[...] Oblivion: RMT hits single-player games on Raph Koster Company-sanctioned RMT hits single-player games on Raph Koster Quote: [...]

[...] The Orrery, too pretty to blame Submitted by Abalieno on April 20, 2006 – 09:04. I wanted to comment Oblivion’s downloadable add-ons since when Raph give it some weight. This week even Lum added his opinion and I was going to back up those points. [...]

This is why I resist consoles largely. Even though it’s nice to sit on the couch and play, I prefer the relative freedom of a computer that I and others can tinker with to our hearts content.

PS – just “finished” Oblivion (main quest) at level 24 with a Witch Hunter. I sort of regret the class, but in the end I feel kind of done. Much “doner” than I felt at the end of the main quest in Morrowind. Does anyone else feel like this game is somehow less replayable? I think my problem is I feel like through the main quest and the mage’s guild quest line (I made arch-mage before starting the main) plus the local city quests and some of the shrine quests that I have experienced everything this game has to offer, whereas in my memory Morrowind seemed like I played for months after finishing the main quest.

[...] The virtual “property” promise I don’t play MMO’s. Hate’em. I’ve tried and tried, but just doesn’t do it for me.However, I do follow the goings-on in and around them, as it’s facinating stuff.Terra Nova had a question posted, spawned by the Oblivion “buy yerself some horse armor” thing:Oblivion now allows you to buy armor kits for your horse using real world currencies, in a way that is almost exactly the same as real money trades (RMTs) which have been occuring in MMOGs for years. In 1000 words or less, discuss whether either of these types of assets are property for the purposes of any legal systems, paying particular attention to why few people would think that the Oblivion armor kits are property, but the same is not true for virtual assetsI posted an answer I am rather fond of and would like readers to tear apart for the sake of good bloggy discussion. Here it is:I do not think they are property. It’s a purchase of a promisory note of sorts. A promise of a service that will be delivered, in a certain way, under certain conditions.At the end of the day, there are bits on a server somewhere, on a hard drive. And the hard drive still belongs to the owner of the physical device.However, by offering a service (an MMO, virtual world, whatever) the provider has made a contract with the player. That service agreement had obligations from both sides. Part of the terms of which might include some detail about how people may or may not exchange such promisory notes with one another. The note is a negotiable instrument.In other words, player 1 says to player 2 “you give me 100 of those ‘gold coin’ promises, and I’ll give you 1 of these ‘horse armor’ promises.”Just as a dollar bill in the real world is promise from an institution that it will provide a certain value or perform a certain function, so to is the case here. In this case, the service provider (game owner) has an understanding of what functionality it will provide in the game software for a “gold coin promise” or a “horse armor promise”.That’s my two cents worth (where ‘cent’ here is a promise of a very amateurish attempt at a legal point of view on the subject OK. comments? [...]

[...] Gets Some Lionhead>> Xbox Live Marketplace Expands Offerings written by Tony Walsh | posted on April 6, 2006 @ 11:19 am tagged Business Consoles Gaming Mixeddel.icio.us digg furl spurl reddit newsvine tailrank ma.gnolia.com 0 Trackbacks referencing Xbox Live Marketplace Expands Offerings Trackback link to this entry 1 Comments on Xbox Live Marketplace Expands Offerings Add acomment of your own. “stimulated”? Interesting word. There was a discussion about the horse armour over on Koster’s site ( Link). It appears to have died though. Bummer. I actually did want an answer. Comment posted by csven on April 6, 2006 @ 4:04 pm about the entry Xbox Live Marketplace Expands Offerings [...]

[...] “Many of you students have forsaken your MMOG of choice in order (temporarily) to play Oblivion. Oblivion now allows you to buy armor kits for your horse using real world currencies, in a way that is almost exactly the same as real money trades (RMTs) which have been occuring in MMOGs for years. In 1000 words or less, discuss whether either of these types of assets are property for the purposes of any legal systems, paying particular attention to why few people would think that the Oblivion armor kits are property, but the same is not true for virtual assets.” JURIST – Paper Chase (Law) flag all up to this item [...]

More relevant to you: they mention you (and your controversial statement that “single player games are an abberation”) in their latest podcast. (Their “podcast” is actually just a recording of them chatting as they talk about game news to write a comic.) You might find it interesting aside from that – two hardcore gamers talking very enthusiastically, and thoughtfully, about the differences between single-player experiences and massively-multiplayer experiences, and how the latter has spoiled the former for them.

[...] “Many of you students have forsaken your MMOG of choice in order (temporarily) to play Oblivion. Oblivion now allows you to buy armor kits for your horse using real world currencies, in a way that is almost exactly the same as real money trades (RMTs) which have been occuring in MMOGs for years. In 1000 words or less, discuss whether either of these types of assets are property for the purposes of any legal systems, paying particular attention to why few people would think that the Oblivion armor kits are property, but the same is not true for virtual assets.” [...]