Chinese MMO Rends Souls
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by David McD
I saw this post on King Lud IC and the link to this article about Chinese MMO ZT Online, now infamous for its monetization scheme and systematic player exploitation. This is truly something incredible. Reading the story of Lu Yang and her journey into the underworld that is ZT Online’s digital economy is like reading the epic saga of struggle against ancient evil — harrowing, awe-inspiring, and moving. For anyone interested in MMOs and virtual worlds, this is a must-read. If you can see this and not recoil at the thought of American MMOs adopting such systems, I will be shocked and horrified.
Wow. I started playing an MMO that has some of the traits of “if you lack patience but not money, you can buy your way to the top”. However, you can play it for free, and they have “free” methods to obtain their Upgrade Points that are necessary for some extras. These points can also be traded and sold, and are the only real link between real world money and in-game items.
Personally, I feel there are two distinct ways to go, and the others are generally not a good idea, and usualy unfair. One, subscription, with no quick ways up the ladder. Two, free play, with rewards for monetary input, but such are not required to fully play.
I believe that MMO games should offer a balance of opportunity in both battle and peaceful play types. I actually like being a merchant and craftsman, hanging out at the smithy and telling stories to young adventurers, retelling their tales to others, and occasionally heading out for an adventure of my own.
Building pressure to fight, pressure to upgrade, pressure to keep spending, and doing it in a specifically calculated method to keep the money flowing in… though it isn’t illegal, and I am not even sure it is unethical, but I would hope that more people realize the addiction-like negative effects and discontinue play.