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Virtual World Currency Exchange Launches
Thanks to Terra Nova for the news that a MMO currency exchange website now allows cross-trading of virtual world currency, meaning you can trade your Ultima Online gold directly for simoleans from The Sims Online. Terra Nova notes that the site, the Gaming Open Market, "plans to cover [currency for] Ultima, Sims Online, There, EverQuest, Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies... and of course the US dollar." The FAQ page on GOM's site explains that "...in-game commodity transactions are handled by meeting a GOM representative (called an "associate") in your game", and explains the service's alleged advantages: "the GOM Currency Exchange (GCX) gives you the speed of a real-life discount stock brokerage, and provides the security of an escrow service, while bringing together buyers and sellers of common goods."
This time next year, we should be reading about a nice big embezzlement scam and possible charges filed against employees or associates of one of those MMORPG developers.
;)
Hmm. I wonder if they're hiring?
As a former MMORPG player, I always found the concept of real life value to in game objects to be disgusting. I only played (Ultima Online) for the PVP and that's all I enjoyed about it. A few expansions ago I got fed up with the growing emphasis on player wealth. It got to the point where only the wealthy players could PVP successfully.
:)
So I stopped playing. But like all good opportunists, I took advantage of what disgusts me the most: the value of my in-game possessions. I sold my in-game house on Ebay for $300 and all my in-game gold for a similar figure and reclaimed most of what I'd pumped into the game over the years. I could have sold my account for an equally large sum because it had a veteran status, but I'm only willing to sacrafice so much of my dignity. I don't think I could live with myself if someone was running around in-game with my name.
After I stopped playing it really started to dawn on my how much of a shady business MMORPGs really are. They're not about keeping you entertained, they're about keeping your subscription. Although, to be honest, the early years of UO were a lot of fun. I'm just glad I had the good sence to bail out when I realized it was more frustrating than fun.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Psst!
Psst! Yeah, you!
Hey, ah, you wanna buy some, ah, Slashdot mod-points?
Yeah, they're real! Honest to Taco mod points.
I gots some "Interesting"s, some "Troll"s, a "Flamebait", couple "Informative"s, and a bunch of "Funny"s. Well, because the "Funny"s don't increase Karma, so there's an over-supply.
You can have 'em all for 200 simoleons or 75 gold pieces, or a light-sabre, or....
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Setting up some bullshit bot to make as much money as possible in one game, and then just trading it for US dollars?
Like, if there are no prevention on that, then that's what I am going to do, but some stupid Sims Online bot that just makes sure my character stays alive and leave the program running in the background. If I can earn more money than I pay in subscription fees in a month, it's basically free income.
Obviously there has to be some serious restrictions.
~ kjrose
I may be a lawyer because I failed math, but even I know that 1% of 101,000 is 1010, not 1000. So, if you deposit 101,000 you should be credited with 99,990. A better (more accurate) example would be: deposit 100,000 and we will credit you 99,000 (100,000 less 1%).
Incidentally, this is exactly the same incorrect application of percentages that is used in Candadian rest stops along Route 401 in Ontario.
I hope they clear that up before any regulators get involved!
I'm a lawyer with excellent karma. Something's gotta be wrong.
1) Write bots to play many popular mmorpgs.
2) Join the Virtual World Currency Exchange.
3) Profit!!!
This could be a great help to those who want to switch over to a different MMORPG but not want to lose all the effort they've already put into their old character. You could start the game with millions of the local currency just by converting the wealth of your old Everquest characters.
As soon as these guys set up Everquest, FFXI, and/or SWG branches look for flocks of people using this service.
I wonder what the average player makes, in USD, in an hour of playing an MMORPG....
...I haven't bothered with online games in a few years now, so I have no idea how well their creators enforce their respective EULAs these days.
But isn't something like this just waiting for Verant/Mythic/whoever to release the hounds? After all, this is different from a year-old account changing hands. This allows new characters to have a shortcut to mass amounts of funds by way of a non-company program (the MMOG at the starting end of the conversion) and third-party intervention (the website and its "in-game representatives"). Which is, uh, cheating.
and doesn't this make it possible for game makers to pump them out of their money(since they can make that money, and the invented resources that make 'worth' something as they please)? what transfers of money that don't balance, like, if there comes a new game and everyone moves away from some older game and transfers all their cash in that old game to the new game(in that case they end up with gazillion funbucks of some game that are not worth anything).
like, surely this can't be a good long term business plan? for some quick running sure.. but they're bound to get screwed.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
A disintermediated retail forex would rock
my world. Play money might be nice too, but
only after substantial research.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Does anyone have a take on this?
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Almighty Dollar.
So you say you are setting up a service to profit from our game without us getting a cut? Well we could try to EULA you out of existence, but we have a better idea. One day, after you are nice and operational and have plenty of liquid currency deposited we plan to do one of two things:
1) Change currency to something else entirely making all currency held obsolete and worthless, or
2) Multiply all in-game prices and creature drops by a factor of 1000000. A rat that used to drop 1 copper now drops 1000000 copper. A sword that used to cost 5 copper now costs 5000000 copper.
Whats that? But you already paid out significant amounts of real US Dollars for the currency you have in stock? A noobie can walk outside of town and trip over that much in-game money? You just lost a ton of operating capital and your investers and customers don't trust you anymore? Dang, sucks to be you.
GG
PS These comments, nor Mike Hawk, represent SOE, EA, Lucasarts, George W. Bush, Principal Skinner, or any entity public, private, or imaginary, this is just what I would do because I can be a vengeful arse.
No Zorkmids?!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Sounds like the only thing that is going to get exchanged is costumers virutal money, for the website's real money. By the time they are bankrupt though, they'll be able to virtually buy anything they want.
Please, Please setup robots to play online games in some significant fashion that disrupts their economy. Perhaps then designers will create games that don't consider
10 Dig for an hour
20 Rest for an hour
30 Goto 10
a winning formula for gameplay.
The ______ Agenda
This is cool for gamers, because they can now switch from a game to another and carry their "cashola" with them, also they can invest some time in a game and then use the money they won on another if they wanted to. And is even cooler if you consider you can exchange your hard earned "treasure" into actual bucks.. Yumm!
But IS terrible for game developers, game economics and the game as itself! that money was not generated in the game it comes from an external source! (imagine people could get diamonds out of thin air in real life, cool yes, but economically disastrous!) there wouldnt be something that could be considered an "expensive item" anymore, if gold starts popping anywhere then gold loses its value! because is not rare anymore! in addition developers would have to consider you probably posses an item to solve a quest that was previously very rare. This eventually makes the game impossible to play for someone who doesnt have expensive items!! coders wont be able to use items or any ammount of money as a "door" to enter a better level or get an important item without ruining your gaming experience, designers instead would be forced to grant you those if you have the proper level or skill! (which are more difficult to be bought) This means you will have to invest more time and effort even in the most simple of quests! In addition quest or items that granted a substantial value would have to dissapear (or get very devaluated in the market)! so you are not able to get a substantial ammount of REAL money fearing that you could break the REAL bank, Imagine someone could gather 10,000,000 items worth 100 dollars each and then try to turned them into cash! (you can kiss that 1,000,000g diamond you've just got goodbye!)
at the end, when developers finish balancing the game, MONEY wont be as useful or as easy to get anymore!
Disastrous!
There is a real chance that this could hose the economy of the more popular MMORPGs. As people move their money from older games to the newer ones inflation will skyrocket and the dropped gold from quests and monsters and such will not be significant enough to persue.
This is after serveral newbs have used this produce wealth not directly attributed to their charecters performace. At least more so then having friends help out.
This will leave new players of MMORPGs in general at a huge disadvantage as they don't have an older game to pull from when inflation is rampant.
Kyle
BASE Conflict for Quake 3
IIRC, isn't this against most games' EULAs?
I know it was mentioned earlier that Sony went after people selling their EQ stuff on EBay. Wouldn't these "associates" have their games accounts banned?
The business model isn't "give us your in-game cash and we'll give you US dollars", it's "deposit your in-game cash with us and then you can use that as a commodity in our online trading website for commerce with other registered users".
Think of it like paypal. You give 1 million UO gold to the duly-appointed GOM representative on your server, and your account on the website gets updated to reflect your deposit. (minus the appropriate fees of course) Now, you can log into the website and look at the exchanges, and put that money up for sale. Other users will see that and can purchase it for the price you put it up for, or ignore you. If it doesn't sell, you repost it at a lower price or whatever. If it does, you've got US cash in your account that you can subsequently withdraw or use to purchase other commodities, such as currency in a different game.
Putting MMORPG currency into the system doesn't guarantee you US dollars out immediately. And since GOM takes a cut of every transaction, they're not going to go bankrupt how you expect them to.
To make a large history short, they just act as mediators between you and geeks who want to buy Virtual goods.
Check their FAQ:
How does the GCX work?
By registering with GOM, you are opening an "account". Once open, you will have the option to add to your account both real-world cash and in-game commodities. Cash transactions are handled through PayPal, and in-game commodity transactions are handled by meeting a GOM representative (called an "associate") in your game. Your account page displays both your cash and commodities balances.
When you have a balance in your account, you are free to make trades. On the marketplace page, you will see the daily summary (high, low, volume), a chart of historic prices, and two columns of open orders. If you find an order you wish to fill, simply click the order's "buy" or "sell" link. Confirm your trade by clicking "Confirm". Congratulations! You have just made a trade! Your cash and commodity balances will be adjusted accordingly.
If there aren't any open orders that meet your needs, you are free to post your own. From the "Place order" page, you can add your listing to the marketplace. Then, any other GOM user can fill your order. Once you've posted an order, you can cancel or adjust it at any time up until it is filled.
You can trade as often as you like through GOM. The more trades you make, the more liquid the market becomes, and liquid markets mean quicker transactions and better prices for everyone!
And goes on saying
What happens if GOM is holding my goods when a server wipe occurs?
Unfortunately for us all, server wipes are a reality. What's worse is that there's nothing we can do to prevent them or to recover from them. It makes no difference whether we're holding your goods or you're holding your goods - they're gone. GOM accepts no liability for these losses.
So there you have it, they are not a bank, an atm machine (and they are not even 100% secure) or anything, they are just the equivalent of an EBAY contact inside an MMORPG.
Tulipomania, anyone? [ http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulipomania ]
Circumcision is child abuse.
Perhaps someone with more of an understanding of currency trading can explain a bit how this works, and compare and contrast it to the real world currency brokers run things at the exchange.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I think the real question is, how long before the N-Gage appears as a type of exchangeable currency?
Glog!
*clicky* *clicky* and they give themselves 1,000,000 gold pieces to trade for some us dollars.
Liberty.
All these holier-than-thou people decrying sales of in game items and the people who sell them (usually referred to as scumbags, lowlifes etc) need to take a step back. Many of the people who sell these items can't get normal jobs for various reasons- illness, children, geographical location- and these sales were a real godsend. There aren't very many ways to make money from home (despite what the emails claim). Shmucks who expend time and energy defending the sanctity of Everquest or Sims Online should realize in many cases their taking food off family's tables.
Another point is as these games become more ubiquitous and begin to mesh into the fabric of society, the issue of property rights is going to become more important. Sooner or later some "Free Trade" politician is going to realize these EULAs are stifling economic activity and don't really serve to protect IP rights. The only thing that gives 1,000 pieces of platinum value in the real world is the time a player invests in obtaining them. Let SOE type up a few trillion platinum pieces and see how much they sell for. Then see how long the game remains viable as people cancel their accounts.
Your basic premise is correct, futzing with ingame prices and $$ values may or may not be a nuisance. I think its doomed to fail because:
1. Its easy to accumulate money ingame (if you just grind it out)
2. Its on shaky legal ground. Currency exchanges and commodities are generally heavily regulated (not sure about Canada)
3. They take no responsibility for anything. One sustained DOS attack or a hacker can thrash everything and you're S.O.L.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
All that work for a spark of interest at the begining that will quickly die off as these scammers find their only customers are people trying to scam them. Psh.
First let me be the latest to say, "I, for one, welcome our Creidt hoarding Overlords."
Second, I think there is a certain Nigerian business man who has a patent on converting virtual currency to genuine US dollars. Perhaps you could license his technology. Or fight it with prior art citing 'junk bonds.'
I shall not stop until all of us AC's have accumulated enough Karma to post at +1.
Eh, this isn't new at all. People have been doing it, albeit it in a less organized way, in text muds for years before even UO or M59 was released.