Friday, November 6, 2009

Pets for real money?


Looks like I'm going to hold off a little longer on making my beloved warlock into the cute adorable little gnome I've always wanted her to be. I had the intentions of race changing her this weekend. My visions of a teeny tiny little gnome followed by her massively huge Felguard as they journey around Azeroth. Him protecting her when the Cataclysm hits, yada, yada, yada.

I'll still get around to it I'm sure but instead of the race change I purchased the Mini K.T. and the Pandaren Monk. I wanted to do something special for Eto. After all he has had a pretty rough week, getting your toons stolen and all. Not to mention a (potential) new job. I wasn't sure which one he would want so I purchased them both and let him pick. Of course he picked the Mini K.T. (which was secretly the one I wanted) and I now have a cute little Kung Fu Panda that loving follows me around and randomly decides to karate chop invisible foes.

With that being said, it seems the topic of buying these pets has been pretty popular around the forums, in trade chat and such. So here is my thoughts on the subject.

Blizzard has already stated they will not be selling, for real world currency, any item that has a substantial impact on game performance. You're not likely to be able to buy yourself into the highest end game gear and weapons. That would be an unfair advantage that most players would gawk at.

Yes, you're paying money for these cute little pets. But they aren't effecting game play any. You don't have to do it to enjoy the game.

Why did I do it? Well, unlike the author of Greedy Goblin, who seems to think, I'm buying them to keep up with the masses. I don't feel that my financial status is being evaluated if I don't have them. I don't think people are going to look down on me. I just like the pets.

Seriously, I found for awhile that was the main focus of my game. To collect any and all of the pets I could find. I even, for awhile, spent time collecting the playing cards in hopes that I would find one of them there. But to no avail. So I'd much rather pay $10.00 (US Dollars) to get the pet I want then to randomly buy playing cards that may not contain what I am looking for.

Then the question becomes...How is buying these pets any different then the other "options" Blizzard offers to it's players? They allow me to pay to change my name and my server. Is that different? Maybe. I can pay to change my Draenei into a human and gain the beneficial racial bonus allowing me to increase reputation with my factions faster. Then if I choose, when it's done, I can pay to change her back. Sheesh, I can even level my toon on a PvE server get them maxed level and then transfer to a PvP server and go about my ganking business without having to worry about being ganked myself while leveling. Not to mention I can decide at any minute I want to play Horde instead of Alliance and pay Blizzard to change the factions of any toon I want. So you tell me. How is this any different then allowing us to purchase special pets or mounts? None of the things listed are required...who does it hurt?

With that being said, I do think Blizzard is again exploiting a market in their game to generate more money for their huge empire. But do I blame them? No, not really. They have found a niche into a massive community and now most other gaming companies can't even touch it.

So, if you are buying the pets to "keep up with the Joneses" then you may have problems. If you're buying them, and can afford them, because you love the little guys then I say go for it! Whatever (legally) makes your game fun.

Play your way!

1 comments:

Kara said...

A friend bought me the Pandaran Monk! If you /bow to him, he bows back :D I LOVE it!

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