No one was expecting the current 900-pound-gorilla of the MMO market to throw its hat in the ring regarding microtransactions, but the fact that it's in the mix has forced a large number of people to take a look at the philosophies and patterns of the business model. Killed in a Smiling Accident recently put down some thoughts regarding the differences, explaining that World of Warcraft's model is, in their opinion, inferior to the one found in the equally-significant microtransaction model of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The former has a store consisting of fluff items with no equivalent in the game, while the latter largely puts forth offerings that can be obtained in the normal game if you want to take the time.

Of course, there's the obvious counter brought up in the comments: that it's better to have microtransactions selling something you can't otherwise get in the game. Simply take a look at Champions Online and the controversy over retcon pricing to see how the two can be better left untethered. Getting something unique is a nice bonus for a game you enjoy -- for example, look at the bonus costume packs that City of Heroes sells. However, with items on sale that can be obtained from gameplay, the game can feel a bit more disjointed. There's a case to be made for both sides, and with the free-to-play model gaining speed, it should be interesting to note where the majority of MMO players draw the line.

In a move some expected and others didn't, Blizzard decided to remove that last layer insulating its game from the practice of RMT: real money transactions. Previously, players had to purchase the trading card game to get the special extra pets for the game, and that was rather a dicey proposition. You could just pay a high price and get the card directly, or you could take your chances with your money, much like Charlie in his pursuit of a golden ticket. Now, you can just go to the Blizzard store and purchase a Pandaren or a Lil' KT pet for $10USD.

Considering how several people were unhappy with the Champions Online microtransaction store, we can't imagine this is going over too well with everyone. Some feel that these are just pets and -- while pricey -- aren't anything to make a fuss over. Others feel that this is the top of the slippery slope that will eventually see some form of in-game benefits gained through store purchases, much like many item mall games. This morning we thought we'd ask you. Do you think this is a wonderful idea, and you're glad to see Blizzard exploring the territory? Do you think it's a good idea but the price is way too high -- a macrotransaction rather than a microtransaction. Are you leery but trusting for now? Or is this all a load of crap, and subscription games should make everything available if you're willing to grind it?

For the past week I've been delving deep into the dungeons of Runic Games' Torchlight and found the experience to be nothing short of joyous. Granted, like many other people I also wish some kind of co-op shipped with the game (even over LAN) but thankfully the developer's next project will be an MMO built upon the foundation laid down by last week's release.

My joy for this game most definitely bleeds into its MMO incarnation, which has led to far too much thinking on additions I'd like to see made. So this week, I'm going to get them all off my chest in the hopes that I'll stop obsessing over them. Of course, there's never a guarantee with these things.

Sure, the peace between the Alliance and the Horde in World of Warcraft is supposed to be present, but it doesn't stop them from trying to take each other out whenever they can. Take for example today's One Shots sent in to us from Minifig of the Darkness Beyond Twilight guild. While this is obviously a Horde base on the Isle of Conquest, it doesn't stop Minifig from flying straight into it, in what appears to be a crazy attempt to ram straight into their zeppelin. Crazy or brave? You make the call!

With millions of World of Warcraft players, we actually don't get too many screens from that game. If you'd like to send one in from WoW or any other MMO, we'd be glad to post it. Drop it into an email addressed to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll show it off to all our readers and give you the nod.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard has indeed confirmed the cancellation of MechScape, although you wouldn't quite know it from his comments, which seem excited to be working on a different title with a new direction. This isn't the first time an in-development MMO has been rebooted in favor of a completely new direction, although Tabula Rasa at least kept its original name.

Why the sudden decision? According to Gerhard, MechScape wasn't able to avoid the same pitfalls of RuneScape. Of course, making such a move is going to cost Jagex millions, but their current financial success will be shouldering the weight. The new game -- known as Stellar Dawn -- should be coming in 2010 and will be based on the MechScape graphics engine.

The big changes planned for Stellar Dawn are content and combat focused, although no specifics were given by Gerhard. It's a bold move, no doubt, and sometimes this industry favors such decisions -- other times it punishes them significantly. Whether you look at this as stalled (Tabula Rasa) or prolonged (everything Blizzard) development, you have to admit it creates a notable amount of interest in Jagex's 2010 game.

Often times grind is lambasted as the worst part of this genre, something to be minimized and removed to any and all extent. I understand all too well why; hundreds of hours of brain melting repetitiveness. Only here's the rub: the very nature of MMOs -- persistence -- creates a grind. Unless you keep it under a reasonable number of hours played, it'll turn into a festival of grind.

I used to think this was a colossal problem, yet lately I'm beginning to rethink my stance.

With Patch 3.3 bringing in lots of goodies, the holiday event coming up, and Cataclysm looming on the horizon, Outland may not be the place a lot of people are spending time these days. Nonetheless, the skies over this strange other-world remain a beautiful place to stop and enjoy a moment of quiet. This great World of Warcraft One Shots comes to us from Tristalus of the Crimson Alliance - a guild that he says has been together for 12 years this December! He writes in: Many of us have moved on from Outlands for some time now. One day while I was flying through gathering some materials, I looked up. Everything came together in the sky for a beautiful screenshot! You can almost picture flying through that can't you?

When your server goes down for maintenance, why not take a little time and dig through that screenshot folder. That way if you find something tasty from your travels, you can email it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. Any other info you'd like to share about your guild, group, character, etc, is welcome as well. We'll post it out here and give you the thanks for contributing to One Shots!

Over at Keen and Graev's blog, Keen brings up a rather interesting point about the pace at which we play MMOs nowadays. He's concerned that everyone -- developers included -- are too concerned with leaping and bounding through each and every moment they play an MMO.

There may really be no 'right' answer to the question this observation raises: Do we move too fast through an MMO? Or even more to the point -- in our opinion -- is this genre becoming too concerned with imitating a singleplayer game? Those two questions are most definitely connected and it really comes down to what people want, which ultimately reaches the question of how people spend their money.

Walled garden games -- we're talking World of Warcraft and such here -- most definitely thrive on pushing players forward. It's the sandbox games that ask their players to move around horizontally; to actually talk to someone for a reason other than finishing a quest to level or craft. It's all a matter of preference. If the sandbox loving, slow rolling players aren't being properly served, someone will capitalize on that. Why, we're pretty sure there's a new game called Fallen Earth that some of you may be interested in checking out.

It's ironic that just as the GDC in Shanghai is getting into motion, the Chinese government is making some moves regarding the future of online games in China. It's a sweeping change, at that -- the General Administration of Press and Publication, the regulator of games in China, made a declaration officially preventing any foreign companies from operating a game in China, through joint ventures or otherwise. The move is fairly clearly intended to prevent any foreign companies from muscling in on China's lucrative online gaming market, but it's possible that liberal interpretations of "investors" might even include foreign players on Chinese servers.

However, the GAPP's declaration isn't the end of the story. As it turns out, the Chinese Ministry of Culture is at odds with this announcement, claiming that the authority to make such decisions passed to them on the seventh of September. Tuo Zu Hai, the vice director of the Ministry of Culture's Market Department, said he was "shocked to hear the news", indicating that there was a communication lapse between the two agencies and the ultimate resolution is still up in the air. It's unsure of how much impact this will have on NetEase, whose recent acquisition of World of Warcraft was a major coup for the company and who would be directly affected if Blizzard was blocked from interacting with them.

[ via GamePolitics ]

While the time has come and gone for "Talk Like a Pirate Day" we figure just about any day is a good one for pirates and silly fish tales about the big ones you've caught. Today we have a piratey shot from Liam B. who sent this in after being turned into a pirate in World of Warcraft on September 19th. He writes: Hey, I captured this after finding out that you could become a pirate for the day in World of Warcraft. This is at Stormwind Harbor and the one thing that keeps on running through my head is - "Yarrgh, caught her I did. Had t' use a deckhand as bait, and she was this big!"

Calling all MMO players! We need your screenshots for One Shots. If you've seen anything fun (holiday events are awesome) imposing, interesting, or silly, we want to hear from you. If you haven't, gather up your group of friends and go have some fun, then send some screens of that in. All MMOs from large-budget to tiny indie games; from East to West are welcome. Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name/server/game and a quick description of what we're seeing. Reader submissions keep One Shots running, so send some in today!

Some folks feel that immersion should trump game mechanics in a way that other find uncomfortable. Should we parley mechanics for the 'greater good' of some mystical all encompassing concept of improved immersion? Good question, and perfect for today's The Digital Continuum.

Immersion vs. mechanics, it's a theme that grabs you by the shirt collar and smacks you around a little bit -- or a lot, depending on how serious you take the discussion.

Back at the end of January, after we spent months investigating, talking to the Australian Classification Board, and both State and Federal Australian Attorneys General offices, it became clear that an apparent discrepancy in Australian games ratings was no discrepancy.

MMOGs were being sold on store shelves in Australia without the mandatory classification required by law. The whole thing was a tangle of confusing and contradictory information and statements from publishers, developers, industry associations, retailers and government departments. The government departments involved ultimately passed the buck back and forth between State and Federal jurisdictions, until their press-offices simply refused to talk.

Now, at last, the government seems to have gotten its message straight. In the wake of the coverage most MMOGs applied for and received a rating. Even Blizzard's World of Warcraft (a bit of a johnny-come-lately) has a proper rating this month and only Funcom's Age of Conan and Mythic's Warhammer Online seem to be holdouts, as far as we can tell.