I'm not failing to see, I just have a different opinion on what an MMORPG is
than you do :) Now if you want to call it an MMOVW (virtual world) yes then
I would expect trade skills to be a large part of it. As a roleplaying game
for me, EQ has everything that I could ask for. Yes there needs to be some
work, but admit it, the trade skills are not put in for the *fun* value.
They are put in there to make money so you can buy better equipment so you
can go fight more stuff (or in UO, kill other people). If you could buy
better weapons in Quake style games and there was a way to make money,
people would flock to it just so they could get the BMG they needed to frag
everyone.
As for your last paragraph, I have to admit I don't get confused by alot of
things but that confused the hell out of me. I have read it 3 or 4 times
and I don't quite grasp what you are trying to say. I do have one thing to
say about your last line though: people that pay real money for online
stuff have 2 things and missing one thing. 1) Alot of money, 2) Alot of
time, and the thing they are missing is sense.
> ----------
> From: John Kim[SMTP:kim@...]
> Reply To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 2:09 PM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Subject: RE: [eqbards] Re: Item Values (meta)
>
> From: John Kim <kim@...>
>
> On Fri, 16 Jul 1999, Jones, Brian wrote:
> >
> > Trade skills is what some people want in an MMORPG. That is why I like
> EQ,
> > I don't have to deal with trade skills to make money - I work enough in
> RL,
> > I don't want to play a game and work there too. In all of my years of
> > roleplaying (AD&D, Amber, etc) I don't ever remembering anyone saying 'I
> > don't want to go out and explore and kill stuff, I would rather make
> armor
> > or jewelry!' That is what NPC's did for you.
>
> What you're failing to see is that a MMORPG is *more* than a
> pencil & paper RPG. A P&P RPG was limited to just a few
> people in a universe where everyone but them was an NPC. A
> MMORPG is a virtual universe, and for the first time the
> possibility exists where the entire world *could* be run
> without any NPCs at all. If killing monsters with friends is
> all you want, then you don't need something as extensive as UO
> or EQ, a non-persistent world like Diablo is sufficient.
>
> Yes, the first MMORPG are going to emulate P&P RPGs, because
> that's where all the previous experience with this type of
> thing has been. But as players and developers start to get a
> better handle on just what is/isn't possible, we're going to
> start getting closer and closer to the virtual realities that
> keep getting hyped in the media.
>
> I was just talking with some UO friends about the new UO
> server that's going up and the de-emphasized role of NPC
> merchants there. One of them said the same thing you did - he
> works enough in real life, he doesn't want to spend his
> game-playing time "working" in a "game" to help someone
> maintain an online merchant store. Then it hit us - someone
> who is sufficiently wealthy in real life could *pay* someone
> real-life money to employ someone to *work* in a merchant
> store in a "game." That is the paradigm shift most people
> don't yet realize - we are moving from "online game" to
> "virtual world," and the line between virtual and real is
> beginning to blur. We're already seeing it with people paying
> real-life money for virtual items.
>
> --
> John H. Kim
> kim@...
>
>
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