ArenaNet has revealed how microtransactions for Guild Wars 2 will be incorporated into the game. The system was revealed in a blog posting by company president Mike O’Brian.
O’Brian stressed that gamers who spend the most money wouldn’t have an advantage over others, stating, “We think players should have the opportunity to spend money on items that provide visual distinction and offer more ways to express themselves. They should also be able to spend money on account services and on time-saving convenience items. But it’s never OK for players to buy a game and not be able to enjoy what they paid for without additional purchases, and it’s never OK for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.”
Guild Wars 2 will feature three currencies: gold, karma, and gems. Gold is the common in-game currency that can be traded among players, while Karma is earned by players in-game but cannot be traded; instead, it can be exchanged for unique rewards. Finally, gems are the currency that players pay real currency for to use for microtransactions. Gems can also be traded - and gems may be traded for gold and vice versa.
According to O’Brian, “We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.”
”MMO veterans will note the similarities of our system to EVE Online’s PLEX system,” he added, ”As in that case, our system takes gold trading out of the hands of real-money trading (RMT) companies and puts it directly in the hands of players.”
O’Brian thinks this solves the issue of gold farming and ad spam messaging. ”Conversely, under our system, players have all the right motivations. If a player buys gold from another player, he gets the gold he wants, the selling player gets gems she can use for microtransactions, and ArenaNet generates revenue from the sale of gems that we can use to keep supporting and updating the game. Everyone wins,” he pointed out.
Guild Wars 2 is expected to be released sometime this year.
