At one point, I was tossing an idea around for a Perfect Ten column about a Kickstarter drinking game. It didn’t go anywhere, ultimately (it wasn’t very funny), but it did touch on the point of repeated MMO developer promises, which I think we can agree is most certainly not limited to cash shops because you see it in every MMO whenever there’s something changing.
You know the sort. “We’re selling X, but the game will never be pay-to-win!” “The game is open PvP, but don’t worry, it’s fair and balanced.” “The game will be entirely based on player skill and meaningful choices.”
A lot of these promises get thrown around because they’re subjective enough that you can always claim to adhere to them no matter what you do, especially if you’re willing to split a lot of hairs on the precise definition of “pay-to-win” and so forth. But I find a lot of them actually make me more apprehensive, not less. If you promise me that your forced open PvP is fair, for example… aside from already not liking the open PvP aspect, I’m not convinced that you also don’t understand why people don’t like open PvP. So what common developer reassurances don’t actually reassure you in the least, quite possibly making things worse?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
