Acceptable Cash Shop Items: Suggestions!

[Skull_Angel]

snip

Without knowing every game you point your finger at, I'll add this; many P2P MMOs have ended up failing somewhere along the line and their developer ended up adding a cash shop with massive P2W elements after reviewing their projected earnings in an attempt to recoup some of their losses. In a lot of instances this effectively worked to break even financially, but because of the way it was done the games lost too many subscriptions to keep a P2P model and inevitably went B2P with massive cash shops if not completely tanked. Few MMOs/games come to mind where the later implementation of a cash shop caused the game to tank, but this again was caused by the inclusion of mass P2W elements.

Again, no one has really addressed my question, only vehemently stated that "cash shops are evil!". What's the issue if it can be done right?

[Kerberon]

Again, no one has really addressed my question, only vehemently stated that "cash shops are evil!". What's the issue if it can be done right?

That it is impossible to do right. Asking if it can be done right is like asking if dumping toxic waste barrels into a stream in the dead of night can be done right.

[Skull_Angel]

That it is impossible to do right. Asking if it can be done right is like asking if dumping toxic waste barrels into a stream in the dead of night can be done right.

Please elaborate because you have me curious. We all know adding P2W elements to a cash shop will negatively effect a game's community, but why/how will adding aesthetic options? We already have server transfers that allow you or your friend(s) to play together should you originally be on different servers, but it can also be abused by players with the "scam and dash". We'll soon have Fantasias as well for those players that like to try different things or are never happy with choices they make.

edit; I forgot about the infamous extra retainers you can buy with an additional subscription, I can't really get behind that one.

[Malamasala]

We all know adding P2W elements to a cash shop will negatively effect a game's community, but why/how will adding aesthetic options?

No, we all know adding things YOU want has a negative impact on the game, while adding things YOU don't care about is fine. This is the only truth about cash shops. People don't mind other people suffering, but themselves? UNACCEPTABLE!

I repeat what I've said before. A cash shop may only sell time saving items.
- Like Fantasia that lets you skip recreating your character and regrinding the game.
- Like server transfer that allows you to skip recreating your character etc.
- But also selling endgame gear. Not the newest and best, but the old endgame gear that only people left behind still need.
- Also selling experience points / levels is acceptable.

If the game hadn't been multiplayer, even selling gold would have been fine. But due to economics that would not work out.

No P2W, no P2Enjoy, just P2Catchup

[Kerberon]

- But also selling endgame gear. Not the newest and best, but the old endgame gear that only people left behind still need.
- Also selling experience points / levels is acceptable.

No these are not acceptable.

[Malamasala]

No these are not acceptable.

Care to attempt an argument in favor of your opinion?

Because from a business stand point, selling "catch up" to customers will bring in additional revenue and keep players around longer because they will not give up after being left behind. This is good for the customer and good for the company, which is win-win situation.

Of course, from a complainers point of view, you'd list things like:
- A person buying level 50 would ruin the game for everyone else because they'd have zero skill and kill everyone in dungeons.

But lets be honest here. Even if you leveled all classes to 50 on your own, and entered Titan Hard without reading up or watching a video, you'd die anyway. Skill or no skill, 99% of FF14 is learning each battle.

[Gormogon]

That it is impossible to do right. Asking if it can be done right is like asking if dumping toxic waste barrels into a stream in the dead of night can be done right.

by "being done right" it means we have to place expectations on "corruption" and segregation not having a role.

Currently we have

Retainers. This is an advantage over those that do not purchase retainers. To the degree this advantage is becomes subjective and questionable.

We are getting Fantasia soon

Fantasia does not grant a massive advantage. Personally I think someone literally needs to be insane to buy Fantasia constantly to keep switching between races just to have that small stat advantage when they raid which I really doubt people will do and even if they did the advantage isn't that high.

Yet if a cash shop was introduced what are gonna get denied in return for simply not decided to toss real life money around?

Minions?
Mounts?
Vanity?
Hairstyles?

In which, how is this morally "good" to those that don't have the money or don't want to waste the money for it?

[ReiszRie]

That it is impossible to do right. Asking if it can be done right is like asking if dumping toxic waste barrels into a stream in the dead of night can be done right.

you're funny, ever heard of slipper slope fallacy?

[Ikeda]

Again, no one has really addressed my question, only vehemently stated that "cash shops are evil!". What's the issue if it can be done right?

It's impossible to do right because P2P mmos were never meant to have cash shops. You buy the game, pay a monthly fee, maybe buy a expansion pack every 2 or so years, and earn everything through gameplay. At most they're only designed to have "services" like character recreation (fantasia) and server transfers. It's possible to do a cash shop right in a F2P or B2P game because they're designed from the ground up to have that as the game's primary source of income. Try to add a cash shop to something that's already charging a monthly fee and people rightfully feel ripped off and take their money elsewhere.

The addition of cash shops to P2P mmos has been nothing more than greedy companies trying to see how much crap they can get away with before they go too far and lose their customers, the same way non-mmo game companies are pushing their luck with things like DRM, on-disc dlc, "true ending" dlc, dlc that was obviously stripped out content that was meant to be in the main game, season passes which is basically pre-ordering freaking dlc, and now they're even trying to add cash shops to non-mmos themselves and it's all backfiring on them. EA's been voted the worst company in america 2 years in a row, Microsoft had their original announcement of the Xbox One get practically laughed off stage to the point they had to reverse nearly everything they were planning because of the lack of pre-orders, Capcom is at a point where they will likely go bankrupt within the next 2 or so years, and countless mmos over the past 10 or so years have been shut down or had to go F2P.

[Skull_Angel]

It's impossible to do right because P2P mmos were never meant to have cash shops.

That is a personal opinion; many may share it, many may not, but most will agree that there are elements that will ruin a game's community if added. A company's decision to add something is it's own and cash shops do make a considerable profit and are there fore very appealing; should a company chose to implement one, the best a community could hope to do is to help the company understand what services would be acceptable and which would not. FFXIV's Mog Station is already pushing the boundaries of acceptable services with the inclusion of additional retainers for another subscription, this is not something I personally find acceptable. The inclusion of Fantasias in the Mog Station is something that is almost purely aesthetic and there fore acceptable by my standards and something many others look forward to. When (I say when because it's very likey at this point) the developers chose to expand the Mog Station even more the community needs to let them know what content they would be willing to accept and what is strictly unacceptable and the arguments behind why.