Home Gaming Pay real money to insure your FOB in Metal Gear Solid V

Pay real money to insure your FOB in Metal Gear Solid V

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MGSinsurance

Metal Gear Online has launched, bringing larger scale multiplayer to The Phantom Pain, and if it works as advertised, it should be quite a bit of fun. The new update brings with it a fair few other changes and additions to the base game, but there’s one that’s caught my eye, and it affects an aspect of the game I’m not particularly fond of.

Forward Operating Bases, or FOBS’s are a major component of the game, and in the later stages, open you up to attack from other online players who can steal your stuff and injure or kill your security staff. You’re pen to do the same, which then in turn opens you up to revenge. I don’t like it much, and it’s especially annoying when all of the materials I’ve worked hard to stockpile end up being thiefed.

There’s now a solution to that, and I wish I had made it up, because it’s ridiculous. You can now, by paying real money, insure your Forward Operating Bases. If you sign up for video game insurance you can mitigate the effects of an infiltration. You’ll pay for insurance using the MB coins that you can earn through daily bonuses, but that also cost real world money. Stuff like Staff and nukes aren’t covered.

Says Konami:

Your FOBs are always at risk of coming under attack. Now, you can rest easy with FOB insurance (paid service). If you sign up for insurance, then during the insurance period you will be compensated for any materials and staff lost due to rival infiltrations.

  • Staff/materials stolen by the rival will in fact remain on your base, and an identical amount of staff/materials will be handed over to the rival instead.
  • MB Coins are purchased with real money, but free MB Coins are also distributed periodically as login bonuses, etc.

The following are not covered by FOB insurance:

  • Staff/items that are not fully your property, such as abducted staff being held in your Brig (FOB)
  • Wounded staff (staff lost due to death or extraction will be compensated)
  • Staff used by you to deploy in defense of the FOB (neither death nor extraction will be compensated)
  • Nuclear weapons

This…doesn’t quite sit right for me. It’s something that has been available to players of certain MMO’s, particularly in Asian regions where they take their online gaming as seriously as they do life, but it’s weird to see it implemented in a retail game. It’s odd, and I can’t say I like the precedent it sets. This is microtransactions taken to a whole other level. That’s not even the end of it. You can now pay MB coins to speed up the construction of your FOBs, which you pay MB coins for in the first place. Honestly, I think Konami’s starting to take the piss.

[Update]

Here’s how much it costs:

50 coins – one day coverage
100 coins – three day coverage
200 coins – seven day coverage
300 coins – fourteen day coverage

 

Last Updated: October 6, 2015

54 Comments

  1. Ottokie "Yahtzee"

    October 6, 2015 at 11:04

    Konami < EA

    What the hell is happening!

    Reply

    • Kromas untamed

      October 6, 2015 at 11:26

      I am expecting snow or at least a relatively bug free Battlefront launch. 🙂

      Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 6, 2015 at 11:05

    So insurance is a Metal Gear Overhead?

    Reply

  3. Pariah

    October 6, 2015 at 11:12

    Well they can FOB right off…

    Reply

  4. Grand Admiral Chief

    October 6, 2015 at 11:13

    *facepalm*

    Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    October 6, 2015 at 11:14

    They should make a FPS PVP game and hand out insurance to protect your K/D

    Reply

    • Grand Admiral Chief

      October 6, 2015 at 11:24

      xD

      Reply

  6. Nikola

    October 6, 2015 at 11:28

    Wow this is absolutely ridiculous pay so other people won’t steal my resources whaaaaaaat?? Come on maaan and yeah it’s not even an online game like why would I care plus that feature is just rubbish. Question for people who own the game, what if I am offline can I use the FOB base or is it an online feature?

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      October 6, 2015 at 12:44

      Nope, no, you can’t…

      Reply

      • Nikola

        October 6, 2015 at 12:51

        That’s a bit rubbish in my opinion like I got internet so I can use the feature but you kind of forced to have an online connection constantly so you can use the feature!

        Reply

        • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

          October 6, 2015 at 13:15

          Yeah… I was a little disappointed in that, It’s not something that’s paramount to your gameplay, but having an FOB helps with combat management from your base, which in turn allows for more money to be generated…not having it makes you progress through the game a little slower….

          Reply

          • Nikola

            October 6, 2015 at 13:23

            Thanks for the inside tips there see they never mentioned this in most of the reviews I read about the game! Either will give the game a bash as I am lending it from my cousin but most people are quite impressed with the game overall.

  7. RinceThis

    October 6, 2015 at 11:29

    What the duce is going on these days?! KONAMI! FRAK OFF!

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 6, 2015 at 11:29

      YOU’RE KONAMI!

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 6, 2015 at 11:32

        YOUR FACE IS KONAMI!

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          October 6, 2015 at 11:35

          Your face makes babies tears into a TSUNAMI!

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            October 6, 2015 at 11:36

            For lunch I’m having a pizza with SALAMI!

          • RinceThis

            October 6, 2015 at 11:52

            GOOD!

  8. Brady miaau

    October 6, 2015 at 11:33

    I am buying a new(ish) car right now.

    Insurance. Hah. Bugger. So, insure virtual items in a game? Sort of like company data is insured?

    I wonder how many actuaries are involved in this process?

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 6, 2015 at 11:38

      I shopped around a lot when I last looked for car insurance. The worst part of getting the quotes is spending 10 minutes on the phone going through all their questions only to get a quote hundreds of rand more expensive than a previous one. Waste of time. And then the one you go with tries to jack up the price substantially after year one.

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        October 6, 2015 at 11:46

        I use a broker for medical aid and a different broker for short term insurance needs. I find that works better for me.

        Also, short term insurance broker gets cheaper quotes, more optional extra’s, from the same company I tried in my own capacity. AND he gets paid from that cheaper quote as well. Hmm.

        Reply

  9. Fnuik

    October 6, 2015 at 11:34

    Thing is, Konami is a Japanese company, and in Japan it’s not funny to hear about a person playing games to get so invested in the game that they spend more time playing it than doing real life things. I guess if you are weird like that you wouldn’t mind your online life to be insured.

    That’s the only reason I can think of why they would put something like this in the game. Japan is weird like that!

    Reply

  10. Guild

    October 6, 2015 at 11:46

    What no competitive quotes from other insurance companies?

    But ya, this is starting to feel like rock bottom of the gaming pool

    Reply

    • Nikola

      October 6, 2015 at 12:52

      Yip it’s really pathetic!

      Reply

  11. WitWolfy

    October 6, 2015 at 12:01

    The sad thing is many gamers are gonna start paying for those MB points soon…

    Reply

    • oVg

      October 6, 2015 at 12:18

      bwahaha

      Reply

  12. oVg

    October 6, 2015 at 12:16

    lol All cosmetics. I don’t have internet at home and I get to make more money by selling all mortars and turrets for a little extra. On-line can FOB off.

    89% done.

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      October 6, 2015 at 14:17

      Are you going to get internet one day? Or is there something preventing you from getting it

      Reply

      • oVg

        October 6, 2015 at 14:41

        The Internet scares me. My OCD will be worse than a Star Craft player in a Korean Internet cafe.

        Besides, the reason why I have been gaming the last 34 years is to escape reality and that includes humans. Its my own little world. I was doing fine until the console suddenly decided to become a PC.

        I am sure I am not the only one. There must be other introverted gamers out there. The ones who grew up playing games for self gratification without the need to show off their trophies or whatever.

        Ive played Borderlands 2 and GTAV on-line, it was fun as fcuk. But I can only handle it in short bursts.

        Who would have thunk that the worlds most Introverted hobby would become more social than going to the pub.

        Reply

  13. Geoffrey Tim

    October 6, 2015 at 12:32

    VIDEO GAMES! NOW WITH ALL THE ANNOYANCE OF REAL LIFE!

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      October 6, 2015 at 12:40

      Considering COD on PS3 and Xbox 360 does not ship with the story, We have come full circle.

      Reply

    • oVg

      October 6, 2015 at 13:06

      The oVg force is strong with this one 🙂

      Reply

  14. Darren Peach

    October 6, 2015 at 12:37

    Stopped playing this game. After I got to the first ending. I did a couple of missions after that. But I felt conflicted over the fact that if I kill too much I become a Bloody mess with a huge horn. I then have to go and save a bunch of animals to get my Imaginary evil rating and by proxy, My horn, down.

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      October 6, 2015 at 12:38

      You got to hand it to the man, Kojima has a weird sense of humour.

      Reply

    • Brady miaau

      October 6, 2015 at 13:00

      real horn? Must be disturbing?

      Reply

    • WitWolfy

      October 6, 2015 at 13:53

      It doesnt do anything to the story.. Or so I read..

      Reply

    • oVg

      October 6, 2015 at 14:48

      SPOILER

      I love the way the 4th wall is broken at the end. We are all BIG BOSS. Did you know that after you finish Mission 46 you can use your own Avatar?

      Also, if you are into the lore, the twist that the Big Boss that was killed by solid snake during operation Intrude was actually Venom snake, while the real BIG BOSS had nothing to do with Outer Heaven.

      A very fitting end that stuck true to its 20 something year lore.

      Reply

      • Darren Peach

        October 6, 2015 at 15:22

        I am totally confused. I guess it’s probably cause I only Played MGS one and then Guns of the Patriots and then this one. Japanese games are weird like that. Did you ever notice that Quiet looks at you in a very objective manner as if to poke fun or point out the debate about treating woman as a sex objects whenever you are in the Chopper looking at your menu thingy.

        Reply

        • oVg

          October 6, 2015 at 15:31

          SPOILER IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED MISSION 45

          Well to be fair, you did burn her skin off in the Cyprus Hospital and she knows she cant communicate with you otherwise the English parasite would get activated.

          Reply

          • Darren Peach

            October 6, 2015 at 15:34

            English parasite. Unique concept. Oh well. By the time I feel like playing it again, I doubt I will…….Fallout is coming.

          • oVg

            October 6, 2015 at 15:37

            Ya the new WMD is activating parasites that sit on your lungs and only mate if they are stimulated by a certain dialect killing the host. Kojima always surprises me.

            Quiet is Bulgarian in the game and only speaks English to save your life because you let her live knowing she is going to die a slow and painful death.

          • Darren Peach

            October 6, 2015 at 15:42

            Got to say, She is the most compelling character I have seen in a game. Maybe because of the way she was dressed and the political ramblings going on around this topic or maybe because I am just a dude looking at a half naked woman. I am not even sure anymore. There was something more to her for some reason. Her humming was unique and soothing at first. Naturally after some time It got irritating. Not because of her actually doing it, But because I worried it would irritate those who live with me.

          • oVg

            October 6, 2015 at 15:46

            I made her wear clothes and combat gear. It totally detracted from her Primal Killer image, It just did not suit her at all. There is a reason why they have art directors. They know there shit.

          • Darren Peach

            October 6, 2015 at 15:53

            Given the premise of the game, I don’t find it all that outlandish. But yeah, There is something primal about it. I often wonder if Kojima is taking the piss or being serious. Maybe both. Weird, Only ever question the intentions of the director of Japanese games. Very rarely do western games offer a deep introspective view on their narrative. Ken Levine springs to mind. Also, Spec Ops :The Line. Not sure who directed that.

          • oVg

            October 6, 2015 at 15:59

            Hideo is just old school, coming onto 50 I think. He grew up with naked chicks riding dinosaurs that shoot lazer beams out of their eyes 😛 I love his whacky mind. I hope it gets used more again in the future because he has a cool style. The only gripe I have is why he felt the need to incorporate the shaky cam. It did not work.

    • oVg

      October 6, 2015 at 14:52

      I got the PAZ ending, Quiet ending, game ending and NUKE ending, and people are still dissatisfied?

      Reply

      • Darren Peach

        October 6, 2015 at 15:25

        I am not sure which ending I got. Not the Paz one. Never did the import. I know that White Mamba ( LOL ) is annoying and keeps giving me the Stink-eye. He has a infatuation with the giant mech.

        Reply

        • oVg

          October 6, 2015 at 15:29

          You dont need to import. You just need to extract a wondering soldier and then go to the blue door in the med bay next to Quiets cell. After that you need to collect all 10 photos from wondering soldiers to unlock her ending. I HATED that little shit. Then when I realised it was Liquid it made sense because I hated him in MGS1 the gamecube version. Cocky little punk 😛

          Reply

          • Darren Peach

            October 6, 2015 at 15:30

            Agreed. He was a cocky little prick.

  15. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    October 6, 2015 at 12:47

    It’s absolutely disgusting…. I, for one, dislike this practice, when last did I purchase a complete game, that firstly was shipped in it’s entirety and secondly not subject to added purchases at a later stage to prevent my experience from becoming worse?

    Reply

  16. E Seminolus

    October 6, 2015 at 13:16

    A new form of greed. Awesome.

    Reply

  17. Mabenito

    October 6, 2015 at 14:17

    Now playing MGSV offline.

    Reply

  18. Raptor Rants

    October 6, 2015 at 14:31

    Wow

    Reply

  19. RinceThis

    October 6, 2015 at 16:33

    At least you can get all your quotes in one place!

    Reply

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