Gil For Crysta ( Idea )

[Anakhu]

It's hilarious how most people in this thread did not bother reading the OP's idea and straight jumped to what they think he's saying

Like another poster have noted, the OP is pretty much suggesting a carbon copy of Eve Online's PLEX system, which was also adopted in GW2 IIRC.

There are some pro/con to this system, but it's hardly the devil some seems to be making it out to be before even bothering reading what it is.

1. Is it RMT?

In a nutshell, yes. But instead of 3rd Party RMT where the in-game cash are farmed by bots and the RL cash goes to the 3rd party companies, under this system the in-game cash are from the regular players and the RL cash goes to the game dev.

2. Is it a cash shop? and does it create money out of nothing?

No, in game currencies are not being created out of thin air and sold for real life currency, the only thing being sold is subscription time, which is then traded for in-game currencies that already exists.

3. Is it P2W?

Depends on the game. In Eve Online, money is a far more valuable commodity than in your typical theme-park MMOs, as it is the driver behind just about everything. However, even there it's hard to argue (though some do) that PLEX is P2W, as EVE's mechanic dictates that player skills matter far more than anything in-game currency can buy.

A newbie can cash out his daddy's credit card and buy himself a high skillpoint character and a 30bil isk faction battleship with the best officer gears, and then proceeds to get lolpwnd by a couple guys in cheap battlecruisers right afterwards. Will it be the same in FF14? it's hard to say, as it really depends on the mechanics in ARR.

4. Does it force people to buy items?

No, what item would it force people to buy? the only thing being sold here is subscription time, I suppose if you want you can buy 100 year's worth of subscription to FF14, but that's probably not a good idea.

5. Does it inject additional money into the economy?

No. All money that the sellers get from selling PLEX were already in-game to begin with, there is no new money created out of thin air, as the transaction remains completely within the bounds of the ingame economy.


There are definite pros to the system. For one thing, I haven't paid any real money for my 3 Eve accounts in... 2-3 years now? This system def. have allowed some Eve players who otherwise would not be able to play to the game to, well, play the game. It also serves as a way to combat RMT, but it's not going to annihilate RMT. If anything, it serves as a... price ceiling? for RMT operations, which may or may not lower RMT activity levels. It can certainly discourage players from using 3rd party RMTs by providing them a legitimate route however.

This. Glad somebody would take the time to realize what exactly it was. Thank you for explaining it in a much better way. I was tired and it was late, so I didn't break it down good enough.