by Susana Polo | 4:09 pm, September 12th, 2010
There have been many effects of Eve Online’s decision to deal a large blow to the black market for their in-game currency by essentially making it purchasable for real money. The one that we like the most, however, is that it is now really easy to quantify actions in Eve Online to people who don’t play the game. Case in point:
In-game business machinations have lead to a player known as Bad Bobby walking away from a gutted in-game corporation with items worth $45,000. And it was all game legal.
The plan was to set up an in-game business that turned a profit by selling copies of blueprints for Titan class starships. 90% of the profits would go to the shareholders who had bankrolled the founding of the company in the first place. The location of the originals would be kept secret, but their ownership would be controlled by five trustees, ensuring that they could not be taken without all trustees in agreement. Bad Bobby was a founding member of the company, Titans4U, and one of the trustees.
From Massively:
All of this security hinged on the fact that Bobby would not have access to over 50% of the company’s shares and so couldn’t vote to unlock the blueprints on his own. For over a year, this system worked amicably. In the background, however, Bobby was slowly scheming to get his hands on more shares.
To complete the scam, Bobby initiated a vote to create more shares under the guise of adding more trustees… the vote passed and more shares were created.
The other trustees presumably expected Bobby to hand over the shares when the new trustees were appointed. Instead, Bobby, with access to 50% of the shares, called for a vote to place the blueprints in his ownership at a time when only three of the other four trustees could log on to veto his request, stealing the blueprints.
According to Massively, the virtual goods were worth 850 billion Interstellar Kredits, which can be translated into a value of $45,000 US dollars, which can purchase 214 years of game time.
And yes, Eve Online is at heart an economic simulator as well as a space tactics simulator. The game’s curators permit in-game thievery, smuggling, elaborate cons, pirates, market manipulation, bounty-hunting, corporate espionage, and racketeering; they simply warn their players to be aware of the risks and careful with their in-game possessions. Bobby’s actions were all within the rules of the game. The only thing he has sacrificed is his in-game reputation.
If Apple gets its way, the next big wave of content to hit iTunes might be magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is trying to convince publishers to offer newspaper and magazine subscriptions for the iPad through Apple’s own portal.
However, magazines have been limited to single issue sales. Some apps notify a user when a new issue is available, but at $4 or $5 an issue, most users are unlikely to forego a print or online subscription for iPad content.
The big holdup with bringing subscriptions to the iPad has reportedly revolved around user data and, of course, money. Publishers often use their subscriber database to better target customers and to entice advertisers. Apple reportedly doesn’t want to give publishers such easy access to customer information.
Additionally, Apple would likely want to take a 30% revenue cut off any subscriptions sold within iTunes, the same as it does for apps, music, books and video files now.
Both of these points are contentious with publishers, who have acquiesced by selling issues individually or are trying to either build apps that are really just portals to subscriber-only websites (à la The Wall Street Journal) or apps like Zinio that are PDF portals of sorts on their own.
Of course, the big promise with the iPad has been that it is an opportunity for publishers to redefine magazine or newspaper content by making it more engaging and interactive rather than just being a facsimile of the print edition.
Publishers who are looking at ways to combat declining print sales may be able to use Apple’s 160-million strong iTunes customer base to help boost sales. That might be worth a trade-off of control and profit.
For Apple, having unique arrangements with publishers to offer compelling subscription content that is auto-delivered to iOS devices could be a big differentiating factor between the iPad and future competing devices.
Apple’s foray into the world of e-books remains small, especially when compared to market giant Amazon.com
We’ve reached out to several publishers for comment on this story and have not heard back. We’ll keep following this story for future developments.
In the meantime, let us know what you think of iPad-tailored subscriptions for newspapers and magazines. Do you currently read print publications? Would you be more or less likely to subscribe to a tablet-friendly digital version?
For more Apple coverage:
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by Susana Polo | 4:09 pm, September 12th, 2010
There have been many effects of Eve Online’s decision to deal a large blow to the black market for their in-game currency by essentially making it purchasable for real money. The one that we like the most, however, is that it is now really easy to quantify actions in Eve Online to people who don’t play the game. Case in point:
In-game business machinations have lead to a player known as Bad Bobby walking away from a gutted in-game corporation with items worth $45,000. And it was all game legal.
The plan was to set up an in-game business that turned a profit by selling copies of blueprints for Titan class starships. 90% of the profits would go to the shareholders who had bankrolled the founding of the company in the first place. The location of the originals would be kept secret, but their ownership would be controlled by five trustees, ensuring that they could not be taken without all trustees in agreement. Bad Bobby was a founding member of the company, Titans4U, and one of the trustees.
From Massively:
All of this security hinged on the fact that Bobby would not have access to over 50% of the company’s shares and so couldn’t vote to unlock the blueprints on his own. For over a year, this system worked amicably. In the background, however, Bobby was slowly scheming to get his hands on more shares.
To complete the scam, Bobby initiated a vote to create more shares under the guise of adding more trustees… the vote passed and more shares were created.
The other trustees presumably expected Bobby to hand over the shares when the new trustees were appointed. Instead, Bobby, with access to 50% of the shares, called for a vote to place the blueprints in his ownership at a time when only three of the other four trustees could log on to veto his request, stealing the blueprints.
According to Massively, the virtual goods were worth 850 billion Interstellar Kredits, which can be translated into a value of $45,000 US dollars, which can purchase 214 years of game time.
And yes, Eve Online is at heart an economic simulator as well as a space tactics simulator. The game’s curators permit in-game thievery, smuggling, elaborate cons, pirates, market manipulation, bounty-hunting, corporate espionage, and racketeering; they simply warn their players to be aware of the risks and careful with their in-game possessions. Bobby’s actions were all within the rules of the game. The only thing he has sacrificed is his in-game reputation.
If Apple gets its way, the next big wave of content to hit iTunes might be magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is trying to convince publishers to offer newspaper and magazine subscriptions for the iPad through Apple’s own portal.
However, magazines have been limited to single issue sales. Some apps notify a user when a new issue is available, but at $4 or $5 an issue, most users are unlikely to forego a print or online subscription for iPad content.
The big holdup with bringing subscriptions to the iPad has reportedly revolved around user data and, of course, money. Publishers often use their subscriber database to better target customers and to entice advertisers. Apple reportedly doesn’t want to give publishers such easy access to customer information.
Additionally, Apple would likely want to take a 30% revenue cut off any subscriptions sold within iTunes, the same as it does for apps, music, books and video files now.
Both of these points are contentious with publishers, who have acquiesced by selling issues individually or are trying to either build apps that are really just portals to subscriber-only websites (à la The Wall Street Journal) or apps like Zinio that are PDF portals of sorts on their own.
Of course, the big promise with the iPad has been that it is an opportunity for publishers to redefine magazine or newspaper content by making it more engaging and interactive rather than just being a facsimile of the print edition.
Publishers who are looking at ways to combat declining print sales may be able to use Apple’s 160-million strong iTunes customer base to help boost sales. That might be worth a trade-off of control and profit.
For Apple, having unique arrangements with publishers to offer compelling subscription content that is auto-delivered to iOS devices could be a big differentiating factor between the iPad and future competing devices.
Apple’s foray into the world of e-books remains small, especially when compared to market giant Amazon.com
We’ve reached out to several publishers for comment on this story and have not heard back. We’ll keep following this story for future developments.
In the meantime, let us know what you think of iPad-tailored subscriptions for newspapers and magazines. Do you currently read print publications? Would you be more or less likely to subscribe to a tablet-friendly digital version?
For more Apple coverage:
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Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the death of 'Kitchen Nightmares' contestant Joseph Cerniglia. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ramsay expressed.
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New York Times Backs <b>News</b>-Aggregation Software Company - Digits - WSJ
The New York Times Co. is joining a group of news organizations in backing the maker of software that helps publishers aggregate news, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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<b>News</b> Roundup: Gordon Ramsay Responds to Chef's Suicide, Brad <b>...</b>
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