美网游开发商与出版商一起力促现金交易

Gala-Net：

极速赛车网络游戏《Upshift StrikeRacer》开发商，网络游戏门户网站GPotato.com的运营商和《飞飞》、《封魔传说》、《星际牛仔》英文版发行商， 

PlaySpan：

是一家位于加州的专门为网络游戏出版商提供收费技术服务的公司，最近获得650万美元风险投资，此次融资将用于巩固PlaySpan在网络游戏和传媒领域的地位，加快虚拟商品市场的发展。

Gala-Net已经宣布与PlaySpan合作在即将发布的产品中将推出道具交易系统。这个系统是一个安全且互动的交易系统。系统的实施有助于大大减少不正当交易和垄断性交易行为。由于考虑到现金交易给游戏带来的影响，现金交易一直以来都是MMO备受争议的议题。因此，Gamasutra就该现金交易系统的实施及其意义采访了Gala-Net副总裁John Young。PlaySpan系统是唯一的交易系统吗？玩家还可以从Gala-Net提供的交易接口购买道具吗？

John Young：

PlaySpan的系统对Gala-Net游戏产品起到了完善的作用，同时为玩家的互动交易增添了新的方式。打个比方，在一个独裁者垄断的国家里，所有的工厂都归某一个人所有，中央银行控制着所有的交易，那会是一种什么情况。现在的我就是这样一个独裁者。

无论个人是多么的开明，也无法满足玩家的一切需要。而且，我可能会把物价定得太离谱造成经济混乱而全然不知。目前，当经济开始出现混乱的时候，大多数厂商不得已针对部分玩家封号。

相反，经济越开放民主，人的主观能动性和创造性就越强。我们现在向大家宣布，我们要建立一个富有弹性的，动态的，像美国、新加坡和香港一样的经济体。我们将利用一切可以利用的资源，团结一切可以团结的力量为玩家制作出更好更具趣味性的游戏。

Gala-Net有许多种各不相同的游戏，所有的玩家都可以在游戏内或者GPotato.com上完成交易，还支持面对面的交易。我们的游戏是完全基于微交易的游戏，也就是说，我们的游戏不但支持游戏币还支持现金货币，每个玩家都可以使用这些货币买东西。

游戏设计保证了Sword of Eternal Brilliance只能从Boss级的龙身上获得，婚纱只能在商店里买。现在增加的新机制开放了新的获取渠道，你既可以在游戏内的拍卖行也可以通过网站的拍卖行来进行交易，我们要做的是保证每一步交易的安全性，并鼓励玩家出售道具的最终使用权。

Gala-Net和PlaySpan有没有措施确保道具不在本系统之外的地方销售呢？

我们建立了反欺诈团队，我们的游戏管理员会找出在非授权网站上进行交易的玩家，给予警告或者封号处理。我们所做的一切都是为了保证交易的真实性和完整性。

目前，非授权交易产生的问题很多，玩家付了钱，但得不到想要的东西，被迫申请资金赎回，玩家的银行信用等级受到了一定的伤害。我们提供给玩家的必定是既安全可靠又经济的大众化交易渠道。

对玩家来说，使用你们的方式进行交易的最大的好处是什么？

本质上，做生意是非常有趣的事情。所以一个设计优良善于捕捉玩家交易乐趣的游戏比那些忽略玩家交易愿望的游戏要有趣的多。

既然这么说了，我们就要这么做，我们必须认真小心地推进我们的“市场经济”机制。现实世界市场经济给了我们很好的启发，推进过程不会一帆风顺，前进的道路上必定是充满荆棘。通货膨胀、资产泡沫的破裂等等这些因素对“市场经济”的影响是非常不利的，进而影响到游戏的趣味性。但我们一定会尽职尽责，在游戏设计最关键的地方确保游戏的趣味性和吸引力。

从玩家的角度来考虑，虚拟交易无疑是游戏未来的一个发展趋势。目前，摆在厂商和发行商面前的路有两条可走，要么将其扼杀在萌芽状态，就好像什么事情没有发生一样，要么将其纳入游戏以增加游戏趣味性。

为什么并不是所有的游戏都在建立这样的系统，他们这么做有什么现实的原因吗？

建立这样的系统是需要很多技巧的，并不是看起来那么的简单。Gala-Net在这个方面已经积累了非常丰富的经验，不像其他发行商感觉那么陌生。到目前为止，技术的可靠性的保证还不是那么容易达到。

在法律和会计上还有许多的概念没有得到很好的定义。在保证交易公平的问题上还要付出很多努力。把金钱效应对游戏趣味性的影响降到最低是我们的义不容辞的责任。

这个系统对年龄或其它的方面有什么限制吗？

在接下来的几个月，我们会将实施细则包括适用的产品公布出来。

Q&A: Gala-Net‘s Young Talks PlaySpan RMT Deal

 MMO firm Gala-Net (Flyff, Upshift Strikeracer) has announced that the company will provide in-game item exchange for upcoming titles through an agreement with PlaySpan, the recently launched "first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network."

According to an official statement from Gala-Net, which runs the GPotato.com online portal and was founded in August 2004 as a subsidiary of large Japanese online community firm Gala:

"The PlaySpan partnership provides Gala-Net’s extensive community of gamers with a secure and interactive marketplace for buying and selling items. The partnership will cover multiple, yet to be announced titles, and will help greatly alleviate concerns about improper transactions and predatory traders."

However, the concept of RMT (real-money transactions) within games has continued to be a controversial one, given that MMOs have historically discouraged the practice for gameplay-related reasons - and this solution effectively allows an open economy in games.

Therefore, Gamasutra sat down with John Young, corporate vice president at Gala-Net, to discuss the new deal and why it makes sense for his company‘s games:

Is this PlaySpan deal the only way you can buy and sell items in Gala-Net‘s products? Can you also buy in the interface of the game directly from Gala-Net?

John Young: PlaySpan supplements what Gala-Net’s games already do, and expand the player offerings in exciting new directions. Imagine a country where one dictator owns all the factories and the central bank and can regulate every transaction in the economy. I’m the dictator now.

No matter how enlightened I am, central planning just cannot foresee everything the players will want to do. I might price things incorrectly, for example, and never know. Like most publishers, we currently ban players that trade virtual assets outside of the defined ways we allow.

However, by having an open economy, a tremendous amount of activity and creativity is generated. What we’re saying is that we want to be a dynamic trading nation like America or Singapore or Hong Kong. And we want to harness this info to make better games.

Every Gala-Net game is different, but typically a player can buy items both in game or via the gpotato.com website, and can usually trade them to a willing buyer face-to-face in game. Our games are 100% microtransaction-based, meaning that we have an in-game currency and a cash currency, and each buys different things.

Game design ensures that the Sword of Eternal Brilliance only drops off a boss dragon, while a wedding dress is a cash-shop only item, for example. What is new now is that players can trade via a rich range of auctions either in-game or via a web interface, and we are verifying the transactional integrity of it every step of the way, and actively encouraging players to trade their license to use virtual items.

Will Gala-Net and PlaySpan have any measures in place to try to ensure that the products are not bought and sold separately from their own system?

We have an anti-fraud team and Game Masters actively looking for players trading in unauthorized ways and warning or banning them as always. One of the biggest reasons we are offering this service is that we can finally ensure gamers that their transaction is real and they will get what they pay for.

The reality of a lot of unlicensed trading today is that they end up like drug deals gone bad – players purchase one thing and then don’t get it, so they charge back, which hurts their credit rating. We want to give players a safe and secure way to do what we all know is economically popular.

What is the big advantage to consumers of using this method to buy and sell items?

Trading is fundamentally fun. We believe that a properly designed game that captures the thrill of the market will be a more fun game than one that ignores the desire to trade.

Having said this, we have to approach the power of trade carefully. The real world is replete with examples of a botched transition to a market economy. Hyperinflation or burst asset bubbles are not fun, and game design has a critical role to ensure that all this trading serves the ultimate goal of a fun and engaging virtual world.

But by actively taking a customer perspective on things, it’s clear that the future of games involves trading virtual items. The choice before developers and publishers today is whether to try to shove it under the carpet and pretend it’s not happening, or to harness the reason people want to trade and incorporate that into the fun.

Why don‘t all games have systems like this set up? Are there any practical reasons for not doing it?

It’s actually a lot trickier to execute than it looks. Gala-Net has a wealth of experience about integrating virtual items with real-world money, which is foreign stuff to many game publishers. The reliability in the tech has not been easily available until now.

There are a lot of legal and accounting issues that are really not well defined. It takes a lot of effort to ensure that trading does not allow rich players unfair (that is, “un-fun”) advantages. And it’s scary when you are the dictator voluntarily giving some power to the people. But the advantages outweigh the risks.

Are there any age limits or other restrictions with the system?

We’ll be rolling out specific details of how this will all work, and which games we will be applying this to, in the coming months!