Friday 6 November 2009

Store Wars

On Wednesday afternoon (GMT) whilst tentatively rediscovering World of Warcraft I was surprised to read on WoW.com

Blizzard launches real money in-game pet store


Curiously I read further and with an uncharacteristic girly squeal of delight I had within minutes bought the Pandaren (kung fu) Monk. It seems,however, in my rush of desire to possess this excellent companion I had misunderstood the whole situation.

I was informed in an avalanche of tweets and comments that this was not the game I love offering me new avenues of joy but rather some evil plot by a corrupt money hungry company to exploit it's vast ignorant user base.

I paused for thought and the thought that quickly emerged was BOLLOCKS!

As with many recent 'controversies' regarding WoW a section of the community seem shocked when Blizzard acts like a business. How dare they try and make more money they cry don't they have enough! This just seems odd to me. Don't get me wrong I love getting free stuff however I am also smart enough to know this is not how things work.

The way I see it is if Blizzard wants to sell vanity items that do not effect the core game play then so be it. This caters to the players who perhaps do not always have the time to earn such items in game or those players cursed by RNGitis.

There is the argument that this is the top of a slippery slope. To be honest if Blizzard do ever sell game changing items for real money then that would be a whole different matter but the fact is that would be a bad business decision and the pet store was not.

Your comments and opinions as always are welcome meanwhile look at my kick arse panda below.




(A special thanks goes to @alachia for pointing out that a blog is not just for Christmas and also for giving her Pandaren to someone else and not keeping it for herself.)

2 comments:

  1. I made a point that day that it's not much different for people buying loads of TCG packs to get a chance at a ~possible~ mount, pet, or whatever. At least you get a guaranteed ~vanity~ pet. And from what I understand, the pandarin's proceeds go to Make a Wish.

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  2. Certainly 50% of the ten dollars you pay does. Weirdly enough the use of charity also angered people as if it was a way to guilt people into buying stuff. It seems the realisation that Blizz doesn't have to give to charity escaped those people.

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