Lum linked an article where Mark Jacobs goes ballistic against SOE’s plan to ebayize EverQuest 2 and, soon, the rest of the world.

I’m disappointed with the decision from a leader in the MMO industry to go down a path which in the past, has been an anathema to them and remains so to just about every other MMORPG company in the industry. I think that not only supporting the sale of in-game characters, items and currency, but also taking a ‘cut’ of those sales, is not only a mistake but one of the worst decisions in the history of the MMORPG industry.

By creating this service, SOE may be painting themselves into a creative corner. What will happen when SOE finds it has to change or delete items, servers, etc? Will users who have bought items through SOE take kindly to the fact that their $800 swords have been deleted? Will SOE have to consider now and forever the ramifications of every major change they make to the game based on the possibility that users will not only be dissatisfied on an ‘entertainment level’ but now will be angry from a ‘financial level’ as well?

Rather than discouraging companies such as IGE, I believe that by this decision, SOE will probably create dozens of small IGE and IGE-like companies who may view SOE’s servers as the ‘Virtual Gold Rush of 2005.’ At the same time, this decision will reduce the costs of IGE who now can use SOE’s own customer service, billing and bandwidth to complete these transactions quicker and easier than they can do under the present system.

Smedley also replied to the attack (again in the same article) but just underlining how clueless he is and how wrong is his point of view on the genre. The justification is: “everyone is doing it anyway”. FUCKING RIGHT! But, maybe, it isn’t better to go look at THE REASONS? It’s NOT about “morals” or “integrity”. It’s about understanding what the fuck it’s happening and why.

However, we will continue to maintain our strict policy against exploiting, using macros or bots, duping items, and transactions through 3rd party auction sites.

Okay. Who starts the lawsuit against this monopoly shit? This cannot be tolerated even from the law point of view. MONEY WHORE. It hurts knowing that someone else is doing money over your stuff, huh? You want it all for yourself, huh? Put that as a slogan: We drool for money! It’s not “right or wrong”. It’s just RICH.

What I do not understand is why it’s important to GIVE RELEVANCE TO ALL THIS. Why the fuck are you (Mark Jacobs) giving SOE this credit? Why the fuck it’s “the worst decisions in the history of the MMORPG industry”? It’s nothing. Nothing. It’s a company digging its grave, there’s no reason to alarm. Just let them do that and watch for a laugh. Grab the popcorns. You are part of the same “industry”, you can stop to just tail them as you ALWAYS did with the design of the games and gain an independence and personality. Are you scared because they won’t lead you anymore by the hand?

“SOE may be painting themselves into a creative corner”. Oh, really? It’s started from a long time, not now. It’s exactly the opposite. EverQuest 2 *as a whole* is a “creative corner”. This ebayization is the consequence of the creative corner, not the cause. That’s the point. They are running wild, adrift.

They are done and these are the final wails.