I don't believe this is a result of bad game design, rather good game design (from the perspective of the game producers). They are interested in keeping people playing as long as possible (long term to pay monthly or make more micropayments). Most of the time they do this by hooking into the addictive nature of players to perform the repetitive tasks of grinding or farming which also adds a sense of achievement of having actually performed a lot of work and received a reward. WoW has recently shifted this repitition across to be more 'fun' or acceptable by having daily quests. Same content but people seem willing to do it more (maybe it's just enough variety to keep it interesting). I wouldn't say that makes the WoW dailies good game design, just that it's more acceptable to the majority of people than killing boars for 2 hours.
 

it is bad game design, but it's not about boring activities. it's about the economy-model that is open.
the value of gold is less and less everytime a patch comes out or an expansion.
i wish developers come up with a closed economy where the total money ingame has a cap for example, so trading becomes interesting and needed.
 

Thank you. A blog about the economics in games.

Going into your point a bit further, buying gold really takes away from the fantasy and underlying equality of the game. Everyone starts at level one- except for the guy with excess income who can buy accounts, twink, multi-box, etc.

Turning an MMO into more than a game is detrimental to its own cause-escapism.
 

"...or an advanced save game for Grand Theft Auto"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xploder-Cheatsaves-Grand-Theft-Auto/dp/B0016LX6QC

This is I think, how all this has come about - some people simply dont find games fun - or at least find them fun in a different way. How many times have you bought a console game at a shop and been offered a disc of cheat codes or a walkthrough guide... and how is an infinite ammo cheat for gta different from buying currency in an mmo?
 

I don't think it's about bad game design, rather about the fact that many players want to experience the later content in the game. I want to see as many of the advanced challenges posed by the game designers as i can.
For me it's reasonable to spend the gold that I have in game to further my character in some way, but something like the epic mount (and training) are outside the normal bounds of this and buying 5k gold to speed up all travelling seems reasonable.
It's just about offering players a choice, either they can play through at their own pace or they can accelerate in some way to the later parts of the game. Luckily WoW has plenty of game there to play and designers make it this way to ensure the longevity through whichever route you choose.
 

Excellent post, and well taken. However, I think one part of RMT is not so much "boredom" as it is competition. In any game where there are multiple players, some will want to "win" so bad that they cheat. It's not just PvP - it's having better gear than anyone else your level, dpsing more than the four others in the instance group, bragging rights about how cool your toon is. So long as these games are multiplayer, no matter how fun all aspects of the game are, there will be people that want that extra edge.
 

Tobold,

I believe this all comes down to a matter of "risk versus rewards" and the perception a gamer has as they play -any- game. All games have rules, and those rules are usually set in stone as the construct of control within a given game.

MMO's are not unique from any other type of game, in that they mix the "game rules" with what I call the concepts of "social perceptions and interactions" in the game world. The same as it has been for any other game since the dawn of time.

I remember quite well back in the early 80's when D&D 2nd edition was quite popular, and players openly trade, or openly sold player character sheets(for as much as $300 in some cases that I personally saw) simply because they didnt want to spend the time to roll and level a character up just so they could play a new dungeon module. So RMT is much older than many people realize.

This didnt occur due to bad game design however, it occured because the social perceptions among the D&D player base shifted enough to where this type of activity became permissable.

What that in mind, I would pose the question of: is there really a correct or incorrect way to play any game(MMO)?
 

I don't agree that making all parts of the game equally enjoyable will solve the problem Tobold. Many (most ?) players have real time constraints which prevents them from fully exploring all parts of a game. For example: imagine "mining" was made as interesting as "raiding". Players who have limited time available might still choose to focus on one aspect and neglect the other.
 

> The impotent rages of game developers against RMT are really just a reflection of their own failure to make their games fun in all areas.

And my impotent rage as a player against those of my fellow players who refuse to abide by *the rules of the game* ? Pray tell, what's that a reflection of ?
 

Not so simple, Tobold.

There are power-levelling services available; why? Isn't levelling part of the game, and isn't it one of the most fun parts of the game?
Yet people want to skip it and go straight to 70.

I have never found making gold difficult. I don't play the Auction House, and I don't use any 'get rich quick' schemes either.
I simply quest, sell almost everything to vendors, and don't worry about how much money I have.

Despite this, I have still managed to buy 2 Epic mounts, and I have also bought the Cenarion Expedition Griffon for my Belf.

Instant gratification seems to be the order of the day, otherwise why do people buy end-game characters equipped with full T6 gear? What else is there to achieve with such a character other than posing in Ironforge or Orgrimmar?
 

I think you overlook a more complicated issue by simply saying that "it's bad game design". That's not necessarily the case. I will simply point you in the direction of various cheats available to non-online games as examples of impatient gamers wanting to get to the the part that interests them (usually the end credits) without playing the game. I think RMT is more a reflection of the failings of certain players rather than inherently bad game design. Our prison systems wouldn't be full of criminals if everyone followed the law. Same deal.
 

And my impotent rage as a player against those of my fellow players who refuse to abide by *the rules of the game* ? Pray tell, what's that a reflection of ?

Your rage reflects that you are caught in the same attitude as the guy who bought the gold / level: That the final result is more important than how you got there. The person who cheats by buying achievements can only buy the outward symbols, not the achievement itself. You can buy a character in full epic armor, but you can't buy the achievement of having killed this or that raid boss yourself.

So if you as a player really played the game and achieved something, killed some raid boss for example, why would you care if somebody gets the same epic by cheating? He's still a cheating fake, he still hasn't achieved what you did. If that makes you so angry, what does that say about the value of your achievement compared to the value of some empty status symbols?
 

I will simply point you in the direction of various cheats available to non-online games as examples of impatient gamers wanting to get to the the part that interests them (usually the end credits) without playing the game.

I'll gladly sell you my latest video game then: It has a starting screen where you press on a button to win and go directly to the end credits. Do you think somebody would buy that game? I don't think so.

I can see how players could get stuck in a game and use a cheat code to advance to the next level. But skipping the whole game would be stupid for a single-player game.
 

At some point in the future somebody will discover how to make a MMORPG in which all parts of the game are fun to play, and there are no parts to "grind" to achieve some result of virtual currency or level.

I believe this to be impossible. I do not think a game will ever be made where every player finds every aspect of the game to be fun, and this has nothing to do with game design, but with the insistence of players to play games that they do not enjoy.
 

Actually jacs your examples are examples of bad game design. Why design a game that is actually 2 games, a leveling game and an "endgame", so that people want to only play one or the other? That itself IS the bad game design.

And the mount? the reason the mount costs 5k is NOT just because they think it should cost that much, it's to get you to spend months playing to raise the cash. Again, that is the bad design.

But as rk says, in a subscription model, it's in the company's interest to get you to keep playing and paying, fun is secondary. Though from what I read microtransaction games in Asia are just as grindy.

I think the only way we'll get fun content is to start paying for fun content, not paying to subscribe to a world, or for items in the world. That would mean, instead of paying monthly and getting an update every few months, paying every few months for the next expansion. Tie the money to the content and you'll get more content and hopefully quality, since there'd be less incentive for a company to introduce grinds.

In a instanced world like CoX or GW or DDO that is more doable. In a persistent world it would be harder.
 

Different parts of the game appeal to different people. No game can be designed to avoid this reality. So some people will always want to skip one part to get to another part. So there will always be a market for ways to get to your favorite part of the game faster.
 

I blame WoW for the problem. Making leveling a chore and grind and Bliz even admitting the game starts at 70. Also, being total hypocrites. Bliz is against RMT however will give you in game items if you buy tickets to Blizcon .. in my eyes that is am RMT. RMT is ok al long as Bliz get the M part of it.
This had me thinking.. where is there was am MMO where there was NO money (no not a prison MMO where you use cigarettes as currency) just a environment with no money or AH, or mail, just trade player crafted items.
 

Some games in particular (I won't name names) put such a focus on the content of the end-game that the leveling game becomes a tax or a dreaded construction period.

This problem is magnified by also placing huge importantance on very subtle class balances in a limited PvP environment. Without name this game, we'll call that section the "boxing ring".

Players compete in the boxing ring and are, unfortunately, greatly affected by changes to how their characters work. When the game balance changes, and it often does, some types of characters become very strong in the boxing ring - and others become very weak. For characters with a vested interested, it is a painful process.

But buying gold/PLing/botting is a method for players to switch characters and get back into the boxing ring quickly... at a cost.
 

RMT succeeds because MMOs appeal to several different types of players. An “achiever” wants the task to be hard to give meaning to his accomplishment. Other players just want to play in the sandbox. From a game design standpoint, part of the problem is that the tasks are not hard, just time consuming. The net effect is that actual “achievement” is a measure of time investment, not from new experiences in the sandbox. That’s why leveling is popular (since you are playing and experiencing content) and farming 5000 gold for an Epic mount is a grind.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

I'm not sure gold farming is a consequence of bad game design. It seems to me that it's caused by building a game that appeals to many different kinds of player. So, for example, if arena contests are your thing, the time spent building your character up to the starting point is annoying. If (like me) you enjoy the levelling and questing side, farming AV for PvP gear is boring.

Of course you could design a game that appealed to only one kind of player, but then it wouldn't be nearly as successful as WOW. Overall, I see RMT as an unfortunate side-effect of building a broad game, rather than a symptom of bad design.
 

I'll gladly sell you my latest video game then: It has a starting screen where you press on a button to win and go directly to the end credits. Do you think somebody would buy that game? I don't think so.

Sadly, I think with some changes that game could be wildly popular. Instead of just hitting the iWin button, imagine that you need to enter three numbers. The ‘winning numbers’ are random. If you don’t get them right then you have to reenter new numbers. Once you “win” there is some trivial reward (picture of a naked lady, special movie trailer, etc).

Someone who “lost” could just keep investing time punching in numbers until they “won”. RMT is born the moment that someone else comes along and says – jeez, that’s a lot of work to hit those numbers when all I want to do is see the special movie trailer.

Now let's say that the person developing the game gets a nickle for everytime someone clicks on the iWin button. From their perspective, is that bad game design?

(repost with grammar changes of the comment I deleted)
 

It is bad game design, since most gold buying is in response to time sinks or gold sinks put into the game by the developer.

WoW, for example, has a lot of money sinks, and they exist at all levels of the game, and are priced such that you can't naturally afford them during your normal progression. You have to grind or play the market to achieve them. Or, you save yourself time and buy gold.

There is no gameplay value to money sinks, they're just time wasters. Many people don't like wasting their time, even if they would be willing to grind out the gold themselves. I did the quest and daily grind to get epic flight for my druid, but I will never do that again. It was monotonous, tedious, boring, and stupid. I'm not going to buy gold to do it either (I quit WoW instead), but I can certainly understand the motivation.

And Blizzard knows its good for business, even though its bad for gameplay. They've added even more money sinks into the current version of the game, and we already know about at least one for the next expansion (8000 gold teleport ring).

Blizzard promotes gold farming through their game design, and I really wish they'd stop. They have enough crack-like time-sinks in the game without needing massive money sinks as well.
 

Im 100% agree with you on this Tobold. Gold farming is the result of bad game design. But i have faith, the mmorpg genre is evolving and it will find the way to solve this...
 

But for the "different groups of players" argument, is that itself bad design? Having raiding, arena, and small group and solo content all in one game a bad design itself?
Yes it tries to appeal to all players, but wouldn't 4 different games appeal even more to those players? And be fun enough for those players they wouldn't want to buy their way to the end?
 

But for the "different groups of players" argument, is that itself bad design? Having raiding, arena, and small group and solo content all in one game a bad design itself?
Yes it tries to appeal to all players, but wouldn't 4 different games appeal even more to those players?
Four different games might well suit those players better, but they'd cost 4 times as much to make. So yes, WOW isn't optimum for any one player, but that doesn't make it bad design. It's a deliberate compromise, balancing income against expenditure.
 

As long as there is a medium of exchange in a video game, there will be RMT.

Even if it were a bartering-only system, someone would trade something worthless to a "gold farmer" for whatever goods that they want, which the farmer would make via profession or from finding the item, etc.

Whether it is "gold", "drachma", or bartering goods, as long as one player can trade with another, someone will be paid in "real" money for items they will then sell/trade in-game.

Unless players are unable to trade with other players, RMT will always exist, regardless of whether there is currency/money or straight trading of goods. It has nothing to do with bad game design.

Europeans traded glass beads to Indians for land. Don't think video games can magically undo that, unless, as stated, players are unable to trade with other players at all.

Maybe an industry will not arise with smaller MMOs as they have with WoW, EQ and the like, but as long as one person wants something that another person has, and that item can be traded, there is always the possibility that they will send them "real" money via paypal or whatever in order to get that item. Which is RMT, regardless of how their "real" money was spent to ultimately ascertain that item.

Even if you think that RMT somehow negatively affects a game, to remove the ability to trade with other players is a policy of destroying the MMO in order to save it. Part of the game's draw is that people are free to transact business and acquire things they themselves cannot get. I'd much rather deal with RMT and any inherent evils that come along with it, such as inflation, than play in a stagnant game where the only items you can ever have are ones you have to make yourself.
 

stop blaming the game makers.

if you don't like it, don't play.
 

Gold farming and suchlike is prevalent because everything pre-70 is useless for those of us playing the end game, and cash is / can be hard to get for those just starting out and playing the levelling game.

Every piece of gear you have as a new level 70 will get replaced, and quite significantly as you level up, as a tank I laugh at T6 rogues / warriors that try and kill me in arena / bgs, it just won't happen unless I am careless, in contrast I can actually go afk and let a new level70 beat themselves to death on me. Every piece of work they have done to this point is pretty useless in terms of gear and powerups, instead they suddenly need very expensive crafted items (nethers, hardened bars etc), or raid content items.

Suddenly you have a huge separation, and its understandable that the end game rmt is used to make it easier to get into guilds that can get you into raid content, after all most people that want to raid don't want to get into a Kara guild thats progressing there / farming in 4hrs, but rather a guild that smashes it fast and just gets you the epics you need.

The levelling game is similar, if you know the game you can make almost infinite cash (my level 30 BE paladin had > 500g in terms of skinning cash alone, but I know how to use the AH properly and what sells). However if you don't, then stuff like crusader is expensive, but highly useful for levelling because the items you need for it are priced into the level 70 range, who do have effectively infinite cash compared to a levelling character.

You can't separate the game in the way Blizzard have, and expect money and items from levelling to have value to 70s, and the ability to farm for an alt make the items for levelling priced for the level 70 end game. It's just a silly overlap with a massive power / cost difference.
 

I have to agree that gold farming is a result of bad game design. Something we do in game-based-learning is to stop forcing the player to do a repetitive task once they’ve proven they can do it, or to enhance the task with some new task to keep the player engaged. So why not let the player hire an NPC to kill rats for him and give him a cut of the money? Or think of some other way to subvert the desire to farm gold by providing an alternative in-game? Or maybe let the character make money as a low-level monster-hunter while the player is offline after the player has played enough grind content to get bored with it.
 

Gold farming exists thanks to a variety of MMORPG features.

1) Levels and level-based segregation.
2) Content gated by level, or on certain quality of gear.
3) The very existence of an "end-game."
4) Character persistence across sessions.
5) Social status defined by gear or achievements.
6) Allowing trade between players.
7) Players demanding their money's worth (subscription).

Basically, everything that makes an MMORPG an MMORPG contributes in some way to the proliferation of gold farming/selling. Blaming gold farming on lack of fun alone is a micro-scale assessment of the problem. Eliminating gold farming would require fundamental changes to the MMORPG formula that would very likely make MMORPG players lose interest in it completely.
 

People may not pay a friend to play basketball for them, but people will pay for steroids to make them better so that they are better than other players. So long as there is an element of competition involved in an activity, people will find a way to cheat, and buying gold is a way to cheat your way to dominance in an MMO setting. If anything, the most exceptional, fantastic, popular game would only attract more goldfarmers than inferior games, because more people would be driven to dominate such games.

And to make a less negative about human nature point, people want to play with their friends, and in a game where people invest years in a character, this can be impossible to do, so buying gold or power leveled NPCs.

The point is, in a multiplayer, persistent game, there are going to end up being huge disparities between players, and for one reason or another, people are going to look for ways to bridge that gap. The primary reason one goes to an MMO instead of a single player RPG is because you want to interact with other people, either on a competitive level, or a social level, and you can't really make a good case that an MMO's purpose should be to create a single player experience that is so exquisitely sublime that no one would want to skip it, because honestly, if you do, then you have made a fantastic single player game, but not necessarily a fantastic MMO.