In the game of golf, players pay huge amounts of money for their clubs, green fees, clothing, perks, refreshments, trainers, caddies, and so on.
Much of the sport involves paying money for small improvements. People spend a lot of money on golf.
However, money is never a factor of the actual scoring of the game. If the Golfers Association implemented a new rule that for $100,000 a player could take 10 points of their score, then many players who could afford to pay that amount would abandon the game under those rules. They’d spend $1,000,000 for equipment that might help them that much, but the moment money intruded too far into the actual gameplay, it’s no longer a sport. It’s money stacking.
The money for boosts is the game breaker for MPQ. It changes the nature of the game. When the Thor / Wolverine nerfs came though, there was just one thread, and most people were okay with that. Most were okay with the opponents scaling up in difficulty. Then the double-whammy – opponents stayed at level 230 forever, and you’ve got to pay for the boosts you’ve used to beat them. Then a triple-whammy – cheaters are invading the game.
Back to the golf course analogy –
“You’ll need to play this hole with my Aunt Feebus, and watch out for the land mines we’ve added.”
“There’s a swarm of killer bees on the course, but just ignore them. There’s a $100 fee each time you notice a bee. We’ll get rid of the bees eventually, once we’ve stopped putting land mines on the course.”
“Did you just try to change clubs? It’s $500 now to swap clubs.”
“Someone told us that rabid wolves would take care of the killer bees, so watch out for them. $200 fee each time you notice a wolf, by the way.”
“Apologies for the injuries from the land mine … there’s a $50,000 fee for setting it off, and we can put your leg on ice for just $20,000 more. Oh, and $10,000 to get your leg away from the wolf that grabbed it.”
“Ya got onto the green with one stroke! Congrats! But we’ll need to bury the ball in the sandtrap unless you pay Gweedo $500.”
It’s easy to come up with ways to make more money with Golf! But all of these make the game miserable. At the start, it’s a great golf course. The bee problem is starting to cut into revenues, though. The best solution is to listen to better players and fix the bee problem. Make the golf course better.