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Selling Virtual Gold for Fun and Profit
Grimrod writes "Dave Long of GamerDad has some musings in his column this week on the virtual world of massively multiplayer online games and the legality of selling virtual goods." Mr. Long is commenting on a story posted last week at Plaguelands detailing a supposed duping bug in EQ2 that allowed a small group of players to make thousands of dollars in U.S. currency. From the GamerDad article: "For me personally, it's impossible to grasp the idea of buying virtual goods to make my in-game character better. A lot of people seem to have a lot more money than sense though and for them that's perfectly reasonable. To further cloud the issue of who really owns virtual goods, in EverQuest II a crafted weapon keeps my name on it as the creator. If I want to sell that to someone for real money, there's no better defense than to say, "I made that!" and look right there online to see my name on the item."
One comment that almost always pops up is that deragatory line "Some people have more money than sense". This is nothing more than jealousy. Virtual or not they are paying for effort and not necessarily the item they are receiving. What is done is weighing the cost of their play time versus what they would have to spend to have someone do it for them. Considering the prices on many things in the virtual world this is still a great deal.
People pay others to wash their cars, mow their lawns, and do other simple work for them everyday. Why? For some it is because they are lazy, but for most it is because their time is worth more than the money paid out and that is the key to the whole argument.
On the legality side, I am beginning to think we are going to see someone eventually go to court and beat one of the game companies. Even if that doesn't happen for a long time these companies have already proven they cannot win versus the resourcefulness of the sellers using the internet. All they can do is hit the dumb ones and make a few big hits but I would susepct 99% of the trading goes unimpeded.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Phantasy Star Online is better than any MMORPG for many reasons:
- it's extremely easy to amass more money than you'll ever spend.
- the really cool stuff is obtained from quests, not stores.
- item storage is limited.
- it is multiplayer, but not massive.
- players can't hurt each other.
- it is an action-RPG.
- the viewpoint is from behind the player, not above, which is better for action.
This way, veterans usually give away what they no longer need to the newbies. And everyone helps each other in what's actually fun: killing monsters! I think this is much more fun than all the Evercracks out there.
Circumcision is child abuse.
I'm in the same boat currently in World of Warcraft.
... 60 Thorium Bars ... 180 Dream Dust ... Services of an enchanter ... 24 Thorium Bars ... 24 Arcane Crystals ... Services of several alchemists
I decided I wanted an Enchanted Thorium Breastplate, Helm, and Legplates. There are comparable drops (and in case of the Breastplate, arguably better ones), but the helm and legplates are tough to beat and it's difficult to turn down a guarantee rather than hoping for something to drop off a boss.
So, I made my list:
* 3 Azerothian Diamonds
* 3 Huge Emeralds
* 2 Large Opals
* 2 Blue Sapphire
* 60 Enchanted Thorium Bars
* 10 Essence of Water
* 10 Essence of Earth
* 24 Arcanite Bars
As of today, I have managed to collect everything on that list, with the exception of 13 of the Arcane Crystals, which then require transmutations by alchemists to turn them into Arcanite.
I actually *logged* how much time I spent working on this project, as well as the gold spent. So far it's taken ~95 hours of play time (dedicated solely to this task!) spread over 26 days to acquire the materials. 95 hours... and I'm not done. I still need 13 more crystals which at the current auction house rates on my server, will cost nearly 300 gold. So I either need to get really lucky when I spot a rich thorium vein, or I need to otherwise accrue 300 gold. (and then, as an aside, I want the legs and helms with health added, so I need to get the materials for the arcanum, which can be had at the auction house with good regularity for about 20-25G for each enchantment, and then 30G to pay the NPC for each enchant).
When this is all said and done, how much time will I have spent? I'm putting that figure anywhere between 120 and 150 hours, so I figure I have 2-3 weeks to go.
Now, what might this have cost me if I bought the gold and paid for the materials? I figure the bill rings in somewhere in the 1000-1200 gold range, and looking at these currency sites (MySuperSales, IGE), it would probably cost me $95-$123 to complete the project. That's a worst case of $1/hour.
Would I pay it? No. Will I pay it? No. Do I understand why some people would want to pay it? Absolutely.
On the legality side, I am beginning to think we are going to see someone eventually go to court and beat one of the game companies. Even if that doesn't happen for a long time these companies have already proven they cannot win versus the resourcefulness of the sellers using the internet. All they can do is hit the dumb ones and make a few big hits but I would susepct 99% of the trading goes unimpeded.
For my personal view, I believe the eventual resolution will be that paying for an account is like paying for a concert ticket. A concert-goer does not own the music at the concert, but he owns the right to "use" it. Absent any laws to the contrary, he can also sell that concert ticket to another person for however much money he wants. If a concert is canceled, the people putting on the concert aren't liable for the market value of the tickets, they're just liable for the original ticket price.
If that was the same design put in place for MMOs, what we'd have is the company would own all of the IP involved in the game, but the user would have the ability to sell his access rights (which would include virtual goods/currency or accounts). Any changes or removals of items would only make the company liable for the "purchase price" of those items (which is nothing).
the real problem is that sometimes leveling up or especially grinding for that money is NOT FUN AT ALL! first off, it's not challenging - it just takes time, in wow for example the mob ai is 100% predictable as far as grinding goes - the world doesn't change at all. the game is so _easy_ that it is pathetic, it's like playing a normal rpg with godmode on except when you get ganked - you can't make serious mistakes in the game, you can't make wrong or right choices(in fact you can't make any choices at all during the whole game! some rp that is).
so, avoiding 20 hours of non fun to get to the fun part that supposedly you would have with the equipment i can totally understand, though now I don't see any point in grinding high level instances in something like wow for example as there isn't anything worthwhile you could do with the equipment. for example.. from running onyxia you get better gear for... running onyxia. this wouldn't be that much of a problem if the world wasn't so horribly static or if you had longer goals to go for like getting a castle or something...
and in wow for example everytime you kill a mob more cash is injected to the economy, the mobs dropping pure gold endlessly as long as you care to kill them(which means smashing 3 buttons) - so inflation is of course in there... but the demand for the high level sellable items drops considerably as well so you'll have lots of gold but nothing to do with it, so materials for stuff end up costing a lot more than the crafted items making you lose money in pursuing a profession - though because professions in wow are just "press button and watch a bar go" so if you could make good money from that everyone would have good money... taking a profession skill to high level is boring, mostly useless and only takes that you have X amount of money that you can either grind or buy, the grinding part taking only time so it's nothing to be proud of either(epic mount in wow is nothing to be proud of - all it takes is that you're willing to press 1-2-3-4-5-6 buttons for hours and hours).
having now played wow for considerable time I don't think that dupers or even gold farmers(that sell their gold on ebay) are the problem.. but that the world that is so friggin static. nothing happens there. everytime it's the same circus, same quest rides that you can watch someone else take. everyday some guild goes and kills onyxia - everyone getting and doing the same quests in the game world. it feels so unalive that only pvp can blow some life to it and even that is horribly executed.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Let's not even begin to get into how real economies work (suffice it to say that the whole thing is a big mess).
Don't MMORPG's suffer from constant inflation? There is usually a limitless supply of money and goods. Shops in these sorts of games typically have limitless supplies. Take into account supply and demand. The supply is infinite (given enough time), and the demand is finite. In theory, this drives down the value of everything in the game to nothing, even special items.
In terms of availability, there is no such thing as scarcity. Our fundamental theories of economics involve the limited supply of goods, but what happens in the face of a never-ending stream? How can economy exist! There's no intrinsically economic reason why EVERYBODY can't have the best items in the game. So why don't they?
The only constraint is time. People need to spend time to accumulate enough of this infinite stock, but it's within the grasp of everyone. Very equalizing, isn't it?
These games have a perfect socialist utopia where supply is a non-issue and prices/wages are fixed and proportional. You get out what you put into it, basically, and people are supposed to get what they deserve.
Enter the evil that is capitalism and human greed. Using real world cash, people are able to abuse the game system and give themselves an unfair advantage. These people now have access to supplies they didn't earn and don't deserve.
Make whatever argument you will about how said people function and make money in the real world, but the game world is not the real world. They don't belong together, and their economies are not supposed to be connected in any way other than the basic game fees one pays as a client.
Don't let capitalism destroy our gaming community! The games are designed by their creators to be fair and balanced. They are not supposed to be subject to class separation, which worms it's way in thanks to "real money." I say we do everything in our power to protect our idealistic little game worlds and give a decent playing experience to everyone rather than a select few who can afford it.
Well I will disagree. There are many people out there whose time I consider more valuable than mine. Be they doctors, scientist, and others there are always people whom we will decide that their time is more valuable than ours. At the same time there are those whose time we consider less valuable than ours. It is about the capability to contribute to society as well as willingness to do so. It also is about the fact that not all value should be assigned monetary equivalents.
If you don't think there are people's whose time is more valuable than your own then you are either selfish or clueless. Life isn't fair and we are not all equally capable.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Admittedly, the G in MMORPG stands for game, but folks take their games pretty seriously. People drop huge amounts of cash on recreation of all kinds.
For example, $50 for some new toys is nothing compared to the money people can spend on golf. If you're an avid golfer, you could buy spend nearly $300 on a putter to shave a few strokes off you game while on the green. Want to get to the green in fewer strokes? How about a new driver for nearly $400? Sure you could practice a little more, but most golfers are lucky to get in one game a week unless they're retirees. So instead, you spend a little extra money to have a better experience in the game.