The terms of service agreement for Star Wars: The Old Republic, included in its recently announced Game Testing program, mention both "points" and a "game store," possibly tipping off plans for microtransactions.
According to DarthHater, the terms (above) state
:• You acknowledge and agree that all points acquired during the Game Program are non-refundable and have no monetary value.
• You acknowledge and agree that all items acquired for points during the Game Program are non-refundable and non-tradable.
• You acknowledge and agree that [BioWare] reserves the right to add or remove points to your account at any time and without warning.
• You acknowledge and agree that [BioWare[ reserves the right to change/add/remove points rewarded in the Game store at any time and without warning.
Sounds pretty definite that some sort of Old Republic game store is at least being pondered for The Old Republic. This is language for a testing program of course, and DarthHater points out BioWare could be testing out how the system works by deliberately glitching it, thus requiring this kind of protection in the TOS.
But, DarthHater points out, nothing confirms that the currency used in this store is pegged to anything of real world value. They point out the TOS' statement that Bioware retains the right to "add or remove points from your account without warning," whereas Microsoft's Xbox Live TOS only reserves the right to "cancel suspend or ... limit access" if fraud is suspected. "This would suggest that these [Bioware] points are connected to purely in-game actions, more similar to "gold", "isk" or "Credits" then something purchased with real money."
Either way, it's an interesting find. It's still worth reminding that this is not final code at all, just a testing program.
Could Star Wars: The Old Republic have BioWare Bucks? [Darth Hater via MMORPG.com]