Today Reality Gap will begin an open beta test of Battleswarm, its online action game that combines FPS and RTS elements. This test will also be an open beta for MetaTix, Reality Gap's universal virtual currency system. MetaTix is designed as an open system that can support multiple Reality Gap titles and also be licensed out to other developers. Once a user has acquired or paid for MetaTix, the user can then spend their MetaTix on virtual items in any game that supports the currency.
As mentioned in earlier stories, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell designed MetaTix to model the way tokens functioned in 80's arcades. Use of tokens back then allowed arcades to give them away free as part of promotions and also encouraged users to try more new games. Bushnell noted that in an arcade environment, a player with a pocket full of tokens was usually very willing to try any unfamiliar games present at least once.
The MetaTix system would let a user spend currency earned playing an old favorite title, such as Battleswarm, and then use it to get an early edge when trying out an unfamiliar title that used the same virtual currency. MetaTix convert into real cash at the rate of one MetaTix to one penny, but users have other ways of obtaining the currency besides just buying it. Players can opt to sell items they've obtained in-game to other users for MetaTix, for example.
Right now the MetaTix system is already live in the game Monato Espirit, a June launch that Reality Gap licensed from Korean developer Gamasoft. Battleswarm is also licensed from the Chinese developer Gameworld Tech and features a lot of elements typical of Chinese item-based games that aren't yet common in the West. While it does feature both the MetaTix currency and then an in-game currency, items purchased with both currency may operate under a time limit. The flamethrower, which costs about $3.50 in MetaTix, only lasts 30 days.
According to statements made by Reality Gap co-founder J. Mark Hood to Venture Beat, about seven developers have signed on to participate in the MetaTix virtual currency system. The system features real-time analytics that let developers see who is buying currency and how they're spending it throughout the course of a game's daily operations. While other players in the space offer analytics, notably LiveGamer, right now universal currency platforms are relatively rare.
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