I've been thinking about a certain other MMOs idea to allow players to purchase game time with in-game gold. They've developed a system which allows players to choose to either pay by a regular monthly subscription or by purchasing an in-game item that will add a month of play-time to your account when used.

Now players, can purchase this in-game time with REAL LIFE money and sell it to other players for in-game gold. Meaning, the going rate will depend on however much players decide $15 of real life money is worth.

There's always those players out there who have TONS of in-game gold but little real life money, and there's always those that have extra real life money but are very poor in game.

Would you support a system like this?

This only works with F2P games, othwrwise, you are using a cash shop

A cash shop that only buys game time... how is that imbalancing?

The MMO that is doing this is not F2P, and it doesn't have a cash shop.

Eve online has a real economy in the game which is based mainly on player crafted items, this model would not work in ESO as everyone can basically craft the same things so the main thing that will be sold is looted items. There should not be alternative payment options, There should only be the option to pay 15$ a month.

Eve Online isn't the MMO I'm referring to, and I don't see how crafting has anything to do with payment models. Please explain further.

Maybe not something that could entirely pay for a month, but perhaps up to a few dollars off. It'd certainly make a nice money sink.

I'm always up for ideas like this. As good as ESO may be, I think it'll still need all the help it can get to maintain it's pay-to-play model.

I think it could help grow the economy on a smaller scale. Guilds would have the option to assist fellow players that have real life money struggles. Personally I dont think that I would ever use my in game money on this. I definitely have felt the desire to help someone in need that I enjoy playing with. I feel it would give a much more necessary feel to crafting.

Or what if you could only do this a certain amount of times on any account? like you could only pay for 3 months a year with in game money.

In order to buy game time with in-game currency you would need an economy which means you need some way for players to exchange items for gold, in ESO there isn't really a way to build an economy this way, there is no auction house just guild shops. Now you would have to figure how much gold a 15$ game time card would cost then figure out how a player could earn this much gold in game, the only way someone could earn enough gold would be to find rare loot to sell or farm this gold which would take a very long time.

Ok so people with a lot of real money can go and buy up these in-game items and sell them by the hundreds to get a near limitless supply of in-game gold and purchase the best gear, weapons, enchantments, and gain an in-game advantage.

In other words, NO.

This is my main gripe with Wildstar and why it won't last a long time as a good MMO. There is no competition if you can buy your way to the top. And since end-game is being advertised as one of the main facets of the game...there goes any chance of success.

I feel like the amount of gold in game to purchase a 1 month subscription would be just ridiculous. Practically no one would be able to achieve this, and i think it would promote gold selling.

It doesn't need any help, people just need to stop complaining about 15$ a month. If someone cant afford to pay 15$ a month for hours of entertainment they should not be playing an MMO and stick to single player or fps games. Pay to play is a lot better than f2p, unless you want a cash shop and restricted content.

1. Why are people in this thread talking about CRAFTING - I think the OP is suggesting that X person purchases "1 month play-time token" from cashshop for 15 dollars, then effectively sells that token to Y person for 100000000 in game gold (or w.e it is worth)

2. I don't really know how this would work tbh...the logic is not quite there

One would need to have already paid for (presumably MONTHS) of game-time in order to get enough in-game gold. And then...not pay for 1 month....only to then need to pay again for (presumably months, but -1 month) to gather enough gold to do it all over again

In short, its not a viable option for people to 'pay for free' consistently enough.

This, coupled with the fact that gold-farming 3rd party sites would effectively complicate this mess even more.

It IS indirect gold selling.

Company sells (itemnamewhatever) for $15. This adds a month of game time to whatever person uses this item.

This item is tradeable.

Rich person buys a ton of these and sells them to casual players with extra in-game change.

Rich person wins every competitive aspect of the game.

In any game where money means anything it destroys the purpose of actually trying to go for the top if you don't have IRL money to burn.

The payment model you described is similar to/based on wildstar.

http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/the-game/business-model/

I can't say if it is overall good for the game, but I also can't see any major issues. For one, it is certainly better than f2p (aka p2win) models.

Wait? What?

So what you're suggesting is that you get to play the game for free after you purchase it as long as you play well enough, or continuously enough, to earn enough in-game gold to continue playing?

Yeah, that sounds like F2P to me.

It also sounds like an excellent incentive for gold farmers.

Both bad ideas in my book.

That's probably the biggest draw-back to the system. Assuming in-game gold will be powerful enough to give you a big advantage over other players.

In most MMOs I've played having a lot of gold doesn't make you more powerful than anyone. I've always been a poor player. I have to farm an hour before raid time to get all my materials for potions and other consumable buffs. But I've played beside others in WoW who were at the gold cap on multiple characters, and I always out performed them in raids.

The point being, if the devs make gold too powerful, it could be a problem. But if gold just adds convenience it will be fine.

How can you not see the problems?

Wildstar is touting its Elder game, or end-game stuff as its prime content. Particularly, raids are being the most talked about and from the devs wording it strongly sounds like the lions share of dev time went to raids.

Raids are competitive end-game.

You know what happens to competitive end-game when a person can buy their way through the grind? People stop caring about it.

There, game finished. Either it'll go F2P or switch directions to a more casual approach.

The *only* way to save people from this is to limit it to one purchase a month and put a cap on the trade price for it, as well as not have money be extremely influential in a game- i.e. most gear, crafted or dropped can be traded.

Gold will *always* buy success in MMOs.

Even in WoW. 500k gold for a heroic carry? No problem, lemme just open my wallet and spent a few cool hundred (yes, people will) and wait for the auctions to ding.

It'll be even easier in WS with 40 person raids. 1 person carries are easier the more people you get.

And all it'll take is a couple carries, maybe 5 or 10, before that person is geared out. Unless they're unlucky, of course, but if they've got hundreds to burn that's probably not the case.

How does gold make you win? Its no secret that the vast majority of MMO players buy gold from illegal pay-sites. Those players who buy gold in previous MMOs haven't magically won because they have a lot of gold.

1. Because without a way for a person to earn the gold to buy game time it would be pointless to implement this kind of system. Crafting in many games is a huge source of income and would be a main way people would earn the gold to buy the game time.

2. It wouldn't work.

Actually Gold farmers wouldn't be able to actually earn money out of the system this way. They can only earn game time.

For example, let's assume the exchange rate is 1000 gold per $1. If they can farm 60000 gold per month per account. Then be it, paying the sub via 15000 gold or selling that 15000 gold to get $15 for the sub fee, it makes no actual difference.

I doubt that they would make a trade-able token item... thats just dumb. It would be an account bound thing that isnt in item form at all. just a "how would you like to pay?" select in game money. mods go in and remove money from bank, and boom. That would probably be the best way to do it, in order to keep from anybody making a profit on it at all. FFXIV sells 1 month cards in stores now. to me thats way worse than this idea( i even play FFXIV), people can buy a metric crapload of these and sell these for however much they want. This would hopefully be a mono e mono player to ESO thing.

As I see it, gold does not really equal end game progression because the end game is really about getting the emperor skill line. And for that you have to PVP like crazy.

True, but I imagine with all the competition goldfarmers face, they would price their gold competitively so it would only cost a PLAYER $10 to get that 15000 gold to buy $15 worth of subscription token.