Curse

DreamWind · Apr 15, 2008, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Its been rumored that MATs are going to lose their prize support sooner rather than later.

If this is true, can we get some confirmations here and discuss the effects of it on the game. If it is not true, lock the thread.

Enko · Apr 15, 2008, 09:11 PM // 21:11

and where did you hear this rumor? no link to reputable source?
or was this some random rambling from some guy in RA . ..

DreamWind · Apr 15, 2008, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Many sources, nothing official from Anet obviously (because if this were happening they wouldn't announce it until the exact date it was happening to prevent people from rage quitting beforehand).

moko · Apr 15, 2008, 09:18 PM // 21:18

the upcoming mAT is going to be the last one with IRL prizes.

any that follow after will give in-game prizes.

i've read it on Wartower already, no official source or anything, but everyone seems to know, so.. (at least i havn't seen any?)

anyways, i don't think it will make a huge difference. only so few guilds got prizes, i don't think they really played it for the real stuff only. and lots of other guilds still competed, even when they knew they weren't going to win trash.

don't think it's gonna make a big (or any effect, even) on the game. if anything, game interest will raise; in game minipet prizes ftw!!

Kaon · Apr 15, 2008, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Minipets are worth more than amazon giftcards.

Sapper_V · Apr 15, 2008, 09:23 PM // 21:23

It actually HAS been announced officially when Anet posted information about the 2008 tournament series.

"April marks the third anniversary for Guild Wars, and we plan to commemorate this event with a special anniversary tournament that will feature an expanded prize pool. After this concludes, we will transition from real-world prizes to exclusive in-game awards, including never-before-seen items."

http://www.guildwars.com/competitive...08/default.php

moko · Apr 15, 2008, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaon

Minipets are worth more than amazon giftcards.

they clearly are; see dR as example. :P

but seriously, i don't see the community shrinking DUE TO THIS. at least not a lot.

besides, who can we spam regarding this, now that Andrew is gone?:/

edit; cheers for link. not sure how i ended up missing that.

DreamWind · Apr 15, 2008, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Thanks for the link and confirmations.

I'm kind of surprised people aren't making a bigger deal out of this. We went from giving out $100k in cash, to random real life prizes, now to in-game crap. It is just another step in the line of Anet slowly abandoning PvP altogether if you ask me.

C2K · Apr 15, 2008, 09:59 PM // 21:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamWind

Thanks for the link and confirmations.

I'm kind of surprised people aren't making a bigger deal out of this. We went from giving out $100k in cash, to random real life prizes, now to in-game crap. It is just another step in the line of Anet slowly abandoning PvP altogether if you ask me.

Perhaps it has something to do with the real world ecomony and the trashy state its in right now. Either way, I don't think its going to stop guilds from attending MATs. You still get a gold cape when you win, and you can sell that if you want compensation.

Surena · Apr 15, 2008, 10:04 PM // 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamWind

Thanks for the link and confirmations.

I'm kind of surprised people aren't making a bigger deal out of this.

Realworld Prizes never were the prime motivation factor for playing GW's PvP (leaving the obvious attractiveness of 100k $ aside), it had more to do with fun and challenge. The factors that drove players away got debated to death here.

Quote:

We went from giving out $100k in cash, to random real life prizes, now to in-game crap. It is just another step in the line of Anet slowly abandoning PvP altogether if you ask me.

Please tell out of whose anus Anet should pull 100k $?

DutchSmurf · Apr 15, 2008, 10:19 PM // 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamWind

I'm kind of surprised people aren't making a bigger deal out of this. We went from giving out $100k in cash, to random real life prizes, now to in-game crap. It is just another step in the line of Anet slowly abandoning PvP altogether if you ask me.

The 100k ones were nice marketing tools, the random real life prizes I never understood the use of, in-game crap doesn't cost anything. What else did you expect?

Rohan · Apr 15, 2008, 10:31 PM // 22:31

Who needs amazon gift cards when you can just win yourself a gold cape and sell it for $800?

Also, I'm sure there's someone in the world that'll dish out a lot of money real life for these "never-before-seen items."

It's a good thing that nobody in the Guild Wars community sells in-game things for real life money though!

nebuchanezzar · Apr 15, 2008, 10:53 PM // 22:53

If you only gvg for the prizes...tragedy I guess. Go play something else. Many, many players gvg without so much as a care about prizes that only the winners get anyway. Besides, honestly, what other games are paying it's consumers? So why should ANet?
Lastly, to say this is giving up on pvp...ya, ok lol. That shows this is a QQ thread. Anet has totally abandoned pvp when you see the other QQ'ers finally get their pve-only skills in it.....til then, they try. Whether you approve of their attempts is another story.

Div · Apr 15, 2008, 10:58 PM // 22:58

I actually rather have the relatively rare minipet than something like a $25 gift card.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moko

edit; cheers for link. not sure how i ended up missing that.

lol noob ^^ (I bet 1k that this is going to get deleted)

Divinus Stella · Apr 16, 2008, 12:04 AM // 00:04

I think anyone still playing is just doing it for fun, a £250 amazon gift card wont pay the rent :P

l Teh Mighty Warrior l · Apr 16, 2008, 01:01 AM // 01:01

I don't think anyone makes a living off of this game, but 1000$ for playing a video game is pretty nice. I'll definitely lose some of my drive to play this game when the prizes are discontinued.

assassin of the god · Apr 16, 2008, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Real world prizes in video games are an interesting dynamic.

Obviously nobody actually plays only for the real world prizes. The small hardcore community that is the top tier of gvgers mostly play for fun and competition. A measly gift card or a piece of overpriced hardware will never warrant the thousands of hours people play this game for.I have played GW for almost 3 years and I have won a grand total of $150 in Amazon gift card money.That isn't even enough to cover the cost of all the games.
This is true in other games too. My brother has played Counter-Strike:Source even more than I have played GW(his clan recently won CAL-I) and he has won $140(won from a LAN tournament outside of CAL) plus some hardware support from sponsors. The vast majority of the players in CS play in CAL and will never any form of real world prizes. Outside of maybe a hand full of Starcraft or CS players, nobody has ever earned close to minimum wage playing video games.

However, just the very presence of real-world prizes are a huge motivator to teams. The extra little prize is fairly inexpensive to the companies paying for them, and usually pay off in advertising, and provide a boost to the hardcore community of a game. No matter how small, real-world prizes seem to add a sense of legitimacy and a massive epeen erection to winning.Real-life prizes separate the top tier from lower ones and give guilds something to strive for to become a "top" guild( I know this was the case with many players,including myself, that were nowhere near prizes in the $100k tournaments, but now are).The fun in the game, imo, is competition, and prizes help build and maintain the hardcore community in a game which makes the competition fun.

Basically, it would cost ANet virtually nothing to continue some form of real world prizes(the current gift cards are basically nothing but still enough not to be a total joke). But by doing so, it seems as though they have fully "pulled the plug" on the current hardcore PvP community and are missing out on a good advertising opportunity to make GW2 a serious competitive title.

lacasner · Apr 16, 2008, 02:50 AM // 02:50

At this point, I don't think its a big deal, just as others have stated. With gold trims selling for big bucks and minipets going for XXXX ecto + armbraces, it just makes a new window for real world trading for in game gold available. No matter how much anet says they are going to crack down on this, there is no way they can eradicate it completely, thus Mat's will always be popular for that reason.

Now, if they changed the policy so that the guild leader of the winning MaT guild will only keep the gold-trim for the guild if he/she remains in that position, this may shake things up drastically. However, this idea has many implications that may or not be good.

DreamWind · Apr 16, 2008, 09:20 AM // 09:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by assassin of the god

However, just the very presence of real-world prizes are a huge motivator to teams. The extra little prize is fairly inexpensive to the companies paying for them, and usually pay off in advertising, and provide a boost to the hardcore community of a game. No matter how small, real-world prizes seem to add a sense of legitimacy and a massive epeen erection to winning.Real-life prizes separate the top tier from lower ones and give guilds something to strive for to become a "top" guild( I know this was the case with many players,including myself, that were nowhere near prizes in the $100k tournaments, but now are).The fun in the game, imo, is competition, and prizes help build and maintain the hardcore community in a game which makes the competition fun.

Basically, it would cost ANet virtually nothing to continue some form of real world prizes(the current gift cards are basically nothing but still enough not to be a total joke). But by doing so, it seems as though they have fully "pulled the plug" on the current hardcore PvP community and are missing out on a good advertising opportunity to make GW2 a serious competitive title.

THANK YOU. This is exactly how I feel. Your GW2 point is spot on as well. People need to realize that it isn't about hardcores making some kind of living. It is the idea that the Guild Wars PvP actually had legitimacy and has slowly been losing it.

When the championships were happening, I largely respected every guild in the competition and loved watching every game. I could care less who wins the MATs. They have no feeling of excitement.

The championships=Anet putting in effort. MATS(now with no live prize support)=Anet saying screw this.

Riotgear · Apr 16, 2008, 10:45 AM // 10:45

With no subscriptions and declining PvP interest, expecting massive real-world prizes to go on forever was not a realistic expectation.