Beware the "In-game Store"

{EDIT: I have removed portions of this post that have since been proven to be inaccurate, mostly due to a misunderstanding on my part - shared by others in the community. These misunderstandings revolved around usernames and email addresses being permanently locked in. I don't do this to hide my error, which has been conceded in a post below, but rather to ensure clarity in the first post of the thread, so that future post can productively address genuine issues of concern. The remaining issues are based on exchanges with support agents and observations of press releases and pricing policies. These issues are still a point of confussion for many and continue to be addressed on both sides of the issue.}


Now let's try a little hypothetical here... Say you were born in England. And when you were little, you would save up a few shillings of your allowance to buy an icecream from the desert menu at McDonalds. Now let''s just say that as a teenager, your family moves to Vermont. You meet some new friends and head out together to get an Icecream from McDonalds. Imagine your surprise when the girl behind the counter will accept dollars from all of your friends, but insists that you pay in shillings. Why would she insist such a thing(when she clearly accepts dollars)? Because when you first bought an icecream from McDonalds, you paid in shillings.

That just sounds plain ridiculous, doesn't it. Well, I was in New Zealand for a little over half a year. It just so happened to be the same time that Factions was released. As it was not available in any retailer in my area, if I wanted the game, I had to purchase by means of the online store. They asked for my address - a gave them the current one. I saw no harm in this, as it was clear from the pages that means were available to update address information in the future. There was no warning that entering information would PERMANENTLY lock in the currency for the online store. Over a year since, and it has come time to shop for GW:EN. And now they have deemed fit to reveal that such information is PERMNENTLY set in place and "cannot" be changed. That it can't be changed is utter bladerdash. That they don't feel motivated to do so is more likely the case.

Am I upset by all this? You bet your ass I am. As illustrated elsewhere, purchasing GW:EN in a foreign unfavorable currency can add as much as $18 to the price. How would you feel if you were being asked to pay $18 more than everyone else for something?

If you think that PERMANENTLY locking in an email address and PERMANENTLY pigeon holding someone to one location and one currency is the model of good business practice, please explain. The game software even allows you a limited number of server transfers for play purposes. I see no reason why a similar feature should not be made available in the online store for those of us who are not stapled to one corner of the world. There is NO good reason why something as ephemeral as an email address should be permanently affixed to an account.



EDIT 2: I also fixed some spelling errors that jumped out at me.

welcome to every online game in the omniverse.

How dare you present a problem with the game that you are rightfully upset with? OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!

Protect your email.

Ok, maybe I was a little off with my understanding of the email problem, but it still has problems, as explained here:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...&postcount=160

I guard my email address like a hawk. That does nothing for the problem with being locked in as a European in the Online store, when I've never even been to Europe (New Zealand is about as far from Europe as you can get).

You can change the servers on which you play (all be it a limited number of times).

Similarly, you should be able to change the already accepted means by which you pay.

When i buy stuff from Japan, i have to buy in yen. When i buy stuff from india, its in rupees.

Whats the problem?

You can change the territory you PLAY in. But once you've purchased something, you cannot change the territory/currency you PAY in. This is the crux of the problem.

I will admit that I misunderstood the issue with the email address and the login. I still think it is a poor practice to permanently lock a username to an account, though this is not as bad as I initially understood with my faulty understanding of the email issue. That said, can we put that aside and examine...

Once you pay for a purchase in the online store, you are forever bound to that currency, regardless of your current principal residence.

QFT

If I'm in North America, why can't i pay in dollars?


because (official support response):
I refuse to believe they are "unable" to change this. They simple don't want to. That is not satisfactory.

I too don't like the fact that, simply because I live in Australia, I have to pay in the online store using an unfavourable currency. I posted about this in Gaile's thread about Mission pack availability as well. If I want that mission pack, I'll have to pay $58 AUD for GWEN, as opposed to the $49 I would pay at EB, or $44 I would be paying if I could use USD as my currency in the online store. Simply because I bought my game in Australia.

I can completely understand how countesscorpula feels.

The problem is that I live in Australia and have to pay in pounds in the online store. Sure, I can understand that I can't pay in AUD. But why am I forced to use a currency from a country that is such a huge distance away. The US has an ocean between them and us. Britain, on the other hand, has a couple of continents, as well as a few oceans. Australia is about as far away from Britain as anyone can get. Why am I being forced to pay in pounds?

I also don't believe they are unable to change the billing currency.

That's a load. MAKE IT so we can change it. It is not fair to Australians.

I mean seriously, why the heck can't they charge us in Aussie Dollars or at least some way that amounts to AU$50?

I'm going to have to say this again. We're NOT BRITISH. We're on the other side of the frickin' world.

Well CC that is a lot of inconvenience caused by moving around, little flexibility there in such an automated system. I hope your cry for convenience will land in their ears, and its fully supported by me. I'm gonna get another email soon too, so it should be changed.

I understand. And I believe I understand their policy as well... being in an administrative position and having to generate reports involving money. Changing currency is a really big deal. Unless they can program a feature into their system (the one that can't even get the encryption correct) that will automatically update all the steps in their billing process (and I don't believe they can without incurring huge expense), it would all have to be done manually... for several million users (remember they service several games). Needless to say, that's fiscally impossible.

Regarding the current exchange rate... the pendulum swings both ways and will eventually swing back in your direction. Patience. Eat it now and have your cake later.

well sorry, but if you don't want to take the time to read that it specifically says that happens when you buy, then its your fault.

People get in more crap these days by just not reading what they are agreeing too.

Where exactly does it say that? When I made my first purchase in the online store (the one that locked my currency as pounds) it never gave me any warning that once I make this initial purchase that this would be the currency I would have to use for every other purchase I ever make. I don't remember it giving me any sort of disclaimer giving me this information. If I'm wrong, please let me know so that I can start kicking myself for not thinking ahead. By the way, just to avoid any confusion, I'm talking about the GW online store, the one that uses the GW client. Not the NCSoft store on their website.

I've been set to European Servers since before I even made a playNC account. Yet, the store gives me prices in USD, since I live in North America.

I believe the issue stems from the same problem that makes it so Australian Players start out in European districts.

I believe they said something about that where you registered for your PlayNC account.

Erm, no it doesn't! Well, it never has for me and I've spent quite a bit in the online store!

I sympathise completely with the OP, but I can't comment as I'm in England and my store has always been in real money, i.e. pounds sterling!

I don't suppose you or anyone else could provide me with the disclaimer or terms and conditions that it says when registering a PlayNC account through the GW client. I really do not remember being presented with anything, but I usually don't read those sorts of things so I wouldn't expect myself to remember. I just wanna put my mind at rest, so I can call myself an idiot and get on with my life.

Either way, I really wish that they would allow for this situation. Specifically since all GW editions bought in Australia are European. I understand that it may be difficult to change the currency now, but perhaps if they allowed the customer to choose the initial currency, instead of just taking it from the account settings.

Or, one simple solution to the problem would be to make sure that the price of the game in Europe is at least almost equivalent to that of the US. I mean, in the official press release, the price was set at 34.99 euro. That's around 48 USD, which is kind of ridiculous. Why should the game cost more in Europe than in America?

Edit: And sometimes companies just don't make their policies public. It took over three days for a support agent to locate an "answer" to this issue. In the very least, that indicates that the information was not readily available.

This is what it looks like in the on-line store when you are asked to link to a PlayNC account to make a purchase:




Nothing on that page indicates that you will be permanently linked to the currency of that location forever and ever amen. They allow you to update your contact information, there is no good reason that the same little piece of programming that selects a currency based on that initial location can't make an update when the contact info(location) is updated.

They don't have to generate financial reports on my collective purchases. Said purchases are taking place in different fiscal years and will not see the pages of the same report. Furthermore, the prices listed in the PlayNC store while I am logged into my Play NC Master account are in US$. So, if I am to be encouraged to shop in the online store to receive an exclussive "free" bonus mission pack, I must pay an additional 15-18 dollars US. No, that's not free, that's a kick in the privates.

If I have a customer in Iowa, and a retail outlet in Iowa, and that customer first purchased my product while touring Paris, I would be a fool and a tremendous Jackass if I insisted that the customer make all future purchases through Paris, and refused any requests to make a sale through the Iowa outlet.

I totally agree with everything in the OP.

Many posters had mentioned these things in the first "Bonus Pack Availability" thread as a reason why they will never, ever use the GW online store no matter what. Of course that concern for the most part got buried under the "I do not have a credit card!!!" concern.