View From the Bottom #4

In the fourth “View From the Bottom” feature on RPG Vault, Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel reveals why he doesn’t think gold farming is a bad thing for MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and EverQuest.

World of Warcraft has a lot of tedium. To take on the really tough dungeons and the really big monsters, you have to shell out a lot of time or cash for potions and repair costs; when you die, which happens a lot, you have to pay to maintain your weapons and armor, which can be very expensive. Because I can, I choose not to burn time having no fun farming gold in order to be able to do the stuff that is fun. Instead of paying $14.95 a month to play a game I enjoy sometimes, I’ll pay 20 bucks a month to make the game something I really like.

If you really have a problem with me spending money to skip the tedious, time-wasting sections of a game, get rid of the tedious, time-wasting sections.

In the meantime, I’ll play the game I bought in a way that maximizes the fun of my painfully limited free time. And I will give thanks for living in a country so affluent that we can even pay people to play our games for us.