This poll is designed to investigate the relationship between time and money invested by MMORPG players in their virtual 'property' and the connection with various ways these investments might be handled within a game design. 

For this poll only take into account games you have played that are not intentionally designed for the purchase of in-game currency or items with real money. The term 'items' is assumed to also apply to virtual property like buildings/animals/vehicles, etc.

Have you ever purchased in-game items with real money and why/why not?

Question 2

Have you ever spent real money on a leveling service and why/why not?

Have you ever spent real money to purchase a powerfully leveled and/or equipped character and why/why not?
 

How secure was game currency in most games you have played? (How easily was money lost/lootable if at all?)

How secure were items/equipment in most games you have played? (How easily could they be lost/looted if at all?)

How secure were your character skills/levels/abilities in most games you have played? (Could you loose a significant portion of your skills permanently?)

How secure was your character in relation to risks taken in most games you have played? (Could you loose your character permanently in any way?)

How much real money are you willing to spend monthly outside of your subscription fees to level characters or buy currency/items?

How much real money are you willing to spend on a one-time purchase outside of your subscription fees to level characters or buy currency/items?

Would you be willing to spend more than your above answers if items/currency were 100% secure in inventory and storage and there was no significant way that characters with attached skills could be lost?

Assume a different progression plan than standard MMORPGs. The attainment of levels/skills is less of a grind/time-sink, and the acquisition of basic and usable items by most players is not too difficult. Items/currency are 100% secure in inventory and storage and there are no significant ways that characters with attached skills can be lost?

How would your spending change if the above were true?

Assume a different progression plan than standard MMORPGs. The attainment of levels/skills is less of a grind/time-sink, and the acquisition of basic and usable items by most players is not too difficult. However, items/currency are not at all secure. There is a slight possibility to loose a character due to actions and substantial risk, and skills simply decrease if not used on a reasonably regular basis.

How would your spending change if the above were true?

Assume a different progression plan than standard MMORPGs. The attainment of levels/skills is less of a grind/time-sink, and the acquisition of basic and usable items by most players is not too difficult. However, items/currency are not at all secure. There is a substantial possibility to loose a character, and skills simply decrease if not used on a reasonably regular basis.

How would your spending change if the above were true?

What would affect your spending the most out of the following items?

Thank you for participating.

Please post any comments this poll brings to mind, or reasons for answering the way you did.  Also any suggestions, etc. are welcome.

Since this is the Developer's Corner forums, perhaps you could post your view on spending as related to these questions.  In fact, it would be great to paste in some of the answers from the poll that align not with the way it was in most games you have played (as the question asked) but how it would be handled in the game you would like to play or design.

You're not going to get an accurate response for a forum here.

Use survey monkey

Nicely worded questions.

Personally I have never bought items/gold/characters for real cash and never would mostly because it defeats the point of playing the game for me.

The game for me is the journey, the hours of fighting just to save enough to buy your mount/sword/horse etc etc and the amazing feeling of satisfaction having known that you did it all yourself.

The other concern of mine would be the 'lifespan' of the game, just to pull an example out of the hat... SWG Imagine you'd invested in a top level character and some items/gold and then for whatever reason your chosen game changes beyond what you're prepared to pay for or the game shuts down or what if the server were to crash and items lost (happened a lot to me in UO) who ''owns'' those items? The software company, the publisher or you as you've paid for them.

What if you spent a substantial amount of cash on 'uber sword of bashing' only to have it nerfed or superseeded with the next patch

Nah, keep it in game in my humble opinion.

I currently don't spend on MMOGs beyond subscription, but mainly because I've never had to. If I was really, really involved in a game that had an element of risk and it was important for my faction/guild/team/whatever that if I died/lost cash/lost items/whatever that I was up and running again quickly, and the only feasible way to do this was though real currency use, then hell yeah, I'd do it, and I'd probably spend quite a lot. Time is money, and if I worked the amount of time I spent playing when I'm deeply involved in an MMOG, then I'd be a lot richer, so clearly I'm willing to forfeit a decent amount of potential cash for an MMOG.

I would ask though, where would this money come from?

I'd also like to ask how people would like in-game property to be handled as far as acquisition and loss.

Think of it as a spectrum:

On one end basic and useful items/equipment are relatively easy to obtain but can also very easily be lost by looting, etc. from inventory or even wherever you stored them because nowhere is 100% secure like most banking or storage systems in games.

On the other end of things, you see what we usually have where you grind for the decent stuff and then you really can't ever loose it until you level to the point where it is useless to you and you get rid of it.

So with the first option a see a few possibilities.  People will continue to spend out of game money if they want, but it doesn't give them all that much of an advantage since the same things could be reasonably acquired in-game, and in fact it with some planning it could be taken from the person that just bought it with real money.  Perhaps this wouldn't deter some, but others would simply not see the point in spending money on something they could just as well get in-game with a little effort and not risk real money on it.  If the design were done well enough it should actually be enjoyable to play the game, and gathering up basic equipment would not be tedious and would be part of the enjoyment.  In the old single player RPGs, I don't recall having to grind forever to get some good stuff when I wanted it.  There were many things to do to earn some cash, and then you just had to shop around and make a few decisions to get what you needed.

With the other (more traditional option) where advancement is a time sink, it is no surprise to me that many are willing to spend money to save that time.  People see the end-game content as much more enjoyable than leveling up, and since there is such an advancement curve, why shouldn't they want to catch up with their friends who just happened to start playing a couple of weeks before them?  Since most games don't even have looting in any form anymore and storage is 100% secure, it makes perfect sense to spend money when it suits you.

I suppose you could also have items hard to acquire and easy to loose, but that might be a bit too frustrating. You could also have things easy to get and impossible to loose, but what's the point?

So I suppose I have my opinion on the way I would like to see things, but what's your take on it?

(Remember this question is not for what you usually see in the games you have played, but for how you would like to see things handled in a game, even if you've never come across it.)

First off I never use money to get in game anything other than subscription, I may not like grinding, but if I am paying for the game I may as well play it.

But another good question to ask is importance of items.  Because I do not think items should play that big of a role.  I would like to see items that do not boost stats, have little statistical hierarchy and mostly function for an aesthetic purposes, having highly customizable gear.  They range in difficulty to obtain and have no chance of being lost, besides it is not like looting someones gear is going to benefit you much in this situation.

So I guess I would want to move toward a more CoX type set up, with the ability to design and unlock new gear.

Brings a whole new meaning to player-driven economy I think, with the ability to lose items I think it would be an interesting concept for games.

Nowadays in games like WoW, you can pretty much keep every item you get; no chance of losing items. (unless of course you get hacked or delete your items)

Now if you can also find items people have lost...

Don't think it should be a sink-hole, but have some type of risk and reward.

I agree with Cactusman that items should not be the focus as in most games, but as Midnitte says, I would really like to see the developments of having items exchange hands in a variety of ways, looting included.

Maybe have a way to loot other player's storage with some hard work. Have the storage be a "physical" location in the game rather than an abstract hammerspace dimension able to be accessed from every town in the world. However you'd need for the items to be somewhat easy to replace with adequate skills, contacts or knowledge and less of e-peens directly better than every item below it in a senseless scale.

But this would indirectly put you in the way of level-less, social interaction focused, sandbox world simulations instead of grinding games.

I'd kill for a game like that.