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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."
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.
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.