Grumble Grumble, P2W, Capital Skill Books, Grumble Grumble

Technically, anything that would allow players to purchase an in-game advantage for cash could be construed as P2W, but I wouldn’t demonize everything that falls under this definition. For example, Omegas get a considerable advantage over Alphas, but Omega status wasn’t conceived of in order to squeeze more money out of players who were trying to remain competitive. Instead, alpha status was introduced as a way to attract more players to the game (and, imho, it’s consumer friendly). Moreover the presence of P2W elements doesn’t make the game itself P2W. For example, I wouldn’t consider Eve to be P2W as long as the single biggest factor for determining outcomes remains player skill (and not how much cash you drop).

That being said, I don’t particularly care for more and more ways for players to accumulate in-game advantages by dropping more and more real life cash -especially, when those methods have no other advantages (i.e. Plex) and possibly have other repercussions (i.e. reduce the efficacy of isk sinks). I understand that CCP is a business, and that they need to make money to keep the lights on. However, I would prefer it if they found ways to increase profits that weren’t P2W or anti-consumer. For example, I am perfectly fine with them monetizing player expression (skins, avatar items, character resculpt certificates, character rename certificates, etcetera). And, of course, in an ideal world, they’d make more money by making a better game that more people wanted to play.

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