If harnessing the insatiable lust of gamers for collectible goodies worked to build a kind of mini-economy within the world of collectible fantasy card games, then it might just work for Internet gaming. At least, that's the reasoning behind SegaSoft's plans to create a series of online strategy games that will allow players to buy, sell, and trade virtual objects over the Internet.
The games will use Transactor electronic-commerce software developed by PostLinear to allow players to exchange what the company calls limited-edition digital objects, or LEDOs - which can consist of weapons, equipment, or entire characters - on SegaSoft's Heat.net gaming network.
Differing from other recent moves to charge for player access or sell games over the net, SegaSoft's merging of gaming and electronic commerce is an attempt to form a "virtual economy" within the games themselves. "We want to enable people to become their own merchants," says Larry Pacey, the executive producer of Transactor titles for SegaSoft. He even envisions college students who will "quit their jobs and become object traders."
The limited-edition nature of the objects will appeal to the "collector's mentality" of players, says Pacey, allowing players to customize their game and giving Transactor a draw similar to that of physical collectors' card games like Magic: The Gathering. As in Magic, the objects can also be won in competition. "If you can risk something in a game, you're proving something," says Pacey. Characters in some games can be made more powerful through successful play, and those characters can also then be sold.
Each of the games announced Wednesday at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta will ship with a different randomized set of LEDOs, and in single-player mode the player will uncover his inventory of objects, which he can then use in a multiplayer setting. The fact that not everybody will be identically equipped will make it necessary to trade or form alliances. Pacey hopes this situation will foster community, and chat is therefore built into the system. All this buying, selling, and diplomacy, he says, "makes people want to start to talk."
"If it works, it ought to have a dynamic effect on gaming in general," says Aaron Loeb, editor of GamePen. "They've found a solution to how you can bring Magic to the Internet, how you can bring virtual objects that have value." Ultimately, though, he believes SegaSoft's success depends on the quality of the individual games it can offer. "If the players don't love the game itself," Loeb says, "they won't care if they have some special sword."
SegaSoft says the system - which goes beta this fall and launches on 1 January - will be able to track the ownership and status of 500 million objects. It will use vast Oracle-based database technology to ensure the security of credit-card transactions and prevent the duplication or theft of a player's objects. Pacey doesn't fear the hacking abilities of the hardcore geek demographic that this sort of gaming is sure to attract. "It's the same type of infrastructure you would expect from someone like Visa," he assures.
More on E3:
Apocalypse Wow: Gaming Goes Hollywood
20.Jun.97
Tamagotchi Moves In on the Desktop
20.Jun.97
Before ... Click ... After
20.Jun.97
Pac-Man Leaves Flatland
19.Jun.97
