Discussion: NCsoft NorCal Executives on IGN.com
By
Altoholic_Monkey,
Posted on: 2008-04-03 15:48 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Only have so long for lunch so this might have already been posted, but I think it would be funny if characters could go the way of Mystery Men or Booster Gold and offer advertising space on their uniforms in exchange for game discounts $1 off on your membership this month if you put a logo for Hot Pockets on your right shoulder; $1.50 if you put it on your cape. 
Okay that was just a joke, but seriously though. It would be fun if real ads are well integrated into the game world. Let's face it in a world with superheroes then ads for tennis shoes and sports drinks would sometimes have super-hero themes. If the ads are written as if they would be written in a world with superheroes that might be fun. Heck even the guys writing the ads might have fun with that.
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The only reason for subscription rate increases is that customers will pay it. The cost for hardware, bandwidth, rack space, and literally EVERYTHING else is dropping, not raising, for MMO developers. Newer processors, and hardware are doing more work, with less power usage. There are stilll thousands of miles of "dark" fiber in the U.S., and It pay is dropping steadily since 2000.
So, no, zek, MMO prices aren't guaranteed to go up. Not in under 2 years, for any other reason than MORE PROFIT. Not with an economic downturn in effect.
What planet are you living on? *costs are increasing*.
The physical hardware? Yes, it can be purchased at around the same price everywhere right now. But the *electricity to run it* and the *cost of the overhead?*
You're telling me rent in your area's gone down? because I just got a 50$ increase in mine. And I'd like to remind you that though it's a great place for growth - San Jose is the 3rd costliest city in California to put roots down in, and that's including businesses.
Sorry to burst your bubble: but things increase. Cars have never gone down in price, and the only thing which does really *change* is the *quality* of what you get for a dollar these days, especially in electronics.
So no: costs will never go *down* for something which relies entirely upon electricity to be of any use. We still haven't even been apologized to in California for the electric-cost debacle from 5 or 6 years ago - AND never gotten a rate cut even though the government admitted it was allowing price gouging and fixing.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
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and you know... some people playing the game and others like it, might, you know, BE in advertising... They are not inherently evil. It is merely their job to promote a product or a type of service to people who they believe will want to use it.
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yeah like me, i was in club promotions and guerilla marketing for seven years at a company i cofounded, and it totally sucked my soul away. i got into it for specific reasons that didnt pan out and after that i left amicably.
all im saying is this, i wanted to post on the feedback forums my dissatisfaction of the real life ads being added to COX as is my right as a customer. i am glad that there is an opting in or out option and i still stand by my point that advertising kills what makes us human. i still love COH and will continue to play at least semi regularly because of all the great stuff that has been added since my absence.
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so i have been thinking about the ad business that is goin on and the debate. while i still say that advertising is bad for society in general; i was teleporting around in freedom and i noticed something, i hadn't noticed one billboard since i had come back to COH. not one, so i found one and imagined how orthopedic insoles would look on there. I like that the developers would get extra resources, but its totally unquantifiable for the customers that are paying a monthly fee. how are we supposed to know how our game improved with the extra money? how are we to know what that money is doing besides lining pockets of CFO's or something like that? now i totally accept that the ammount of money taken in by ads would not offset the sub prices but what about some other blatent or non subtle way the ads give back to the customers? things that really hinder our imagination when we dont have access to them. their absence regulates what kind of characters we can make and their concepts behind them: costume pieces
now with champions online coming, and from what i have read it seems they are trying to be as customizable as possible. meaning you can create any type of character you want, in terms of visual representation (not surprising cause its also made by Cryptic). now if the ads gave us access to all costume pieces, minus the lvl based one (capes, auras), that would be something. now i know what people will say, what about the veterans? "i waited and paid all that money and waited for a year so i could have wings..., and a kilt! well, if life were based on how much money we threw at each other our society would be in deep...oh wait, i just made myself sad. 
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and you know... some people playing the game and others like it, might, you know, BE in advertising... They are not inherently evil. It is merely their job to promote a product or a type of service to people who they believe will want to use it.
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yeah like me, i was in club promotions and guerilla marketing for seven years at a company i cofounded, and it totally sucked my soul away. i got into it for specific reasons that didnt pan out and after that i left amicably.
all im saying is this, i wanted to post on the feedback forums my dissatisfaction of the real life ads being added to COX as is my right as a customer. i am glad that there is an opting in or out option and i still stand by my point that advertising kills what makes us human. i still love COH and will continue to play at least semi regularly because of all the great stuff that has been added since my absence.