansion to equip because currently there is nothing giving froobs incentive to go pay to play except people linking items.

Only reason i went pay to play was because of money friends where making on ingots and those are not in-game anymore. I remember the whole better xp didn't really make me want to get the expansions because i couldn't go there and get a taste for myself. Think possibly opening nasc up for froobs could also give them incentive to go pay to play I was thinking ely also but then again that just bring them into the world of pockets and be a bad gaming experience

[JenShay]

Only reason ...

Yeah, that was the meat of a thread you had going. Didn't get much momentum.
Basics with this one is that it is a paid player, "signing" in a fr00b as a guest to the SL "club" with the huge credit sink.

Puts more people where they can be teamed with.

[akademiker]

Sounds somewhat like what you can do in EVE Online, where I believe you can pay for your game time with in-game credits.
PLEX


So far as I've heard it works great there as people can use in-game credits to pay for some months, while paying with regular money for others... basically as it suits them best.

So making it optional would maybe be a better option.
More people could afford to pay for AO, therefore more people would play AO, therefore more people would be able to find people to team up with, therefore more people would be happy when they log on and start looking for stuff to do, but can't solo.

Only downside I can really see to this is cred sellers.... If cred sellers can sell credits cheaper than what it costs to pay for AO regularly, then it's definitely a bad option.

In EVE Online people can buy prepaidcards for real money and sell them online for credits. This cards can be bought online for credits then. People who not like to farm for the game can buy ingame credits and people who have time can play for free, its a win-win. If a lot of people farm credits, the price for prepaidcards goes up and more players decide to buy credits. If more people sell prepaidcards, the price goes down and more prepaidcards are bought for credits. The company is not losing any money, all the gametime was already bought for real moneys.
This way CCP (Producer of EVE) can control the RealMoneyTrading and who wants to risk to buy credits from a chinese seller when he can buy it legaly?

/signed

[Obtena]

NVM, it wasn't clear but I think you are talking about froobs, not the average player. In that case, that's a pretty cool idea, though I think it could be simpler way to give them limited access to SL content for a taste.