In common usage, “RMT” is commonly associated with the gold selling and character selling trade, which has understandably shady connections. It has also been applied to the old “buying power” argument, where players buy special gear in the game with cash. This one is touchy as well, for good reason. RMT is also used as an epithet for anything other than a sub model.

Microtransactions are typically part of a dual currency model, where cash is exchanged *with the company* for in-game currency that can then be spent in different ways, and each bit of game currency costs a pretty small amount of cash, say 25 cents. It’s also become a bit of a catchall for those games with cash shops, which is where the confusion with the RMT epithet comes in. Thing is, cash shops aren’t all created equally.

Since the terms have grown to intersect a bit in the cash shops, it’s easy for those who consider RMT to be illegal and imbalanced (understandably so) to conflate the term with microtransactions and just condemn anything that isn’t a sub.

We’re seeing similar confusion of terms with “F2P”, actually. Some F2P games are indeed messes with unbalanced item shops, but others are like Wizard 101, Runes of Magic or Puzzle Pirates, with very carefully balanced options and ultimately, very different business and game design decisions. Lumping them all under a simple label like F2P or RMT has a tendency to put the bad apples in with the good, and people who just see the group ignore the good.

@stargrace Yep, it’s my biggest worry. I don’t want developers to suddenly introduce all of the most attractive items as RMT only. EQ2 has lot of nice looking stuff which is StationCash only I think.

@jeremy I’m happy with buying ‘experience’ potions etc. As I replied to Beej, it would be a lot better value for money than actually leveling up my 5th alt.

@openedge1 Good point. I think developers have caught on to this and have realised that getting people player for free is better than not at all.

@tesh What’s the difference between microtransaction and RMT? I thought they were just different names for the same thing i.e. buying game items with real cash.

I, for one, welcome our incoming RMT and Microtransaction (different things, by the way) overlords. The market needs to mature, and different price points and purchase options are way past due (and they should include subs for those who *do* find them good value).

And Turbine wins.

They only sell items that equate, in-game, to speeding elements of play.

They sell EXP/TP potions, clean Fusion Stones, Teleport Runes, and other items that speed up your play.

There is nothing in the Item Mall, that a non-payer can’t get by working a little harder or taking extra time to get.

On top of that, they use not just one or two types of currency, but 4, as of now.

There are also different sections in the Item Mall where you can get many of the same things using in game currency.

It’s the best RMT model I’ve seen to date.

Last year, the RMT model(which is a new term to me, I had always seen F2P) was the fastest growing business in video games and was 2nd only to the casual game market. Companies remain small keeping costs down, while they make over 1,000 times more money than a company like Blizzard. This doesn’t mean they are bigger or have more money than Blizzard. On the contrary, it just means the RMT model makes more money in the same amount of time.

I did a survey on the Fiesta forums over a year ago where only about 28 people participated. It was asking for only people that did use the Item Mall, and every single one of them spent more than a monthly fee with the average being 60$US a week.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t changed players perceptions. One trip to the RoM forums shows the exact same threads and spam-evolution with the same complaints/demands/threats I’ve seen on any other F2P game forum(then again the forums isn’t a great example to get player feedback from on certain things).

That’s pretty much my only issue with RMT. I don’t mind spending money on video games, it’s entertainment after all and they deserve to be paid for their work. What I don’t like is the idea that everything ‘cool’ or ‘neat’ (ie: new housing furniture in EQ2) will be on an RMT plan when there’s already a subscription plan in place. We’ll just have to see!

I would pay for something like that, even though I never had the need in UO. New RMT stuff (items and such) don’t interest me nearly as much because they aren’t nearly as redundant and time-efficient as actually starting a new character. If I could, say, buy a WoW Paladin at level 55 for 25 dollars, I’d jump on it.

Mini-transactions in a game where I am only casually playing might work, but if I were to really delve into a game, then 2 dollars here, 5 dollars there would eventually get old (*cough Free Realms *cough cough*) and make me want something more substantial.

I think F2P or RMT has its place, but in a mainly casual environment that a lot of MMOs can’t foster. Triple A MMOs (WoW, The Old Republic, etc.) can’t work with mini-transactions as easily as smaller games which would otherwise not have a playerbase.