Looks like Lum has set off the fire of the blogosphere once again with his recent post regarding EA and their implementation of RMT, selling what essentially amounts to “cheat codes” for extra profit.. off of games you’ve already purchased!

Now, I have a few comments on some of these individual blogs, listed below that you may feel free to read, but just to summarize my overall feeling on this issue. I’ll state the following..

  • I’m OK with RMT being used for additional content in single player games
  • I’m even OK with RMT being used for access to cheat codes to plow through content in single player games
  • Multi-player (non-massive), sure, have at it, but make it clear to the other players that this player has cheated so they have a choice whether or not to play with them, or have a situation where cheaters are forced to play ONLY with other cheaters
  • MMOGs. Either allow it entirely or don’t at all and enforce it. Easier said than done of course, but I don’t think it’s entirely impossible to greatly reduce the likelihood of these via enforcement.

There’s no real debate on the fact that RMT de-values the experience of any game as you never truly play the way the designer intended. So I think a big part of the problem is getting players to recognize their natural desire for advancement, then put it aside and try to really see the value in playing the game from the ground up. Just like the movies, you can read online to find out the ending, but you ruin the experience of getting there.

Of course, movies aren’t massively-multiplayer.. and MMOGs open up an entirely different can of worms due to your decisions and their ability to de-value other people’s experience. There’s really a whole suite of issues to do with this, and quite frankly, I don’t think I can spell them out any more eloquently right now than what’s already been posted quite a few times around the internet.. so this time I’ll refer you to some other folks blogs who’s opinions I value for more..