Ber for shako shenanigans

mhlg wrote: 2 years ago

This is a clear example of what's hurting the game and many other games as well. I found this post on Trust Pilot. Imagine spending $4000 to pay a game item seller to outfit and level your character, and then all you had to do was step in and take over.

Real-world money and some other valuable resources like time can give you an advantage in most competitive games and the only way to avoid that problem is not playing those games. It doesn't even have to be PvP because PvE can also be competitive if it has a leaderboard or something similar. This isn't a new phenomenon, it has always been like this even before e-sports became a thing, video games aren't the only competitive games.

For a lot of players Diablo 2 is a solo or coop RPG game in which they have fun farming and completing/perfecting their builds so D2 is less affected by real-world money than purely competitive games.

mhlg wrote: 2 years ago

What's even more disturbing is that the buyer isn't angry about spending or losing $4K, he's angry about not getting what he wanted quicker. Who wants to duel or run with someone who's only interest is to use their money to dominate those with less?

For some people $4000 is nothing. Similarly, $1 is a lot for very poor people but it is nothing for most players on this forum because everyone here could purchase Diablo 2 and a computer to run it.

Money isn't the only resource that can be used to "dominate" those with less: what about time, intelligence, experience, etc...? You are unlikely to find an opponent with the same amount of resources that you have at your disposal. Trying to solve that problem would be mission impossible.

TRON wrote: 2 years ago

For some people $4000 is nothing. Similarly, $1 is a lot for very poor people but it is nothing for most players on this forum because everyone here could purchase Diablo 2 and a computer to run it.

Money isn't the only resource that can be used to "dominate" those with less: what about time, intelligence, experience, etc...? You are unlikely to find an opponent with the same amount of resources that you have at your disposal. Trying to solve that problem would be mission impossible.

People willing to shell-out large sums of money to start with end game builds regardless of skill or knowledge begin with an unfair advantage. Everyone should start on the same starting line, and go about building a character bit by bit and grinding for whatever falls. Would you play chess with someone if they're allowed to have someone make all their moves and then hand the board over to them at checkmate? The only people playing the game who doesn't disapprove of someone using money to effortlessly get a heard start, are those who're either selling or who're also using money to get a head start.

mhlg wrote: 2 years ago

People willing to shell-out large sums of money to start with end game builds regardless of skill or knowledge begin with an unfair advantage. Everyone should start on the same starting line, and go about building a character bit by bit and grinding for whatever falls.

Your view is idealistic. It's easy to see that the "fair" playground you described can't be implemented in practice.

mhlg wrote: 2 years ago

Would you play chess with someone if they're allowed to have someone make all their moves and then hand the board over to them at checkmate? The only people playing the game who doesn't disapprove of someone using money to effortless get a heard start, are those who're either selling or who are also using money to get a head start.

I didn't approve or disapprove anything. I just described the cruel reality.

The question isn't whether they are allowed or not. They are not allowed but in case of online games it's impossible to enforce certain rules and I accepted this fact instead of wasting my valuable time and energy on complaining about problems that can't be solved. If I decide to play a competitive online game (something like Overwatch) then I accept that a small percentage of players are cheating in various ways and that percentage increases as the game ages and the playerbase is shrinking. There is no way around that.