Mogstation taking another step to the darkside

[SamRF]

This game is pay to play, dude. You can break your 'immersion' at anytime just by looking at your bank statement. It is most certainly not pay to win, which is what your argument implies. Not one thing in that cash shop affects your ability to earn things in the game by playing the game.

You said yourself that buying a cosmetic from Cash Shop is equivalent of "earning" it. If you were able to earn it ingame without Cash Shop it would also be "earning" it but then with ingame mechanics instead of real life currency. Where does my argument imply pay 2 win?

Paying to get access to the game is different than paying for a particular item in Cash Shop when speaking immersion.

[Gemina]

You said yourself that buying a cosmetic from Cash Shop is equivalent of "earning" it. If you were able to earn it ingame without Cash Shop it would also be "earning" it but then with ingame mechanics instead of real life currency. Where does my argument imply pay 2 win?

Paying to get access to the game is different than paying for a particular item in Cash Shop when speaking immersion.

It comes from when people start talking about breaking out their wallets for cash shop items for things they want to have in the game while they play it. This argument would work if there were items in the cash shop that helped players win in the game. This is not the case though, which is why your argument implies it. It doesn't directly state it though, so please don't take offense to that as it is not intentional.

It is a weird argument to make in my eyes because how else are you going to make use of a cash shop item other than in the game? Unless you're proposing that cash shop be eliminated entirely, because that's just not going to happen. If you could earn everything through virtue of just playing the game, the subscription fee would skyrocket, and that isn't fair to everyone as optional items allow players choose how to allocate their disposable income. If at all.

The core of my own argument though is that they can put a RL price tag on anything that is optional. And if they do, the only way to get it is by earning the money to purchase it, or having it gifted to them. Spending real money on in game items seems to be demonized for some reason, and I don't feel it should be unless players indeed could use those items to get ahead in the game. I hope that makes sense.

[SamRF]

It comes from when people start talking about breaking out their wallets for cash shop items for things they want to have in the game while they play it. This argument would work if there were items in the cash shop that helped players win in the game. This is not the case though, which is why your argument implies it. It doesn't directly state it though, so please don't take offense to that as it is not intentional.

It is a weird argument to make in my eyes because how else are you going to make use of a cash shop item other than in the game? Unless you're proposing that cash shop be eliminated entirely, because that's just not going to happen. If you could earn everything through virtue of just playing the game, the subscription fee would skyrocket, and that isn't fair to everyone as optional items allow players choose how to allocate their disposable income. If at all.

The core of my own argument though is that they can put a RL price tag on anything that is optional. And if they do, the only way to get it is by earning the money to purchase it, or having it gifted to them. Spending real money on in game items seems to be demonized for some reason, and I don't feel it should be unless players indeed could use those items to get ahead in the game. I hope that makes sense.

It makes sense. I don't want to demonize people who bought stuff from Cash Shop (have bought stuff myself). You definitely shouldn't feel bad or something if you did buy something, especially if you support existence of a Cash Shop.

I've given my reasoning for why I'd rather not have a Cash Shop in another post so I won't repeat myself, it's also not really relevant here since it comes down to personal principles. It's a good point that Cash Shop already exists and is here to stay so it only makes sense that it gets updated with items. It seems to be the first mount in a while so there is perhaps indeed no reason for concern (despite the suspect timing).

I may be changing my mind on the issue after thinking about it some more, but for now I'd rather criticize any (minor) sign of Cash Shop increasing in significance and potential influence on the game.