Yes, if/when they execute their plan to allow players, after launch, to buy credits with money, those credits will be used to buy anything. As I said before, this mechanic will be designed and limited for people that do not have the time to play regularly so that they can accomplish their own goals. Now whether this will be completely and noticeably unfair or not will depend completely on the limit and the price they set per week. I’m anxious to know.
For the most part, I’m personally okay with people that would normally be falling behind relative to other players to come back especially since the persistent universe will be a heavily curated experience for each individual. I do agree with your concerns on this point more than any other though. The ship pledges only get you a hull. It doesn’t get you anything but the most basic weapons and modules. How you configure the weapons/modules on your ship and which systems you choose to overclock are going to change the RPS balance more than anything else. So the fact that you can get access to the ability to change the balance with real money is a definite concern that will depend on the limits they set.
Of course, if you believe that people that don’t play as much should not have any opportunity to catch up relative to other players (and I’ve made the point before that relative assets don’t matter very much in a curated experience with a matchmaking system) then you simply can’t like this mechanic period. And I guess that chalks it up to what you said,
[quote=“Runiat, post:5, topic:320”]I think it’s fair to say that you and I have a different perspective on what is or is not a discernible difference. Which is OK, there are enough games out there for both of us.
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This is a great point, I for one never really thought about it like that. I agree the bulk of people that would buy it once released probably already have, perfect sense.
Money generated once released would be on micro transactions, like the Ebon Hawk at $890.68usd as there isn’t a monthly sub (may need clarification?)
I do believe that people should have the ability to catch up with those that play more than them. In fact, one of my favourite things about gaming is that I know I can catch up with people who do play more than I do - and without having to buy my way to victory. I just need to figure out how the game works, think of something they haven’t, be slightly faster when it really matters.
So long as they don’t spend their money to make it impossible, that is.
And think about it for a moment. If you have the choice between spending $100 on something that’ll buy you 100 hours of fun, or something that’ll buy you 10 hours of fun, and it’s exactly the same fun we’re talking about, which would you pick? Hardcore gamers get better value in a p2w system. Of course, they also get better value in p2p, b2p, f2p, and h3p systems, but if those aren’t p2w in any way, that wont hurt anyone.
Letting people buy money in a game doesn’t let you catch up, it makes the gap bigger, because the people who are already ahead will actually be spending less. Unless 10 hours of gaming per month is literally the only hobby you’ve got and every other moment of your waking life is spent working, eating, or doing chores. Even then, chores aren’t free.
Unless, perhaps, you’ll want to make some system where players can’t buy money if they spend more than a certain amount of time online each month? Yeah, so I wonder how that curated gaming experience matchmaking system deals with smurf accounts? I mean, if you have to set up one anyway to keep up with the other hardcore gamers, why not grab a cheap ship on it and use the mainly skill-dependant combat system to make a few new players ragequit?
This is something the SC community has talked about over the past year and I don’t think we have an answer on this one. Some people assume that this is the case, many people just think a cap per week is enough. My concern is people that play 40 hours a week and pay for credits because that undermines the whole point of this mechanic. It’s something I’ve brought up before on the old SC forums. But there has been no direct answer from the devs on this as far as I know so I just posted it as a question for the game designers to look at.
I agree that if people are allowed to pay for credits and play a lot per week, this will create a noticeably unfair advantage if a significant number of people take advantage of it. I hope they make a wise decision on it.