Game Corner Slots, good or bad idea?

What do you think of the Game Corner in PokeMMO?

What are the bonus', or drawbacks to the system they implemented?

Discuss the Game Corner.

My opinion...

Pros: Access to rare pokemon without having to grind the Safari Zone, Access to rare outfits, and access to rare TMs, as well as a mini-game to pass time.

Cons: Not everyone wants to have to grind a mini-game (especially a pathetically presented slots game) to get game coins which in turn not only will boost the number of active botters, but will in fact flood the game corner with them every single day.


I mean, come on. Who thought it would be a good idea to restrict the number of coins you can buy to 1000 at a time? I mean sure, it isnt too difficult to grind for more coins, but most people are there just to get the TMs or Porygon. Now, say some people are new-ish or just dont feel like grinding a bad mini-game for hours. These people are now forced to scavenge the trade chat channel for people offering these TMs and pokemon. This now not only fills up trade chat, but horribly boosts the price of these items and pokemon to ungodly amounts, most of which aren't even worth the price. Right now, some people consider Porygon to be roughly 1/2 to 3/4 the value of a shiny, which shinies are roughly the value of 2 Lucky Eggs. So theoretically Porygon costs the same as a Lucky Egg to anyone too lazy (or unwilling) to play the slots.

Now, that is ridiculous seeing as a few hours at the slots can get you that porygon, but why should we have to drop two hours on a pokemon that has less of a chance of being of good nature and IVs (not even going to think of the probability of getting a shiny porygon) than that of finding a Chansey with a Lucky Egg (which you can use to buy the competitive porygon you want).

So when you really look at this, this restriction on the game corner is just downright silly and un-needed in my opinion.

I agree, forcing people to play a minigame is a bad idea. Yet so many game do it and they wonder why that minigame becomes the most hated part of the game.

Well, the main problem is that game devs want to give their players a sense of accomplishment when they get something good, so they up the ante on getting it. This usually translates into grinding for MMOs simply because so many other MMOs promote grinding. Problem here is that grinding actually makes people leave the game sometimes. That is not good at all.

On top of that, you also have the fact that game devs want their game to be a challenge. Again, MMOs tend to mistake hours of grinding for being a challenge when it is actually just nonsensical and boring.

I was talking about minigames, not grinding. Some games do require grinding, this is mainly prevailant in MMOs because players often reach the end of the games story/features before the developers can make more. Grinding fills in the gaps which gives the Developers time to develop and the players something to do in that time.
The problem comes when they leave the grinding in once the story progresses, new players don't feel like doing the monotony so they usually leave once they get to it. Those who do get through it get to the next stage of grinding and start becoming less interested in the game and the game starts to spiral, it's not helped by older players getting bored of waiting for new storylines/features.
MMOs also have the problem of trying too hard to be like RPGs, adding in grinding just because its a padding feature in most RPGs. The problem with this frame of mind is that single player games grinding is usually focused and part of the game, with MMOs its just something to keep people occupied. Once a single player game gets boring you're nearly at the end anyway so it's not such a big deal. With an MMO...There is no end, when people get bored in an MMO, they leave the MMO. The developers want to avoid this so they try to find ways to keep the player interested, grinding always jumps to the front of the queue simply because it's an rpg feature that is popular in single player games...
There are other ways to make an MMO more entertaining, minigames being one of them. The only problem comes when you're forced to play a minigame in order to play the main game. Implementing a Minigame is not a bad idea, implementing a minigame that the player if forced to play is a bad idea, especially when that minigame is a form of grinding that is seperate from the main games grinding. Players notice and get annoyed that they are forced to do something monotonous that was tacked on to the main game.
MMOs need to stop trying to be primarily Games, they need to focus on primarily being social platforms, the game part comes second.
Take .Hack for instance, it looks like the world in that game would be a great MMO, despite it being a single player RPG. The reason for this is that the players in the game interact on a regular basis, there is an easy system for contacts, players can easily form groups and even Guilds, Guilds have their own bonus' and events and quests, none of the minigames are required but there are some, you can raise a pet and even take care of someone elses pet if they're away for a time, players who interact with the storyline are mentioned in the history of the game (Balmung of the Asure Sky, Orca of the Asure Sea, Kite of the Asure Flame) and finally, my most liked part, players interact via talking rather then typing on a keyboard which allows for better communication and socialising.
Most of these features I mentioned are social aspects, not gameplay.