Lost Ark, Amazon's most recent free-to-play Korean MMO in the West, is still hugely popular nearly two weeks after its launch. Part of the success is that successful Twitch streamers like Shroud have Lost Ark Gold been showing the game. However, The Lost Ark is not without its critics. The game's tough monetization is often denounced as "pay to win". Shroud recently addressed the issue on one of his Twitch streams, telling his more than 10,000 viewers to "get over it."

"Screw it up," Shroud told his Twitch viewers, who asked him what he thought of Lost Ark pay-to-win. To his credit, Shroud did not deny or attempt to obfuscate the fact that Lost Ark had pay-to-win, which is a standard response to inquiries. He is completely satisfied with the monetization of Lost Ark and disagrees with the current controversy.

The Shroud does, however, describe his approach to monetizing the Lost Ark, or at least he tried. Shroud believes that all MMOs are money-making games. Even in MMOs that don't have monetization that affects gameplay, there are "cheats," he said. Scammers like Gold Digger can sell gold to other players outside of any game's terms of service, which players can use for in-game advantages like loot or high-end content runs. In Shroud's view, game developers should provide these types of services so they can make a profit.

As for the monetization of Lost Ark, he acknowledged that the MMO's current microtransaction monetization "could be expensive." He even described it as "not worth it". But he thinks it's worth it because it makes a lot of money, and the only trade-off is "some rich punk spending thousands of dollars just to get a little ahead." If the cheating system was built into the game, it would at least support the game development and future.

On the one hand, Shroud presents a strong point. There will always be players in online gaming who succeed through all sorts of questionable means, whether it's cheating or spending money on winning microtransactions. Players should try to enjoy the game in their own way and not compare themselves to other players. On the other hand, much of what the Shroud says is not necessarily accurate. A lot of monetization doesn't get rid of gold sellers, account hackers, or premium gear running. A system like Lost Ark's subscription service actively makes playing the game in the normal way more time-consuming and frustrating.

However, it's easy to see why Shroud feels this way. He's rich and has as much time as he wants, playing whatever game he wants, any way he wants. For most MMO players where time and lost ark cheap gold money are at a premium, it's not that simple. It's not easy for them to get rid of exploitative monetization systems. Needless to say, the controversy surrounding Lost Ark and other pay-to-win games is unlikely to be resolved by Shroud.