I've often expressed my dislike of sandbox games but I don't often go into why. There's really only one reason I hate sandbox games. Simply, the greatest rewards tend to go to players willing to endure the most boredom.
A good way to make a ton of money in EVE is mining. I'm sure a handful of people find mining thrilling, but I'd imagine they are in the minority. Since only people willing to endure boredom are miners, their services are at a premium and they tend to make a lot of money, which opens a lot of doors and makes the game much easier.
The problem is that people are paying you to play a game, and you hand them the most boring task imaginable and say, "Ok, if you want to be really good at the game you need to do this."
WoW is mostly free of this. I've said before that WoW is great because stupid things are hard and hard things are stupid. In WoW you benefit from doing things you like, like raiding, PvP, questing, and running instances. Except that, well, there is one little fly in the ointment ...
The Auction House. I Hate The Auction House.
I've never, ever heard anyone say they like to play the auction house. Every player has either one of two opinions :
1. I LOVE the auction house because I can use it to make tons of money
2. I HATE the auction house, but I still use it to make a little bit of money
Notice that neither group finds the auction house "fun", that can only be found elsewhere. However, if you are willing to be bored by the auction house -- willing to memorize numbers, keep track of vast amounts of inventory, constantly check the auction house for bargains -- vast amounts of money can be yours.
So once again we've reached Sandbox Junction, where up is down, down is up, and winning the game requires being bored out of your mind.
Let's just ditch the auction house. It belongs in the dustbin of MMO history, along with forced grouping, spawn camping, and death penalties.
It should be replaced with a no-hassle "market" that allows players to quickly and easily buy and sell items for set prices. Items sold to the auction house would cease to exist, and items bought from the auction house would be created for the buyer. Prices should still be influenced by supply and demand, but on a slower scale (perhaps weekly). Mass posting and buying-then-reposting would be prohibited, so as to make "playing the auction house" impossible.
Doing this would make the most profitable acts in the game also the most fun -- namely just playing the game.
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2 comments:
I honestly enjoy the AH more than any other part of the game, precisely because it's more sandboxy, and I feel that I can take my own direction, rather than being led around by the nose.
I play the market game in EVE, too, and one of the reasons I'm not interested in STO is the complete lack of an economy.
It's definitely the most fun part of the game for me.
I dislike the AH, but that is because of the money hungry players. They should have an item cap atleast. I don't Luke the deposit fee either. I never make money so that is probably why I dislike it tho.
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