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Devil's Advocate
 
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So - the question from the other thread, which you said you'd answer clearly here. If you attend an event and you can't afford armour, and I attend with my suit of platemail which I spent a lot of OOC cash on so that I could gain IC benefit from wearing it, am I cheating? Am I wrong to use OOC cash to gain IC benefits?
As i said above, no.
Because of all the fine points Dave R made for a start. And the ones Katie made about being able to borrow kit/make it and so on.
You are gaining an IC advantage (of course) but I wouldn't say it is particularly unfair, as it can be easily matched.
This is why I'm saying buying IC items for OOC is bad if it is UNFAIRLY unbalancing.
I can borrow platemail, or make it, or i can play a different type of character (which on paper has the same IC skill points/cash spent of different things). This should mean (in a balanced system) that we are equal powerwise, but our expertese are in different areas.
In the case of cash for magic items, there is no way IC i can match that.
You pay £500 and get the magic sword o' doom. It is in addition to your normal skills, you have paid no IC points for it. Your OOC cash has given you an unfair advantage. That is the one (and only) reason you have it.
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing.
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Wag
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Agree with the comments on magic items. It smacks far too much of the people who pay hundreds of dollars for an IC item in World of Warcraft and that is a place we really do not want to go to...  Of course, there is one place where I do condone cash for IC stuff [Hmmm... sounds like a 'cash for questions' style scandal, doesn't it ] and that is charity. I did once run a charity event - goblin hunt. Plot was simple - players were split into two groups, one group played monsters, the other 'monster hunters'. You got points for killing each type of creature. After a certain amount of time there was a swap over and the monsters played hunters and vice versa. We charged a pound per player to play and all the cash went to the charity. However, we also had: £1 per 'life' so you could get killed and then go back and pay again to play as the same character again. Effectively a ressurect. 50p per piece of armour you wanted to wear £1 for a 'magic sword' that did one of a number of effects from a list (mainly more damage) 20p per hits worth of healing potion £1 per spell scroll. This was a scroll with three spells on it. Once they were cast they were gone and you needed to buy more. Oddly enough, the last one was our biggest seller as various players figured out that the best way to 'win' was to mug other players and steal all their tokens. So, they invested in spells to protect themselves/mug others. So, in this case, there was a situation where more money spent benefited the charity and the event was conducted in a non serious manner so issues of 'spending OOC cash to get IC benefits' was not a problem. It even led to amusement as one player, having been killed and had all his stuff nicked, strode up to the admin desk, slapped a tenner on the table and said 'Right! Give me all the spell scrolls you can for that!'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Wag
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So if I pay to play my local club system every weekend (and never monster because I can afford not to)- gaining huge amounts of xp's in the process, it isn't wallet roleplaying. But, if I donate 500 quid to charity in exchange for a magic item lammie-which probably expires at the next HG(they usually do) it is wallet roleplaying?
In a system the size of the LT one magic sword is almost irrelevent- it won't affect game mechanics(as magic items are so easy to get hold of).
If LT were offering a platinum entry pack with extra IC cash, rank deeds and some spangly lammies for an extra 50 quid you might have a point, but this is just a one off way of helping out a worthwhile cause.
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Champion
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The irony of the whole wallet roleplay argument for me, is that I have gone from going to six events per year to one because I’ve gone back to being a student.
This is a game where who your mates are and how you play the game is more important then what kit you have. Magic is free, having mates to beat up the twat in plate armour cos the thinks he is hard, is free, getting a magic potion to turn his nose blue, is free.
Having been able to fulfil most of my costume desires, I ended up having a 30minute dress up every morning, walked around slowly and a bit awkwardly because of it all. No matter how much money I earn in the future I done think I’ll go for the tank with more kit than sense again.
Above all this is a game of the imagination, if you are low on funds to think around a problem. Which often leads to characters or solutions you wouldn’t have thought of if you’d just been able to go into a shop and buy the first shiny that fits.
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Devil's Advocate
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So if I pay to play my local club system every weekend (and never monster because I can afford not to)- gaining huge amounts of xp's in the process, it isn't wallet roleplaying. But, if I donate 500 quid to charity in exchange for a magic item lammie-which probably expires at the next HG(they usually do) it is wallet roleplaying?
Since you'd actually have to make some IC effort if you were playing that much, and put up with the IC risk involved in surviving the games, i'd assume that you had earned (ic) the experience you get.
Where is the IC risk/achievement in paying £500 for a sword then? There isn't any.
In a system the size of the LT one magic sword is almost irrelevent- it won't affect game mechanics(as magic items are so easy to get hold of)
Sweet. So i can start not taking my hits now as well, i'm only 1/5000th of the player base, what difference does it make?
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing.
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Devil's Advocate
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This is a game where who your mates are and how you play the game is more important then what kit you have. Magic is free, having mates to beat up the twat in plate armour cos the thinks he is hard, is free, getting a magic potion to turn his nose blue, is free.
[...]
Above all this is a game of the imagination, if you are low on funds to think around a problem. Which often leads to characters or solutions you wouldn’t have thought of if you’d just been able to go into a shop and buy the first shiny that fits.
This is indeed true. When I went to uni back in the day, I delibrately started a Mage character to save money on kit/effort on hauling it about.
And you know what? It was the most fun I have ever had.
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing.
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Heroic Knight
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Wallet roleplaying naturally has to play a part in system design.
It's very well saying that skills are balanced, and so on, but in practice there will usually be a skill combo that punches above its weight. So it's a good idea to make sure that it's not a combo that relies on OOC resources.
For example, you could conceive of a system where tanking in heavy armour was substantially more powerful than any of the alternatives (for combat, at least). As far as I know, this isn't the case in most systems - magic often holds all the trump cards. But in a low magic system, I think you'd have to consider the benefits of armour very carefully.
Similarly, in Maelstrom, Status is dependant on OOC resources (number of cronies and access to big IC tents plus transport thereof). Fortunately, Status is only a minor advantage, easily obliterated through IC action. Were it not, wallet roleplaying might be a problem.
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If I start the game with a snacky sword (be it paid for in game points, real money, nicely written background, or random chance) then this creates the possibility for you to take this sword from me by one means or another. Yay, instant plot.
However, if I start the game with a musket, and you take that musket from me, then your character can not then go around using a musket until you fork out for a musket phys-rep. Thus, you have less incentive to stab me up for my musket. Boo.
(For the purpose of this example, I'm assuming that sword physreps are ubiquitous/cheap and musket physreps are rare/expensive)
(chris)
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Wag
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Ravensbourne (9/11/2006)
If I start the game with a snacky sword (be it paid for in game points, real money, nicely written background, or random chance) then this creates the possibility for you to take this sword from me by one means or another. Yay, instant plot.
However, if I start the game with a musket, and you take that musket from me, then your character can not then go around using a musket until you fork out for a musket phys-rep. Thus, you have less incentive to stab me up for my musket. Boo.
(For the purpose of this example, I'm assuming that sword physreps are ubiquitous/cheap and musket physreps are rare/expensive)
UNfortunately, muskets are about the same price as latex swords and, in many cases, are cheaper... But I see the point - the fact that it is expensive means that you are less likely to steal it because you cannot afford the right phys rep. Not quite sure that works - I don't think anyone who routinely steals stuff IC at LRP generally considers the cost consequences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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