You know, the more I thought about it the more I was totally ok with this idea. I mean honestly we have to face facts here that Blizzard has taken the MMORPG genre and with their one game have completely reinvented the market. I’d easily make the comparison between Warcraft and Starwars. You have two stories that are vast and massive, span many years and many different mediums from books to video games and soon to be movies (obvious Starwars began as such). I don’t think I need to mention the insanely growing merchandising as well.
So Blizzard is now selling in game mini-pets for $10.00. A Pandaren monk and a little mini-kel’thuzad. 50% of the proceeds for pandaren sales will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation from now through to December 31st 2009. This doesn’t detract from the game, it’s totally optional, and has no bearing what so ever on your character. I can argue that the other in game services and such (server transfer, race change, name change, faction change, gender and recustomization changes) are a little hard to swallow price-wise, but I’d give $10 to know half is going to a charity I support and that I’m getting a pandaren pet.
Well sure, they are entitled to do anything they want, and earn money from fans anyway they want, they are a business and in it to make money I guess… and I guess thats my problem, in some way I always envision game companies and novelists and movie makers and musicians as people who craft soemthing I enjoy mostly out of the fondenes and passion for the craft they work in. So tis a bit of a wakeup call to see such people cash in, in any way possible – today pets, tomorrow maybe social clothes, mounts, fancy titles and cosmectic auras, who knows.. it kinda cheapens the whole thing for me. Isnt 11 million subscribers enough?
Like Gene Simmons sellig KISS underwear, toothbrushes and coffins, making a buck off the fans anywhere possible, this does reek a ltitle of money grubing greedyness – sure they are entitled, they are a business, but Im also entitled to lose a little respect for them in the process. I guess Bobby Kotick is the Actibliz version of Gene Simmons.
There’s two camps for this whole thing:
1) Blizzard is essentially just printing money and basically “selling out” and making MMO standards into fucking Yahoo! Games caliber of gaming.
2) The game is fine and growing to encompass more gamers even if they add this extra stuff it’s just cosmetic and doesn’t affect gameplay.
I’m somewhere in between. I have WoW shirts and figures and even a stein as well as some other items. But I’m not buying the real life replica tabards and I don’t own chain mail nor do I think it’s worth spending hundreds of dollars on your in game character.
Im not about to get anything like this myself, but for some people (like my girlfriend) new pets are just as much a reason to log on as to get tribute to insanity – which we missed by 1 freaking wipe to a cheese champions make up this week QQ.
If anything this adds to the game for people like this, who have the money, and really get a kick out of having everything, or having a new toy, or w/e. Cute little pixels are worth $10 to some people, so why not give them the option to pay you for them?
At the same time I cant see blizz carrying this over too far, never gear, and if mounts, then nothing to rival the achievement mounts, unless they change the raiding/arena achievement rewards away from mounts. Clothes are already abundant from seasonal events and crafters, and if they add titles, they only carry the weight of the effort required to get them, no matter what they say. Just like the old title you could earn at 70 by paying some gold. If you really want it, grats, but really you just look stupid running around with “I payed for a status symbol lol” on your head. At least pets give whatever form of entertainment it is, that people who collect them are after.
And now you are supposed to feel good for spending 10 bucks cos you know half of it goes to charity. Its a good way to sell products, makes you feel like a good person, while really you are just giving another 5 bucks to WOW… with the other 5 goe for donations which can lower some of Bizz taxes in sertain countries that that is allwed. So basically not only that you are paying them 5 bucks but you are paying them also money that will ease their taxes…hmmm a smart way to earn a lot of money.
Damn in Europe those pets cost 10 euros. Why is Blizz always taking the numbers that US has and just putting an euro sign after it? Just for info- 10 usd= 6.71 eur. Basically we are paying 3.29eur more than we should. It seems EU pets have more expensive upkeep :-/