Please read the full post first as you might get the wrong idea if you just skim read it.
OK. Here is the idea.
Get a group of guilds together (I'll use 8 guilds as an example). Each guild selects 24 players (or however many players are needed to beat the raid). Each person in each guild pays an entrance fee of say $50.
So that would be (8 x 24) x 50 = $9600.
Each guild is told to attempt the raid at exactly the same time and each guild is watched by a GM to make sure no cheats or exploits are used. Guilds keep fighting the raid at organised times (they always fight the raid at exactly the same time) until one of them wins.
Visionary Realms takes a fee of say 10% to pay for the GMs and other admin and the winning guild gets to split the remaining money equally between its members.
It would obviously need to be a raid that wasn't known about before hand (so perhaps the guilds get to fight a raid a week before a new expansion is released so no one has any strats for it or anything).
What do you think? I think this would make the game so much more fun and would add some real competition to the game.
Rendall said:Twisted Idea, I am surprised that came from you!
I would Only partake If I am sure to win.
50$ for 310 profit is not something I would do unless I am sure.
The numbers were just examples to illustrate the point. They could be fine tuned with some thought and discussion.
Using real money for something like this might run afoul of local laws, depending where players are.
However, you could do some sort of raid tournament with in-game rewards. EVE runs an "alliance tournament" every year where teams of players from different alliances in game compete against each other. The prize is a unique ship design for the winning team - and if you've ever played EVE, you can imagine how hardcore people get over unique ship designs. It's PvP, but you could do the same kind of thing with PvE competitions.
I think a good competition on level footing, as an e-sport on twitch once in awhile would be cool. Speed raiding events for promotion of Pantheon.
However, I also think if such a thing were done, it should be on a special server and everyone involved should be able to pick/choose gear to go into the competition with.
It should in no way impact any live servers, except as maybe winners get a title they can show off in game.
In live servers I could see PvP arena GM events, perhaps handing out extra cookies and milk to the winners :P
-Az
It's an interesting idea and thinking outside the box, so for that, thanks for posting it.
As for the concept itself, as others have said the Real Money creates alot of issues legally, and then on the other side, I would rather VR put the effort into GM events open to all players, that help to bring the community together, whether there are rewards or not.
Isaya said:The idea of gambling in game for real money is just wrong. As bad as the idea of giving them a headstart on expansions.
Right I'd say instead of a raid content or anything liek that make it to where it is an event, like Thanksgiving, Halloween and maybe even a Pantheon Annniersity event, and make it to where the winner gets an in game prize, or simply just make it to where everyone wins to thank it fellow Fantheons to being loyal to them, and have them drop loot that is exclusive to them so the uniqueness of that item doesn't go away.
I think this could be transmogrified into a 'semi-GM' event more easily, perhaps....
Royal Birthday Tourney
Henceforth, let it be promulgated unto the Citizens and peasantry that the birthday celebrations for His Royal Majesty on the occasion of the anniversary of His birth shall take place in a mere month! There shall be a day without work to celebrate this momentous occasion, including single-combat tourneys, a 6v6 melee, an archery competition and sundry other entertainments. The evening shall contain a Royal feast with the winners of the days events attending.
Be alert that His Royal Majesty has expressed a wish to receive a fabulour chess set! It is to be made from horn taken from the Ancient Wyvern and the rarer Ancient Dark Wyvern! and needs be crafted by a Master, following one of the five approved patterns resting with our artisans.
To aid in the recovery of the horn, our finest and greatest Wizards have worked with local Gnomes to contrust a temporary gateway to the Icy peaks of Whitethaw. Should you provide them with a Gnome-weight in copper, they will transport a group numbering no greater than 24 souls across the gateway, whilst binding you to the gate. Whether by using the far side of the gate, or upon 24 hours passing, all these souls, and their attendant corpoeal bodies, will be returned unto the near-side of the gate. The rough crafting of Ancient Wyvern horn needs be done within minutes of it being harvested since, as all likely know, Ancient Wyvern Horn degrades as soon as the Wyvern's essence no longer flows through it!
The King himself will judge the Quality of the sets presented to him. The best shall be displayed within the palace, scribed with the names of those brave souls who ventured forth and the Guild which sponsored their efforts! In addition, they shall be presented to the King, and His Majesty will confer upon them the title of 'Wyvern Slayer'!
Written for, and on behalf of, His Majesty,
Scribus Kilsinus, Repressor Oneirological to His Majesty
Thus, you have an event. It has
a fixed time period ...
an entry fee ....
an unknown enemy to kill ....
an unknown environment to fight ...
a maximum number of combatants to take ....
at least one crafter to go with them ....
further crafting after the event ....
and a PRIZE!
Evoras, is not keen on the cold .... or Gnomes ...
Evoras said:I think this could be transmogrified into a 'semi-GM' event more easily, perhaps....
Royal Birthday Tourney
Henceforth, let it be promulgated unto the Citizens and peasantry that the birthday celebrations for His Royal Majesty on the occasion of the anniversary of His birth shall take place in a mere month! There shall be a day without work to celebrate this momentous occasion, including single-combat tourneys, a 6v6 melee, an archery competition and sundry other entertainments. The evening shall contain a Royal feast with the winners of the days events attending.
Be alert that His Royal Majesty has expressed a wish to receive a fabulour chess set! It is to be made from horn taken from the Ancient Wyvern and the rarer Ancient Dark Wyvern! and needs be crafted by a Master, following one of the five approved patterns resting with our artisans.
To aid in the recovery of the horn, our finest and greatest Wizards have worked with local Gnomes to contrust a temporary gateway to the Icy peaks of Whitethaw. Should you provide them with a Gnome-weight in copper, they will transport a group numbering no greater than 24 souls across the gateway, whilst binding you to the gate. Whether by using the far side of the gate, or upon 24 hours passing, all these souls, and their attendant corpoeal bodies, will be returned unto the near-side of the gate. The rough crafting of Ancient Wyvern horn needs be done within minutes of it being harvested since, as all likely know, Ancient Wyvern Horn degrades as soon as the Wyvern's essence no longer flows through it!
The King himself will judge the Quality of the sets presented to him. The best shall be displayed within the palace, scribed with the names of those brave souls who ventured forth and the Guild which sponsored their efforts! In addition, they shall be presented to the King, and His Majesty will confer upon them the title of 'Wyvern Slayer'!
Written for, and on behalf of, His Majesty,
Scribus Kilsinus, Repressor Oneirological to His Majesty
Thus, you have an event. It has
a fixed time period ...
an entry fee ....
an unknown enemy to kill ....
an unknown environment to fight ...
a maximum number of combatants to take ....
at least one crafter to go with them ....
further crafting after the event ....
and a PRIZE!Evoras, is not keen on the cold .... or Gnomes ...
Lolll your constant enthusiasm and artistic spin on things never gets old. Here's to Evoras and "Kilsinus" hahah
I am all for organized competition. I enjoy watching eSports and wish I was good enough to play professionally, but my roots are in PvE MMOs. I don't even really enjoy PvP that much. So if there were a good way to have sanctioned competitive PvE tournaments (like racing to kill a boss) I would be all over it. Prize money just sweetens it even more. This is something I've been thinking about for a while now, so I'm happy to see there are other people that I agree.
However, I think it's important to try to differentiate this from the regular game as much as possible. I totally agree with Azaya - these sorts of events should take place on their own server so you don't need to worry about interference from non-participating guilds. Two reasons: it preserves the integrity of the competition, and it ensures that it doesn't negatively affect people that don't want to be a part of it. It's totally optional.
Furthermore, I'd really like to see this be a big event at a Fantheon in the future or something, where people can watch it live on the big screen. Try to approach it like bringing some PvE to the world of eSports! The guilds are just the teams. In other games like HotS, LoL, DotA, etc. you can play casually just as you wish, or you can take it to the next level and play for money. There's nothing wrong with it in those games and there's no reason why it can't be the same way in an MMO.
Isaya said:The idea of gambling in game for real money is just wrong. As bad as the idea of giving them a headstart on expansions.
They would only get a head start on a single raid as I said.
Lots of games have eSports. It is an incredibly popular form of gaming these days. People want to put themselves up against the best and get some recognition for beating them. I don't see what is wrong with winning a prize for doing that. The people who tend to be the best in games are the ones who put in the most time and most people tend to think that time is money so why shouldn't they get a reward for all the work they put into Pantheon?
If you keep it confined to events where competitor teams have to travel, then you get around most legal issues - although contestants may still have to report it as taxable income in their state/country of residence once they get back.
So in the context of this being an in-person tournament event, like at a "fantheon", I'm down with real $$ as entry/prize. If it's done over-the-net though, keep the rewards in-game only. Makes the lawyers' jobs easier. :)
Nephele said:If you keep it confined to events where competitor teams have to travel, then you get around most legal issues - although contestants may still have to report it as taxable income in their state/country of residence once they get back.
So in the context of this being an in-person tournament event, like at a "fantheon", I'm down with real $$ as entry/prize. If it's done over-the-net though, keep the rewards in-game only. Makes the lawyers' jobs easier. :)
Good point about the legal stuff.
As for allowing people early access to expansions loads of people will have early access. Visionary Realms will need to alpha and beta test the expansions just the same way they need to alpha and beta test the main game. If you think that no one will have early access to expansions then you are either much mistaken or if you are right then the expansions are likely to have quite a few launch day bugs because nothing beats testing with hundreds of different people looking for bugs.
