Maybe a blueprint could be realised as placeable block that acts like a “camera”. If you place it the blue-print “records” all blocks (types and positions) within a given range (eg. 20 blocks). If you recollect it you have the “recorded” blueprint in your inventory. If you place it again it shows the record (as wire-frame eg.) of the prior scenario.
In this case there would be no problem with “stealing” because most of the buildings would be in beacons anyway where a stranger can’t place the block to record.
I would say if you can sell the blueprints (which I hope is the plan) and you can only buy them for real money (which I hope won’t be a thing at all) then it’s basically buying ingame coins with real world money.
Which, also, is a thing I would hate to see.
But it’s a question we didn’t discuss. Should the cash shop items be tradable? I’d vote for no.
@Nyuudles I’d be totally okay with such decorations It would be a nostalgia thing anyway^^
I’d say definitely no to trading real-money items too. Anything purchased with real money should be account bound (it’ll save an immense amount of headache with fraud claims too).
I also wasn’t suggesting players selling blueprints for real money. I was only exploring the option for the devs doing so - this thread is about long term game funding after all
I wasn’t saying players could sell blueprints for real money either. But if you can buy the blueprints from the devs and sell them to another player (for ingame money) then it basically means you buy ingame money with real money.
Ah ok sorry, I misinterpreted as you put “you can only buy them for real money” - I assumed you meant all blueprints.
My first paragraph clarifies my stand-point on not being able to trade real-money items.
I don’t think the devs selling blueprints would work anyway … it would be too easy for master builders to reproduce them and sell them for in-game currency instead.
I feel the same way. In the Division (a game which seems to use a similar system to what B< is going to get according to @ben), I (and most of the people I play with) still run around with the same set of cosmetic “wearables” you spawn with and I´m afraid that the same will happen in B<.
I´m ok with these
Please not
That´s actually a really good idea, RoboCraft introduced this a while ago.
People can upload designs of their robots and there is an interface where you can buy those designs for cash (I don´t know if said people get rewarded for uploading their stuff though, maybe an achievement when your blueprints gets bought often enough?)
Definitely an idea I´d support though
He can only sell it from his plinths though, the devs can sell it from a central Interface that is accessible everywhere and advertise their blueprints on their homepage, login screen, etc.
Additional ideas (that I don´t like but would prefer over skins):
Alternative emotes
In addition to a rented world:
A giant central beacon on your rented world for some extra cash/month so you can establish a capital on your world without sacrificng all your beacons.
I´d even support additional beacon plots (rented not bought, if this doesn´t mean that the amount of regular beacons get cut to force you into buying them and if the amount of maximal purchasable beacons is low (5-10% of your ‘regular’ beacons at max))
This wouldn´t give you a bonus or give you extra options/styles but merely give you a bit more space to build.
I still have the idea in mind of making portals a real money item. But only to an extend. I think if there was a world with lots and lots and lots of builds - isn’t it a lot of time an work of the people who made them? If you already have built up a world to its limits you could make it sort of a museum (although I believe museum is a wrong expression). Every portal connected to a particularly nice world with beautiful builds could cost an (even for kids) affordable price.Transgession into the world could be taxated via ingame currency, and not by paying x-amount of money just to pass by. So people could set up portals to their world for free. And later on when the builds have established close all portals and allow only higher level portals wich cost a price. I can’T predict the flow or impact which this would have on gameplay and people migration between the worlds. Although I believe it is an interesting approach.
Plush blocks for building caves would be awesome too, but such stuff is expensive.
I’m curious why you’re so against these? On the one hand you say that you’re very much against them (although with no backing as to why), and on the other you state that, as with playing The Division you’re still running around in the same original wearables (something for which B< I believe you will start with barely any wearables at all) and you think the same will happen for B<.
Those statements are a little contradictory imo. If you feel that you’ll only be running around in the first best set of wearables you find, why so against others that want to wear something different, or even relatively unique to the sets available through progression - and more importantly, would be willing to pay the devs for to attain?
If anything, as the wearables are horizontal (with the exception of stat enhancing rings - which I don’t believe should be sold for real money), it’s just another form of character customisation… something that you already stated that you’re ok with!
With blueprints, I don’t believe players should be able to upload their designs - it’s already been designed as an in-game mechanic, and it should remain in game, as a tradable item for in-game coin or other items.
They should be tradable by player interaction as well, not just by plinths. I think there would be a certain amount of people that would pay real money for a dev designed building that could get them started - they could be price scaled by beacon size and/or complexity of the build. After a time, when master builders start to appear and are able to start trading their designs, I think that particular revenue stream would fizzle out a lot. But I guess that would depend on what the in-game price was for blueprints and how attainable they would be.
I’m ok with these, but I feel they should be alternatives to emotes already within the game, and not for core game features such as the trading animation - for example, a different set of dance moves, or a different rude gesture.
I’m not sure how well that would work, as according to several posts about private worlds - the person paying the rent will have complete control over the server anyway. If they want more area to build they can just restrict who can place blocks or beacons on their world.
I’m ok with this - we already have different pricing tiers which allow this anyway (albeit permanently, not rented), so it wouldn’t be game breaking really. Although there is the argument that this could be considered an unfair advantage for those with money to throw at it.
I’m not sure how well this would work as I believe portals are tied into progression. And I strongly believe that people will still use the original worlds they started on as their home world, if anything to be away from others that have decided to uproot to the next one.
Additionally, I know if I moved onto the next world, I would probably remove all the blocks I had placed and the beacons that covered them … blocks = coin. Plus if the blocks weren’t removed, but the beacon was, world regeneration would claim back anything that was changed anyway.
I’m definitely in favour of real world items as a possible revenue stream as well.
If there were things like 3D character models, t-shirts, wrist bands, baseball caps etc, I’m sure people would snap these up! There have already been several posts from people asking for such things.
I explained why I´m against vanity skins plenty of times within my past few posts
With my paragraph about The Division I just wanted to mention that I share @Heurazio s concerns about pure horizontal wearables, which is an entirely different topic to long term funding.
I think I clearly stated that I´m absolutely against any form of vanity skins/wearables/customization options right from the beginning.
This wouldn´t prevent their builds from degrading due to world regeneration though.
Seems a discussion on aesthetic character options and wearables is no longer worth discussing. @Vastar and @Heurazio are against it because of the aesthetic progression argument but they’re also against horizontal wearables. Nearly everyone that I’ve seen in this discussion is for aesthetic character customization and vanity items. The devs will be able to balance the general voice of the community from here since we’ve made our arguments.
Apologies - I didn’t read back far enough to read what your actual standpoint was and why you’re against them… only the fact that you disagreed with what I’d written down without providing any context as to why. Going to back to what your reasons are for disliking the idea…
… progression will provide you with the ability to craft a wearable, not automatically provide you with the item itself. As such this aspect of of progression would be relatively untouched by a real-money purchased set of wearables. Yes, definitely it would negate the need for some for wearable progression if they already have a set of shop bought items, but so would it if they just stay at the first set they attain for either crafting themselves or buy in-game from others.
What I’ve been trying to do is look at the possible avenues for additional game funding that could be attained from how the game is (or is proposed to be), not how I want it to be. Standard wearables are horizontal, and tied into progression. Ring wearables are vertical, and tied into progression. Beacons are also tied into progression. These are all things that we know the devs have told us how it either already is, or at least will be.
Being honest, I probably wouldn’t buy an additional set of wearables myself, but some people will want to. They don’t break the game - at least not for you. It doesn’t give them an unfair advantage over anyone else - just a different look. It really is absolutely no different to them having a distinct emote.
If you want to concentrate on your crafting progression, you probably wont want to buy a unique set of wearables - which is completely fine. You don’t have to wear any wearables if you don’t want to… as they don’t affect stats.
The fact is, the devs won’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time - if they do, I suggest we prepare for the rapture!
I propose that we compile a list of all the suggestions people have put forward for consideration - regardless of how we each feel about them - and then create a couple of polls, one for and one against so we can get an estimate of numbers for the things people are in favour of etc.
I would do it, but I’m half way through painting my kitchen at present, so it’s a little difficult.
Edit:
Justing thinking about doing that poll - it may be worth splitting it out into a new clean thread with a “POLL: Log tern game funding” title, providing a little context and then referencing it back to this thread - basically so those that don’t want to read through 272 posts of who, why, what, when, where can get some additional context if they need to - it’ll give the poll more focus and allow more people to actually vote.
Passive pets. A cute baby hopper or a spitter of my own (they’re not all evil!). Heck, I’d drop $10 on a miniature Titan following me around.
Custom themes. I’ve noticed people really eat up theme packs. For instance: “Necromancer pack” - Totems and tools (handles) look as though they have been carved from bone, light block has skulls (as if it was a grave) that now gives off a dark blue-purple glow. OK, I kinda want this now
Out of game
Obvious options would be t-shirts, stickers, posters, and Keychain.
3D print of the races with a few position/tool options. I’d love my feline holding his light block above his head while stretching out his slingbow to attack any oncoming enemies.
-Props. I think it’d be cool to have a light cube on my desk that I could turn on and off for a light source. Maybe a USB port (since everyone seems to have a USB phone charger) and optional battery pack.
*More to come, but my break is up and I have to get back.
