Am I Evil?

[sigmund68k]

Last Spring, I started playing Final Fantasy XI on my PS2. While it wasn't completely revolutionary from the many MMORPG's that came before it, it was definitely an evolutionary improvement. In many ways, it was the best MMORPG I had ever played

Comments

You fiend!

[jp42]

As much as it'd be fun to tweak you about it, it seems that you're doing a good enough job of that on your own, so I'll let it go.

It's a complicated thing.

No matter how immersive it is, an MMORPG is not a self-contained entity. This allows external market forces (I use the term loosely, without any claim to academic rigor when it comes to economics) to fill a demand that the game cannot. Some people have done enough low-level grinding in other MMOs that they want to start higher, or got into the game late and want to catch up w/ their friends...so they'd love to buy high-level characters. Some people are tired of questing for a particular item, but really want/"need" it for their character's advancement, so they'd like to be able to buy it elsewhere. Some people don't have the time or inclination to craft/fish to earn money, so they'd like to, um, buy money.

I know it's a "black market" or at least a grey one, and that the farmers themselves can detract from people's enjoyment of the game due to spawn camping and other in-game resource-depletion exercises.

But you know what? That ain't your fault. :-) You can choose (or not) to participate in the market, but it doesn't make you evil, nor does it support/perpetuate the market.

At least part of this market emerged because of design flaws in the game, either through oversight on the part of the developers or through conscious misunderstanding of how people would want to play their game, and subsequent lack of effort to address the needs of that part of the userbase. Square-Enix *could* fix these problems by allowing people to pay an extra flat fee (or increased monthly) for a high-level character, or by improving critter loot drops, or any number of other methods that I'm not creative enough to dream up right now. Bottom line is that this external market will always exist until the developer makes it somehow unprofitable to continue.

You've just made a time-money tradeoff. You're benefitting from it in the form of increased enjoyment of the game. Square-Enix is benefitting by way of your continued subscription fees. Some digital farmer in a foreign country is benefitting by providing an in-demand service that Square-Enix was unwilling (not unable, important distinction) to provide on its own. Think of it as paying a "fun subcontractor." ;-)

Enjoy your $16.99 worth of fun. It's no more "evil" than plain ol' capitalism, and opinions vary widely on *that* topic too.