Man, I’m totally stealing this story from videogaming247. Hell, I’ve even stole the image from videogaming247. But at least I’ve given a working link back Warcry, who covered the press conference where the following was revealed…
When asked to expand upon a button found by sifting through the Lich King beta’s data files named “Paid Character Customization,” Brack initially hesitated to give any answer at all. Several questions later, he went back to the matter, saying that he could, in fact, confirm that World of Warcraft would eventually have some form of paid character customization, though they themselves hadn’t yet worked out any details.
C’mon Pat! It’s Monday morning, but us parasitisic linkbloggers must have standards, goddammit.
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With my subscription I pay for what is included in the game today, not every possible future addition. Expansions is an example of new content I’m expected to pay extra for. This is no different from any other form of subscription. I pay for a basic package and some additions will come free of charge and some others I’ll have to pay extra for.
Is charging for cosmetic changes a good business decision by Blizzard? Time will tell. I personally have no idea. I just find the moral outrage over the issue to be severly misguided. Just because a company makes a lot of money that doesn’t meanthey should stay away from trying and make even more. No one finds it strange when a broadband provider charge extra for certain new features. An MMO is no different in principle.
Yeah – then ask yourself WHY. There are hundreds of thousands of other games, some of them with great replayability, some of them with online multiplayer etc. you aren’t charged for playing.
Ask yourself for a second WHAT you are paying Blizzard for. Server maintenance and patches notwithstanding, as outlined in my comment above.
As someone who has grown up with computer gaming (rather than DownLoadable Content using consoles) I find it very frightening that developers are moving to a system where I might be charged 3 times in the space of one month for a game (The game itself, a Monthly subscription & microtransactions).
I can understand microtransactions/paid-customising being used as a monetization method for a free to play MMO, but Blizzard doing this for a subscription game?
I think Acti-Blizz might have just missed the point of microtransactions.
Console games can keep their downloadable content, frankly, the way things are going now, next we’ll be asked to pay £5 just so we can patch a broken game. And I happen to like being able to download SDKs or the work of a playerbase using those SDKs, are we going to be charged for those two?
I’m really concerned that this is going to be taken too far and just because shareholders/investors want even more money – That is, mercenary investors who are only interested in the return on investment, rather than the success of the company… Just look at the leeches who gathered around Take 2 when EA were attempting a buy out – People like that need to be euthanised for the good of all humanity.
I’ll engage my Eve smug mode right now. 5 years on, multiple content updates and one entire graphics engine upgrade later and I’ve still only ever paid my monthly subscription fee.
I’m paying to get access to a game I enjoy. If I don’t pay I won’t be able to play it. I know there are other games out there, and I still choose to pay for WoW, since I view it, at this point in time, as better value for my money than the alternatives. Blizzards profit margins are irrelevant to that enjoyment. If they expand their revenue by introducing a paid for feature that won’t impact my enjoyment of the game I pay for, why should I be bothered? I will just choose to not pay for that part. This is no different from not buying an expansion pack to a best selling single player game that you enjoyed.
Maybe this stuff is to make Wow F2P in assia, and never intended to be a europe/usa thing.
“With my subscription I pay for what is included in the game today, not every possible future addition.”
So you’d be happy to pay them for every patch and update then?
No, and that would probably make me switch games. The same thing would happen if they decided to just triple the subscription fee. That is just my personal breaking point for the price I’m willing to pay to play though. It’s not a matter of principle.
There is also a difference between having to pay for patches, which would effectively keep me from paying the game altogether and having the option to pay for content that to most people is superflous extras.
Customization says to me that it’ll be cosmetic. If it’s to do with actual gear, and being better at the game, then yeah, that’s a bummer, and a reason to get angry. But like Seniath says, Blizzard have been doing the Trading Card Loot for a while, and things like changing realms and names are paid-for things as well.
I agree that this definitely looks like a product of the Activision merger, so perhaps the blame is to go to that company, and not Blizzard. I don’t think it’s going to affect actual patches (I sure hope not!), and it’ll just be a case of looking cooler with tabards and snazzle.
And I can tolerate those guys with the fancy cosmetic stuff. The PVP Machines on the other hand? Heh…
“There is also a difference between having to pay for patches, which would effectively keep me from paying the game altogether and having the option to pay for content that to most people is superflous extras.”
Yes, there is, but you stated you were paying only for the game in it’s current format and not any future additions. Your sub fee does fund extra developement (not to the scale of a full expansion, but think of all the extra things they have added since the game was launched. Suddenly they are adding cosmetic things for money. Now, we don’t know how indepth they’ll be, but look at the Oblivion thing – they had some free good quality dev made plugins for Morrowind, then fairly gash ones (albeit more of them) in Oblivion for cash. An extra hat or clothing piece isn’t going to cost them much time or cash at all in assets.
It’s a slippery slope, thus far every microtransaction MMO has been free to play (that I’m aware of anyway, at the very least the vast majority) and suddenly adding micros to a game you already pay for monthly is not a nice thing, reguardless of how small the item is. It’s a precident and a bad one, especially when you are already making so much money you can sit on a big pile of it and require oxygen due to the thin air.
Very well – so do most MMORPG players out there. Somebody mentioned EVE online. That’s how this stuff works, nothing wrong with that.
Oh yeah – you won’t be bothered AT ALL by all those guys showing off their e-peen shiny capes or whatnot. Who are you kidding? If you are really a fan of WoW you WON’T resist the urge to buy something like that. How do I know?
Because:
a) you’re already paying quite a lot of money for WoW
b) I fell for that trap several times myself, with games I was far less addicted to, so I stay as far away as possible from companies who try to pull that trick on me again
Oh yes, it is. You don’t have subscription fees for single player games AND you are STILL paying for WoW expansions. LOL!
Say, you really are so blinded by WoW that you won’t deem anything that Blizzard does as unacceptable?
Man, I really admire those guys at Blizzard. First they make an addicting game, yes, most MMORPGs are very addictive because you get better the most time you spend playing (unless it’s Guild Wars :-P) and the more time you spent on your character the less you want to part with it. Then, once the company has you firmly in their grasp they can start charging you for virtually anything, especially if these are small amounts of money.
“Oh, it’s $1 for a cool looking hat, why not? I’m paying for the game $15 monthly anyway and $1 isn’t much. My level 70 Warlock I’ve been playing for 2 years certainly deserves a treat, doesn’t he?”
And BAM, this is how it begins. Before you know you’ll be spending FAR too much money on a single game and EVEN if you enjoy it you WILL come to realize one day that there are THOUSANDS of cheaper alternatives that make you just as happy – but you won’t go out and look for them if you don’t escape Blizzard’s or any other companies clutches.
It’s a bit like with phone bills. A provider introduces a new offer for cheap phone calls and you go like “woohoo, now I’ll be able to talk with all my friends for hours” and at the end of the month you’re left with a $600 bill even though in theory you should have saved money.
It’s also like Larington said – WoW makes a SHITLOAD of money, Blizzard makes a SHITLOAD of SHITLOAD of money and that attracts money sharks. Thousands of games with subscription fees OR micro-payments are doing absolutely fine BUT when people see money making opportunities of this scale they start acting “weird”. They will bump a company to shareholder heaven and pull out just before it all comes crashing down because a given company or franchise have had all their life force drained out. Basically they discard it like a used condom and who has to suffer? The real fans of a given game/product/franchise because the bubble simply bursts.
Remember that while I AM theorizing about WoW in particular, I am describing what happened in real life to all too many franchises (I used the example of Star Trek, I could use the example of point&click adventure games that are slowly recovering from the shock or the infamous Video Game Crash of 1983). This isn’t pure fiction, this madness has a pattern and you could see it if you followed gaming/franchise/product history or analyzed famous company breakdowns. It’s very, very sad, since if handled properly you can make EPIC amounts of money with minimal investment (minimal compared to having to create a whole new franchise after killing the last one through greed) off any franchise that is popular enough.
Some companies remind me a bit of the Necromongers in the (very, very shitty, but that’s not the point) Chronicles of Riddick – suck out as much money as you can and leave a barren wasteland. Then move on to a brave new world.
Why do people seem to express some sort of misplaced pity for those who can afford things? Why do people make a strange and fallacious connection between enjoying something and being addicted to it?
I like WoW. I think it’s a fun game and I enjoy spending time playing it. I also enjoy (and can afford)the following: traveling, photography, women, music, weapons, etc, etc. I love my job, make a good living, drive a new car, and about to sign off on my purchase of a new condo. Every morning I wake up happy with the things I do and the stuff I have.
I suppose I am truly pathetic.
In the spirit of brotherhood, would those who pity me send me as much as they can part with, so that I can try to offset the destructive impact of a WoW addiction on my contemptible life.
Spare a coin, brother?
It already exists. You can go on Ebay right now and buy yourself a card from the card game that has a scratch-off panel which gives you a code to get you a fancy in-game tabard.
We’re (at least I am) criticizing Blizzard, not WoW players. You can afford a $1 cool hat? Be my guest – perhaps the other guy can’t, and he will be jealous, and he will enjoy the game less. It’s fine if a game divides players according to the size of their wallets right from the beginning BUT you don’t change the rules mid-way because you suddenly realized how much MORE money you can suck out of people even though you’re sitting on a mountain of gold already.
I must repeat – there are NO paid-for options in WoW that will NOT affect gameplay because a large part of the gameplay are your looks, your in-game social interaction etc. Don’t kid yourself.
If I pity WoW players then it’s only because it is them Blizzard will strike at instead of kissing their feet because it is them that made the company the multi-billion concern it is now.
Ah – another thing – let’s not forget that Blizzard already went onto the slippery slope with some ideas that were deemed “unprofitable” but hurt the fans in more than one way. Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, StarCraft Ghost? Anybody remember those?
Well, apparently it will get worse…
Yes, I remember those. Not sure I follow you though. I can hardly recall being hurt by their cancellations. In fact I benefited from them, since I did not get sold an inferior product.
As far as not being equal. Yes. Of course. Why are you surprised?
People are not equal. Some of us are smarter, prettier, healthier and overall better than others. Some have more leisure time and more means with which to finance the aforementioned leisure.
Is this unfair? Yes. Such is life.
Is there anything wrong with a company charging people for something that people are willing to pay for? Umm… no. That’s where the whole “willing to pay for” thing comes into play.
And if someone here can’t afford WoW in general or a “cool hat” in particular, then … too bad for them. Perhaps some education, some connections and a better job can take care of that.
If not, then in the words of Nelson Muntz: “Ha-ha!”
“Looks like Blizzard deserve monopolistic fine, because it clearly abuse its sole position on market.”
WTF?
It’s a fucking video game. And if you don’t want to play it THEN DON’T PLAY. Play Eve, or play Kudos 2, or read a book.
How dare they be so good at making games that they make the most popular one? Bastards. They should have deliberately made the game suck, so as to not sell many copies.
I reckon heinz should get monopolistic fines, for clearly making the most popular ketchup. bastards!
Alaric – I think you have trouble with reading comprehension and hence I think I have written all there is to say on this subject lest the discussion turns into a flamewar because of the usual “TL:DR” (Too long, didn’t read) syndrome.
Re-read the following lines, please:
(Keywords: right from the beginning, change the rules mid-way etc.)
Yes, I know HUNDREDS of games where real money is a central gameplay component BUT then I can choose to avoid them in the first place – the rules are clear and simple. I’m not bitching about the world being a cruel and unfair place, especially in MMORPGs – I’m bitching about Blizzard introducing a new system of dividing players they didn’t know about when they signed up.
Blizzard suddenly decides to MAKE money a gameplay-experience-altering factor (I repeat – your looks, your status etc. ARE part of the gameplay experience in WoW, even if they don’t affect the gameplay BALANCE in the most narrow sense of the word), which it wasn’t before (unless you count people buying gold which is universally frowned upon and fought with if I’m not mistaken) and this is NOT how you treat your customers if you regard them as any more than walking wallets without opinions on their own.
I will not even comment on “inferior products” since you obviously are not from the gaming press and most likely don’t have the info I have.
What he said.
Three words: Night Elf Mohawk
Mmm .. with WAR getting a little stale and the new WoW expansion looking shiny, I was seriously considering reactivating my subscription. How this changes things! If I wanted a microtrans game, I’d play a Korean game and just pay extra monies for bonus experience. I have to admit, though, that being able to potentially get a cool item without having to spend eighty hours farming for it .. er, no, these thoughts must be resisted.
h4plo – buy gold then. Oooops… ^^
So… who’s up for a total Bli$$ard boycott?
I’ll disengage my Eve smug mode now as I’ve literally just found out something that’s left a nasty sour taste in my mouth..
http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=896003
I will not even comment on “inferior products” since you obviously are not from the gaming press and most likely don’t have the info I have.
Ha-ha-ha! Good one! Not only have you assumed (and assumed wrong at that) but you’ve actually used your Assumption to make an argument? Fail any logic classes lately?
In any event, if we were both to give up the ad hominem arguments, I would say that I disagree with you once again. There is nothing wrong with changing the rules slightly, as long as the change benefits most of your clients – and has been requested by them over and over again.
Yes, I admit, there must be a few people who will be unable to afford the paid customizations, and whose experience will be utterly ruined because of that. I can only imagine the agony of not having the “cool hat”. Since we all recognize the importance of small things like that, nobody will be surprised if a bunch of people quit WoW outright because of it. O, those broken hearts.
However, as much as I am going to miss those unstable and demented human beings, I think I will survive their exodus. Partly thanks to the influx of new people.
In short – the way to treat your customers is to listen to what they ask for and to give it to them. Even if the AMotI are throwing hissy fits and holding their breath until blue in the face.
Regards.
We heard your little rant about how looks is a central core element of MMOs the first time, dim-sum. However it’s just not convincing those of us who don’t place any significant emphasis on those aspects of the game. The paying for vanity additionas has also always been present in WoW, through vanity pets and mounts available from pre-order bonuses and similar. You claim that paying extra for an aspect of the game wasn’t present when the game was launched. That is true. But the concept of subscribing to an MMO was unheard of before Ultima Online and that has now become an accepted norm for MMOs. Microtransactions are already in free to play games. It’s nothing sinister about trying to intoduce the comcept for extra content in a game with subscription fees as well. If people think they don’t get value for money it will fail, like the horse armor in Oblivion. If people are satisfied it will succeed. For some ungodly reason you seem to view this as a morally repugnant move by Blizzard, when it’s just a normal business decision.
Adding a persistent channel for buying such vanity items won’t affect me adversly. Unlike you I don’t seethe with envy when someone buys something I’m not ready to pay for, either in WoW or the real world.
You opinion of what constitutes hurting customers in the name of profit also seems a bit skewed, if I’m being kind. Dropping projects because you think they won’t be profitable can in no way be seen as hurting the customers. What would the alternative be? Release an unfinished game and hurt your brand and displease customers buying a sub par product? That is hardly a desirable outcome either. If your answer is that they are under some strange obligation to push on and “finish” the game properly and make a loss then sorry, you have a very tenous grip on reality.
The argument about this being a slippery slope is also rather strange, A slippery slope to what? We aren’t Blizzard’s slaves. If prices become too high they will lose subscribers because we will move elsewhere. So what exactly is the problem?
So basically, people will more than likely be able to spend real money to make their in game character look even more awesome, but any changes will also likely have no real effect on the gameplay besides just looking cool.
…..Why is this such a terrible thing?
“I sent Blizzard money and all I got was this lousy breastplate.”
What Blizzard’s trying to do is interesting, but will it work? By selling customization, Blizzard is asking players to advertise that those same players sent money for doo-dads– it’s not invisible, as with purchases of items that are available through other means. MMOs are very social, and it’s clear that there are some very negative attitudes towards players who pay extra for extras. How popular could pay-for-customization get in the face of the potential shaming?
What shaming? o.O
“You have that sword?! You paid money for it?! Oh, you dirty capitalist pig! Who, if only comrade Stalin was around! He’d rip you a new one! Shame on you!”
@Nate.
I doubt that will be much of an issue, as long as it’s purely cosmetic. What is being frowned upon in the player base is using real life money to gain practical advantages such as gold buying and leveling, especially if the gold is then used to buy for an in game advantage such as being bosted in arena play.
I have yet to see any scorned aimed at anyone for buying WoW cards to get the vanity pet though. That seems to be completely accepted. As long as it’s not seen as cheating, no one really cares.
Perhaps they are trying to steal the Maple Story marketshare. Next, they will implement numerous jumping puzzles and add the ability to purchase facial expressions.
Ugh.
I am SO glad Blizzard felt the need to merge with Activision.
/sarcasm.
The post that used the word precedent hit the nail on the head, which was what I was trying to get at in my earlier post. Fair enough in free to play MMOs, but I think its asking a lot for a subscription game to request these sorts of payments.
Personally, I think its a shame that Starcraft Ghost was cancelled because WoW was demanding too much development resources (IE content creators, designers, etc.) from the company as a whole. I think I would rather have seen Starcraft Ghost, though sadly I don’t think we’ll ever get to know if that would have been the ‘better’ game.
By the way, on the subject of the use of the word ‘addicted’ in the contect of to computer games, I remember once reading an Ernest Adams article about how we should avoid using the word to describe good games, like how in books you might say its a “real page turner”, but you’d never actually call a book addictive. Of course, good is a subjective term – I find WoW to be a dull button pressing contest wrapped in an admittedly stylish 3d environment, but others seem to find WoW to be really, er, compelling.
I think WoW is a bit boring personally.
Sorry, sir, but I fail to find any references to Alaric (or your real name which I won’t post for privacy’s sake) the famous video game journalist anywhere. Your blog doesn’t count by the way.
And yet you still fail at reading comprehension as I will soon demonstrate instead of making a NEW point here. ;-)
For example:
To answer that I will just paste in part of my previous post.
To sum it up in Tarzan-speech so you understand:
Company scores a major hit.
Company and its shareholders get greedy.
Company starts trying to make money off the franchise like crazy.
People rebel (exactly what you said – they are not the company’s slaves) and become less interested in the franchise.
Franchise stops being profitable.
Company drops franchise.
Fans of the franchise have to suffer.
Do I have to use the Star Trek Enterprise example (just ONE of the many examples) again?
People like Star Trek.
Paramount starts churning out movies, games and new series.
People get bored from the franchise-overload.
Nobody watches Star Trek Enterprise.
Paramount drops Star Trek Enterprise.
Star Trek fans have to suffer.
(The above example shouldn’t be interpreted as a sad autobiographical story but as real-life proof how these things work – I could name more.)
Oh man, discussions on the internet are really funny.
O illustrious “journalist” from spectacular playpc.pl, thank you for putting your revelations in Trazan-speak for us peons. Surely dismissing your opponents as idiots is the best ways to win arguments and advance your cause.
Also, thank you so much for protecting my privacy. I value your honorable intentions very much. All that clever hacking you did to discover my true identity can not be replicated by mere mortals, so my secret is safe. Well, unless they click on my name… Do’h!
In any event I am sorry you didn’t find me among the great journalists. That’s probably because I am not one. The last time we conversed, being “great” was not a requirement. I regret letting you down. Since I’ve done a number of reviews/interviews in the past, I figured that it qualified me as having been “in the gaming press.” My apologies if I was wrong.
Now, all this BS aside, none of your points stand up to the slightest criticism. Fans got what they wanted. Period. End of story. A tiny minority is upset, but they are always upset. There is absolutely no indication that any of the things you are trying to frighten us with will happen.
You seem to base your entire questionable theory on the assumption that people will rebel. Unless you or provide records of you having seen the future – this argument is pure speculation and will make you the laughing stock of any high-school debate team.
Stupid Blizzard if they want those stinking money so much why dont those asshats start selling in game gold for $ and selling lvl 70 chars or freaking T6 for $.
They cant get this game more facked up, then it already is.
Fucking hell, dim-wit, if anyone fails at reading comprehension it is you. No one is questioning that businesses can alianate their customers by becoming to focused on short term gains. What we are questioning is if this particular example is such a move. Your outraged little hippy triade about greedy companies filled with clumsy shark metaphors and refrences to Star Trek is hardly a compelling argument in your favour. It only makes you appear like a ranting loon.
What also is being questioned is your level of moral outrage. Just stating that sometimes a company makes a bad long term decision in favour of short term profit and then stating that this move by Blizzard could prove to be such an example would have been reasonable. What is being questoioned is your moral outrage at this change and your insistence that it will mean that Blizzard alienates major parts of it’s audience, with nothing to back up this argument than a single example of the explotation of another franchise in another field and your own inability to stand up to peer pressure.
all teh games companies are teh EVIL!!! with their GREED!!11111ONEONEONE It’s FACISM!! This is worth than Hitler.
etc…
Hey Cliffski. You know what’s wrong with Kudos 2? Not enough orcs.
Pike: you should try to live in communism, or socialism.
What blizzard do is stupidity, in communism there is lack of goods and services, nobody can’t get anything and there is no freedom or free speech.
If blizz want to sell in game content i want to be able to buy all of in game content. Or they just dont know meaning power of money.
Everything you buy on this earth is bought by money so? Why not in WoW? If they want to make money they will surely will make more with this.
They will get rid of power levelers and gold sellers, that make game that sooo much unfair. What fair is that every realm is pve? No pvp realms all balance issues are based on whiny kids that dont understand pvp content.
Awesome, so I can get my own character with customized shitty WoW graphics! Amazing! Why, it’s worth any price for a bunch of random people I walk by in-game that I don’t know and will never know to see my customized face. Golly gee!