[QUOTE=Samurai.;442299]…
Overall i think you took the XP example too far without seeing alternatives to make this work, and instead just dismissed it completely with weak excuses that don’t really make sense to me rather than looking at the benefit it could provide the esport scene.[/QUOTE]
I got what you meant.
If it’s a form of game currency that is earnable through skill, that does introduce the element of chance reward that is completely lacking in skill… it’s not strictly P2W, but it’s within the same arena, and it will eventually induce the same ire from people as a P2W model. Not as strong a hatred, but it will piss some people enough to be vocal about it, and that will have an impact on the game’s reputation in this touchy area of F2P perfection everyone is waiting for in the industry/market.
It won’t work with cosmetic micro items. Just look at it from the point of view of exploitation… one hack exploit could potentially cripple SD’s source of income from the game for however long it takes to patch that problem, but what’s worse is something like that, just one big hit, would cause long term damage to the reputation of the game. In the time of tracking down and fixing the problem, there would also be the need to remove/clean up any ill gotten gains.
Gambling introduces a whole new breed of hacking scum into the equation, where there’s less to hack ,more of an incentive to exploit for greater and quicker gains than an ingame hack.
It may be naysaying, but the risk on that front is big enough to make it not worth pursuing. More hassle than it’s worth.
But also looking at it from the micro side of things, that lessens the chance that people will be willing to spend their hard earned cash on items. There are easier ways to lure people into the idea of getting a taste of the world of microtransaction goodies.
The actual payoff for gambling would then have to be something else… but what could it be without seeming like a distraction from the game, and superfluous in value?
Real money is out of the question because that introduces all kinds of legal and taxation requirements for SD to meet in every single country the game is released to (processes payments/payouts from/to). Even with SD receiving real $$$ for what will ultimately remain ingame currency with no cash payouts, it crosses the line from entertainment gaming into casino style gaming, and all it takes is one arsehole to make a complaint to law enforcement or a tax department in a certain country that has stricter guidelines than usual for gambling and that country/region of players may suddenly be faced with being denied a perk in the game everyone else still has access to, or completely being denied legal access to the game, or at least local servers.
The core appeal of gambling is to earn something for nothing…pretty much, I think everyone would agree on that. And it’s hard to see a way that could fit into the game without unbalancing it’s earning potential for SD and its long term, loyal player base.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but there are a lot of negative hurdles that need to be considered in this equation.
[ul]
[li]Extra profit? maybe
[/li][li]Improved interest from the client base? maybe, not everyone likes gambling though. Some couldn’t care less, and some are perhaps morally against it (or are just true penny pinchers that find it incomprehensible… plenty of those in the gaming world, and especially in the F2P market)
[/li][li]Extra SD resources required to devote towards maintenance & security? Absolutely
[/li][li]Extra risk from both the legal and illegal ‘folk’ around the world? Inevitable on some level from the illegal, possible from legal.
[/li][li]Esports outside of Korea… is it really ready for this level of interest to make it worth the risk and resources invested into this alternate dynamic? I am of the opinion the answer is no
[/li][/ul]
To avoid being one of these downer posters that has no positives to add. The only way I can see this working is if it isn’t really DB related. If it is implemented into the Fireteam service, making DB just one of the games using that service that can be gambled on. Fireteam would have to have its own system of rewards, its own lure of benefits for gambling reward that is independent from any game using it. A benefit to this is that you create a proper betting environment where future titles are easily accessed. It doesn’t put any one game at risk of being attacked/crippled/restricted-in-a-specific-country.
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