News.com article on the revenue model for online games predicts a move away from subscriptions to micro-payment. It makes sense, but is not without problems – In virtual worlds, I suppose the danger is always that users who have worked hard to get a nice big sword will feel cheated when someone else simply buys that sword.
Incidentally, the graphical chatworld I have been working on lately, Højhuset, has been selling users in-game objects and avatar customization for real money the past 6 months (using text messaging). And users seem to be pretty happy with it.
Hmm. I think the major objection to the selling of virtual objects for real money is that it blurs some of the boundary between in-game and out-of-game and makes the playing-field uneven.
But perhaps this actually fits virtual worlds pretty well. They tend to allow for different playing styles anyway, and using real money to get the big sword is simply another playing style (that just happens to create income for the game provider). Perhaps it’s like getting a new kitchen: You can build it yourself and be happy with your accomplishment, or you can pay someone to build it and be happy about the time you saved. The fact that the rich/busy people paid someone else to build it doesn’t make the DIY people less proud of their own accomplishment.
That’s the psychological reason why selling virtual objects for real money will not turn users away from a game.
[Update: Terra Nova has a discussion on the same issue.]
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