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[Alawen]

All of these comments continue to manifest hyperbole and moral outrage. Let's look at this mathematically.

P99 platinum seems to sell for somewhere between $2 and $3 per 1K. This might be slightly off; I could only find one advertised price easily, so if someone wants to argue that it's higher or lower than that I don't really have a response.

Now let's outfit a character with best in slot droppables. This is very class dependent and melee characters will generally cost much more than casters and epic multiquests are available for quite a few characters. I have in mind items like Kunark breastplate and legs, hierophant's cloak, cloak of flames, runed bolster belt, manastone, cobalt bracer, fungi. Depending on class, the bill is going to be in the neighborhood of 300K to 600K, and it's very easy to go much higher than that. If we use an average of $2.50 per 1K, we're talking about $750 to $1500. That does not include the cost of a character or having one powerleveled.

It wouldn't surprise me if this has happened in the history of the server, but does anyone actually think this is common? I don't think I've ever run into anyone like that. Furthermore, it's entirely possible for someone to farm that platinum on a caster and create a melee class which they are less than proficient with, so encountering such a character doesn't inherently reflect RMT.

I think the common scenario is much more like what I referenced earlier: some guy starts on the server by spending $50 or $100 to buy something like 20-50K platinum. This is certainly an advantage over rusty long sword, but it's not game-breaking. That'll buy some mid-range weapons and armor and a haste item or progress toward a full spell book.

The comparison to third party software is interesting. It's certainly an unequal advantage in the same way, but it doesn't significantly change actual game play, so that feeling of immersion is unchanged. I do not, however, expect that competence in game is strongly correlated with buying or not buying platinum. Plenty of people suck on their own and I've seen some really awful players get geared up by raid guilds because of class scarcity, persistence or luck.

I suspect that what's driving most of the indignation toward RMT is that people not as financially successful in life would like to have equal footing to compete for the top in this virtual environment. Unfortunately, I don't think life works that way. Money is, by definition, fungible. Rich kids get better equipment, more opportunities, private training, and countless other advantages in almost every activity except running, where naked Kenyans kick everyone's ass.

Personally, I think of this as playing with toys. If I'm into flying kites and Frank builds a really good kite and then sells it to Tim, I'm not going to get too upset that Tim's kite is better than mine. I could not give even half a shit if you have your epic and I don't.

Now sell me your hiero cloak.

[Alawen]

Originally Posted by SyanideGas [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well with one cleric in the group, im pretty sure you're aware of the fact that its probably your fault if someone dies. Can't really evade on a mage brah. Was staring at the screen the whole time and never saw a rez box pop up once until the group told you I was still dead... Also, when you get rezzed im pretty sure you're oom and can't summon a pet for a few mins, so I was following yall around till I had mana to summon one.

So if you wanna put me on the spot, atleast know what you're talking about.

You mean like the time you ran the wrong way through the maze and died as you trained us in the crypt because you were afk again? Yeah, sorry I couldn't save your ass from that.

What you don't know is that three of us were bitching about you the entire time you were in the group. One of them was vocal in asking you if you were there repeatedly when you didn't send your pet. I am beginning to suspect that you suck so bad that you don't realize most of us play in third person and we can see everything going on in the camp at all times, including your failure to summon a pet, to send it in to melee or to nuke.

You suck, Skarry. You're a terrible player.

[Tarathiel]

eq was not designed to be a pay to play game(until much much later) therefore any means of procuring pixels outside of the parameters set forth by verant (camp/raid, kill, loot) is not only bad for immersion but its bad for the in-game economy. if you dont care about that kind of shit, the just remember, its again the p99 server rules. i want to continue to play on this server, people who RMT put that at risk, and im sorry but i dont want to lose all the time ive invested into this server because some lazy asshole cant camp his items or lvl up his own toons like the rest of us

[Alawen]

Can you even read? I'm not promoting or defending RMT. I started out explaining a scenario where the motivation to do it would make sense and I'm questioning its prevalence and the appropriateness of moral judgments about it.

I don't think it's even close to a clear cut moral issue. I would compare it to smoking pot. Smoking pot is against the rules. Does smoking pot make someone morally reprehensible? I don't think so. I think the law is fairly arbitrary. The pot smoker faces possible disadvantages and it is up to him to evaluate that risk and make his decision. RMT is pretty comparable. It's against the rules and if you get busted, it's your problem if you get caught.

Every post you make is loaded with tremendous logical fallacies, both formal and informal. They make you appear quite dim. What a shame.

[Tarathiel]

and to be quite frank, alawen. your blind reasoning on this matter only makes you look like an RMTer trying to justify his own actions. stop playing rules lawyer for the shit bags that are dragging this server into the ground

[Tarathiel]

Originally Posted by Alawen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think it's even close to a clear cut moral issue. I would compare it to smoking pot. Smoking pot is against the rules. Does smoking pot make someone morally reprehensible? I don't think so. I think the law is fairly arbitrary. The pot smoker faces possible disadvantages and it is up to him to evaluate that risk and make his decision. RMT is pretty comparable. It's against the rules and if you get busted, it's your problem if you get caught.

smoking pot is legal(well decriminalized, or legal depending on medical status) where i live so your point is invalid

[Alarti0001]

Originally Posted by Tarathiel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

and to be quite frank, alawen. your blind reasoning on this matter only makes you look like an RMTer trying to justify his own actions. stop playing rules lawyer for the shit bags that are dragging this server into the ground

This post shows a complete lack of reasoning. You are very good at assumption and accusation....not so strong on thinking though.
Sad

[Alawen]

Originally Posted by Tarathiel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

eq was not designed to be a pay to play game(until much much later) therefore any means of procuring pixels outside of the parameters set forth by verant (camp/raid, kill, loot) is not only bad for immersion but its bad for the in-game economy. if you dont care about that kind of shit, the just remember, its again the p99 server rules. i want to continue to play on this server, people who RMT put that at risk, and im sorry but i dont want to lose all the time ive invested into this server because some lazy asshole cant camp his items or lvl up his own toons like the rest of us

The server has been online for almost three years now. As far as I can tell, there has been the same low level of RMT for that entire time. It might surprise to you to learn that some of the founding members of Inglourious Basterds voluntarily quit when RMT was banned more than two years ago. RMT has always been around and will always be around despite your hysterics and name-calling.

If a cease and desist letter shuts down P99, it will likely be due to intellectual property problems, either reverse engineering the server or theft of the client software. If that were going to happen, it probably would have happened by now. I suspect there are powers that be within Sony who look fondly on this project. Nilbog and his crew are making a reasonable effort to keep RMT at a minimum; it is very comparable to the efforts Sony made. Your hyperbole does not make your arguments any more cohesive or credible.

[Alawen]

Originally Posted by Tarathiel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

and to be quite frank, alawen. your blind reasoning on this matter only makes you look like an RMTer trying to justify his own actions. stop playing rules lawyer for the shit bags that are dragging this server into the ground

More hyperbole, baseless accusations and name calling.

If you can't tell, I think pretty highly of myself. I certainly wouldn't grind away at this game to RMT for some fraction of minimum wage. If you recall, I originally stated that time is money. When I have extra cash, I spend it on supplies for sculpture and photography. My current situation excludes me from both sides of RMT, but that does not prevent me from examining the issue philosophically.

Your insults are weak and sad.

[Tarathiel]

Originally Posted by Alarti0001 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sad

lol that sad thing is you guys still havent caught on to the fact that im just being contradictory for the sake of being contradictory

i guess i just let the cat out of the bag =p