OK, not serious, more hypothetical. It stuck me before as a way of policing MMOG so kind of a repeat. In another online game I got so frustrated with a couple of players that constantly harassed my characters using exploits, cheat programs, and violating TOS that I offered the GMs $1500 to just do their jobs, watch these guys for 10 minutes, and ban them. None took me up on the offer. Eventually they were banned as part of a guild wide ban on them and their guild mates for all of the reasons above. Of course I think it took about four years before that happened. It would be nice if you could do something akin to that in EQ. Let's say you see somebody making homophobic and obscene comments in chat: Just click on a $14.89 clicky on your user interface and they are gone for a month. Ditto for every other antisocial behavior. You find someone not playing nice, $14.89 and they are gone for a month. Find a guild perma camping a spawn, just start taking them out $14.89 at a time. They would eventually get the message, I hope, and share the spawn. Now let's say 'the bad guys' want to use it against me. A preemptive strike as it were. OK, I won't necessarily like it but I do know that it will mean another $14.89 in the SOE coffers which I do like. I like the idea that in order to continue to play in an antisocial manner, it will cost them money. Well, just a thought. It's tough coming up with a strategy for a self policing game where you don't want to spend money on CS and maximize what you do take in.
Agreed, worst idea ever. I'd be first in line to donate to the collection to ban the original poster for a few years if this were ever implemented. I'm sure he wouldn't mind never playing again, it's money in SOE's pocket right?
One months worth of game play will not make up for all those people who enjoyed the game an and quit because they got banned for a month for being smart enough to time a rares spawn while you were lazy. Again one month won't make up for the years of subscriptions lost. Yay money goes into SoEs pocket and they lose 100x that amount due to people quitting. Horrible freaking idea
If I had a grand burning a hole in my pocket I could suspend a raider's-worth of people from a guild on an expansion release for no good reason other than to grief. Someone rubbed me the wrong way, I'll throw down some scratch and not see them for a month. That person is camping something I want, $17.99 will take care of that straight away. A trader is monopolizing the market on something I'm trying to sell, get them suspended. ad infinitum. You definitely didn't think your cunning plan all the way through. On the business end I doubt something like this would even be legal, as well as immoral, exploitative, and downright ridiculous.
Remember the case a few years about the two kids and runescape that went to the supreme court? Same sitiation could arise.
The idea as presented is unworkable. However, the following incident related by the OP's: had an EQ analog years ago. Remember "EverQuest Legends Service" and the Stormhammer server, which cost more, but provided better customer service? Same idea, different implementation.
AH great!!! When I first posted it I wasn't sure people would grasp the concept. It is obvious you have a complete understanding of the concept. OK, now how do I respond to you giving me a ban? I respond in kind! Now neither of us are playing so what are the consequences? Well, reduced bandwidth, reduced crowding in game, less server lag, fewer calls for support. One of the problems with the current model is eventually people tire of the game and leave. Heck, would you get tired of banning me or me you? I don't think so. Would we suffer game burnout on a game we couldn't play? I think not. If you don't think banning someone is worth the money, just don't do it. Kind of like buying an expansion you don't think is worth it, just don't do it. Since you already know what you're getting for your money it's hard to believe you would be anything but satisfied with the purchase. Carried to the logical conclusion, you could have numbers like the old days with 500,000 subscriptions, 250,000 people paying so the other 250,000 people can't play! How much overhead would it cost for new content and CS for half a million people to not play a game? You could probably do it all on one server with a part time GM. Then there is the thought: What kind of people do you find in a Mexican restaurant? Well, typically ones that like to eat rice and beans. Sure there would be a few people still playing but mostly people that didn't cause problems that got people upset with them to the point where they were willing to throw money at the problem. Kind of 'the meek shall inherit the world' so to speak. Anybody still playing would be ones that neither cause nor report problems. It'd be a cinch you could handle that group with virtually no CS.
lol..you didn't say anything about the person being banned recieving the name of the person that banned them for retaliation. So basically, if you want to play Everquest, you will need to have a good 45 or so bucks sitting in a special jar to "protect" your gaming ability..on top of the 15 dollars a month you already pay? This would be incredibly hilarious to see in practice, but horrible to participate in.
I'd quit the game and just read the various forums for my entertainment because the ensuing threads would just be golden. XD
Just ridiculous. Entertaining but ridiculous. Save your money. Use ignore and the bad word filter. Plus, I would not want the money going to Sony unless part of the service was sending some muscle over to the offending person's house and roughing them up a bit. Maybe slash their tires. Upper deck their toilet. That sort of thing.
the biggest problem with this idea is that all the money would go to EQNext and wouldnt even help EQ.. not that anyone would be playing since everyone is banning everyone else