The most important points that TTI will focus on are of course the social and financial aspects of MMOs, because this is where the biggest gaps and the greatest need to catch up in the entire online gaming industry have been since its inception.
In addition, a comprehensive technical assessment of the software client and server infrastructure of an MMO are also among the main points of a reasonable transparency index for an online game.
How much can the illusion created by a manufacturer about its powerlessness against illegal activities in its own software client still stand up to reasonable technical evaluation today?
If developers are actually so powerless against illegal activities in their own client, that is of course one of the most important points of a transparency index for an online game: How much control does the developer have over his own software?
TTI is recruiting players with a computer science background for a sensible technical evaluation. Recruitment will be opened shortly. In addition, players with a background in economics, especially statistics, and all players who believe they can make a relevant contribution to this project are welcome.
Edit:
Another point that is becoming increasingly important for customers of companies is how companies generally conduct their business and how the economic value that the company receives from customers is further managed.
Please don’t get me wrong, for me personally EvE Online is the best computer game that has ever been released, but EvE Online is not for everyone. At its best, EvE Online had 60,000 - 80,000 players on the server at the same time, right? That’s actually not much for an online game and, above all, a small number compared to the server farm that has to be operated for the EvE universe. EvE Online is more of a prototype for research and development in the gaming industry than a profitable game like WoW or CS. What was actually worth $425 million here?
That would really interest me as a customer if the company I’m a customer of was sold for a value that I couldn’t understand. What was the realistic company valuation for a purchase price of $425 million by Pearl Abyss? The expertise of employees in research and development? It can hardly have been the game with this number of players and the age of the game.
This is a useful service for game manufacturers and publishers that a transparency index for online games can provide: a realistic company assessment of game developers and their products.