Well, I would just like to say you guys have spoiled me. I've more or less stopped posting comments on the normal news threads. Well, most of you know I'm interested in the business side of the gaming industry, and have a pet fondness for MMO revenue models. That's why when I saw the new that Sony wants to make the Agency free to play, hey, I had to read it.

My mistake was scrolling down past the story.

While there were a few sane people, on the whole every idiot and fanboy with an opinion posted. Most of them simply did not understand (or seem to want to) the revenue model. Some of them thought it was a dumb idea Sony came up with. Some of them had to bring up Guild Wars, directly comparing it to WOW, and saying everything should be free lolz. Some people thought the whole point of microtrans was to force you to pay to play, albeit indirectly and far more insidiously. Some people took issue with Sony's admission that there would an aftermarket (ie, gold farmers, RMT traders, etc) for the game, and that Sony wanted to control it to rob everyone blind. Some people think you need to buy to play, and others believe that the game will be ruined by this.

Seriously, I could go on, but I'm feeling a little nausous due to the flu to start with.

So, in a nut shell, here's what I think in my not so humble and self-educated opinion:

Its a good move and I strongly believe that not only will help legitimize the business model in the US across both PC and console platforms with consumers, but it will also give the US MMO market a good kick in the rear both in terms of business and genres. Regardless of what you think of Sony Online Entertainment (and I know people who hate them passionately, especially those who played MxO early on and Star Wars Galaxies before NGE), they do run a good, profitable business, have explored far beyond the whole elves-and-swords fantasy genre that has saturated the market, and while maybe not the first in every area, have explored multiple revenue models (I'm fond of the Station Pass concept, the tiered free and paid Planetside, in-game advertising in MxO, and now this). I'm all for it; pay for customizations and paying NOT TO PLAY evens out the playing field with people who have too much time on their hands (very casual friendly, I might add). Also, if the game has any economic system in it, the people who "must have it now" can just purchase something from Sony instead of causing inflation on the in-game economy by resorting to gold-farmers.

I feel no particular love for the company (and my friend Jonathan - former SWG and Vanguard player, MMO affecionado in general - will probably kill me later for saying anything good about them). To be perfectly honest I'm far more interested and enamored with NCSoft as a publisher, developer and business. In many ways I strongly feel that Sony is following in their footsteps in regard to the American market, and that's a good thing; its continued validation of good ideas. But the bashing both Sony and the various revenue models that's going on in that thread is, to put it mildly, ignorant and reactionary.