Slashdot Mirror
A Case Study of RMTs In EVE Online
Kheldon writes with an article at MMO Gamer which explores how well real money transactions work in online games, using EVE Online as a test case. Quoting:
"... My next problem came from trying to sell the [Game Time cards] through the 'Time Code Bazaar' on the forums. While I quickly found buyers, none of them actually went through with the deal. This is the inherent problem with developer sanctioned RMT. Unless true, unfettered, player-to-player transactions are allowed without developer 'regulation,' the market will inevitably be operating inefficiently. Consider gold-farmers for a moment. Setting aside the moral or legal aspects of the trade, and considering from a purely economic standpoint, gold-farmers are the RMT equivalent of large corporations. They operate on the concept of 'economies-of-scale,' which basically means that up to a certain point, the larger a company is, the cheaper they can produce that product. Of course, companies that can produce a product more cheaply can undercut the competition while maintaining the same profit margin; meaning they'll make more sales, giving them more overall profit, and supporting the corporate growth, which furthers the economy of scale. This is the market at its most pure."
there is an ingame item called a PLEX, which is listable on the market & redeemable for 30 days of play time.
Keep up, douche bag
The writer has not done his research well enough.
There are two ways of selling game time in EVE.
One is to use the forum and the game time code transfer system available on the character screen, which is what the writer did.
The other is to convert the GTC into ingame items called PLEX (Pilot License EXtension) which is then traded on the market like
any other ingame item. This is not only the preferred way, it is also more profitable to the seller; netting around 720 million
ISK per GTC compared to about 600 million on the forums.
The other thing is that while you could certainly buy ISK from farming operations it comes with a risk. CCP has been known to ban
not only ISK sellers but also buyers in transactions not using the condoned methods.
The reason behind there not being any easy way to convert ingame currency into real money is that this would open a whole can of
legal worms for CCP. Tax departments, money laundring etc. etc. Not something a games company would want to deal with.
I found a fast warez site: http://warez.it.kth.se
ISK sellers, however, provide much better exchange rates: one site sells at 25 million ISK per dollar, or better in bulk. Why would players want to wait for their time cards to be shipped (not to mention the international service fees charged by the bank due to CCP being an Icelandic company), and then be hit with a sub-premium exchange rate. For 35 bucks I can get 600 million ISK with a time card, or for 27 bucks I can get 1 billion ISK from a reseller. Of course, there are some sanctioned time card sellers that cut out the shipping process for a faster deal, but that doesnâ(TM)t mitigate the entire problem.
So, your argument is moot.
The other major problem is that there is no sanctioned way to convert the ISK back into real world dollars.
Most would argue that this is the exact mechanism which keeps the gold farmers out of the system, and maintains the stability of the economy. With no way to profit in the real world, there is no incentive for farmers to set up shop.
Ehmmm, not really. Let's do a case by case comparison with player A and player B.
Scenario 1:
Player A pays his subscription the regular way and spends the month earning 1 billion isk.
Player B pays his subscription the regular way and spends the month earning 200 million isk.
Scenario 2:
Player B pays his own subscription the regular way and buys a gametime card with real life money.
Player A, being very good at making isk, buys the gametime card from player B for a sum of ingame money.
End result of both scenarios is the same. CCP has received the real life money for 2 subscriptions, and the actual amount of isk(ingame money) has not changed. Ergo, no inflation has taken place.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
From a "purely economical" point of view, the best producer of in-game gold is the developer, since they can produce an infinite amount of gold (as well as any in-game item that gold can buy). They don't do it because that would ruin the game.
In a real world, a pure economic approach is feasible, because we (well, most of us materialistic bastards) agree that maximum production of goods and capital at peak efficiency is beneficial to society, e.g. the more everyone has, the better off we are. That means that in the real-world, accumulation of wealth is a positive-sum game.
This isn't the case in video games. Had the developers given everyone a zillion gold, it would ruin the game by destroying the fun of making and investing money. In other words, after a certain point, the more money EVERYONE has, the WORSE off everyone is, rather than better. The whole point of "fun" is to be able to earn more gold than your neighbor. In other words, the fun-factor is zero sum, or even-negative sum.
Therefore, gold farmers, by increasing the volumes of gold they produce and sell, give "fun" to those that buy the gold, AT THE DIRECT EXPENSE of all other players who did not buy the gold. Unless I'm an egoistical bastard, I wouldn't consider myself worse off if my neighbor won the lottery. In a MMORPG, however, the more others are better off than you, the worse your own position is. If that wasn't the case, there would be no need for an in-game economy to begin with, everyone would be just given everything they want for free (which the developers clearly can do from the technical standpoint, but don't do for clear gameplay reasons).
The bottom line is, that measuring the benefit of "gold farmers" from a purely economical point of view is complete and utter bullshit, because in-game economy has a completely different relationship to in-game enjoyment than a real-world economy has to real-life enjoyment.
Well, as a long time EVE player, I remember when trading cash for isks was forbidden by the EULA - and it still is, you can just work around it by selling game time codes for in game cash. ... well, fundamentally it's a forum, so not that great for trading - particularly items like GTCs which are functionally identical, with a different price tag - the delay on them means that it's easy enough for buyers to request a bunch of buys off a bunch of different people, and only accept the most favourable.
... disporportionate prices, as people pimp their shiny toy (if it's good for mission running, the price is inflated to the point where it becomes even less viable to use in PvP). But barring that, the isolationist mission runner doesn't actually have much impact on the rest of the game, so whatever.
... you have probably more 'small time' isk buyers and sellers, as people finance their account through mission running, but the tradeoff is, because they're doing so via GTCs, it means everyone who 'buys isks' also finance an extra player account, meaning more subscribers.
.... and more targets.
I have to say, the article seems to have missed one of the most effective ways of doing this - PLEXes (Pilot License Extensions) are tradable on the in game market - that's by far the most effective way of trading them these days. Head to Jita, list one for sale, and it'll probably have sold within the week - much less faff than using the forum, which
I'm still in two minds as to whether it's a good thing or not - I don't like the fact that RL cash can have influence on the game, any more than I'd be happy that a chess player could whip out a credit card and buy an extra queen.
On the other hand, I do like that people on lower incomes can actually play EVE for 'free' (300mil isks/month isn't particularly hard to raise), and I do like the fact that someone with less 'free' time, because of an intensive job, can shortcut the direct 'run missions' or 'mine' to generate isks.
I think the reason it actually works in EVE, is because of the nature of the game - if you fork out a few billion isks on a really pimp fitted ship, then you'll get a nice ship, sure. If you don't know what you're doing, it'll die shockingly fast. Even if you do know what you're doing, it'll maybe be a match for 2-3 equivalent class ships, but no more. And you'll then provide someone with a juicy killmail, and a nice big pile of loot.
For PvE usage... yeah, it does skew the economy somewhat, and have some items worth
And it serves as a control mechanism on 'actual' RMT - by letting people 'trade' via GTCs, the game developer and thus the game itself benefits. Before that, you still had 'isk sellers', that'd elicit a ban if you got caught. Now
RMT is essentially unfettered inflation. Its printing money.
By that logic, so is growing apples - so long as there is a market for it and your prices are competitive. The total money supply does not increase, so I think the analogy of 'printing money' doesn't quite fit.
So how is the fact that player A chooses to spend his time making isk in any way, shape or form related to the issue at hand, being RMT?
What you want to debate is isk sinks and isk faucets, which is a somewhat related subject part of game balancing, but hardly relevant to RMT.
Anyway, in your example you introduce a new source of demand(player C) without accounting for the fact that a new source of supply is bound to show up soon as well(player D perhaps?)
EVE truly does have a mostly free market and it regulates itself pretty damn well. Or are you just complaining that plexes are too expensive?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
I have never played a game like EVE or WoW or any of these. They are complicated and involving. I have personally witnessed one man who had his middle-class lifestyle -- his house, wife and kids, job -- all lost because he couldn't stop playing games like these. I'm not going to suggest that everyone is vulnerable to such demise from gaming addiction but there are unquestionably some that are. But that's not the main reason I don't get involved in that stuff. It's not "fun" when it's a source of additional stress and frustration.
I play games. Make no mistake about it. I play them and I get locked in and I become like a dog who is busy eating so don't interrupt me when I am into it. But I also feel the difference between the importance of reality and "the here and now" of things.
When I see serious business, strife and even killing and suicides stem from these types of games, I have to wonder or even worry about what is really going on. If I were one of those anti-game crusaders, I would target these MMORPGs rather than "violent" games. I see a lot more tragedy associated with those types of games rather than those that are based on violent themes. But thankfully, these are "worlds" that are completely opt-in and there are certainly worse worlds to get hooked on -- drugs, sex, gambling -- more examples of "addictive" and obsessive activities that can lead to some serious life consequences. These things will always exist in humanity. Try to control them and they will go underground and form dangerous sub-cultures. Try to legalize and regulate them and you find yourself serving as referee in matters that are best for government not to be involved in.
It's a part of crazy-town that I am glad I don't live in.
If you have an addiction, that's your problem. I play EVE and I don't have this addiction.
Because you can hire third worlders to farm gold for 15 cents an hour, and thus there is an effectively infinite supply of player Cs.
Sometimes the real life busts in and makes us painfully aware that some people have more, much more disposable income than others.
EVE Online's RMT system is by and large a brilliant idea. People who are so inclined, can buy virtual wealth for real world money, and people who are good at the game can play for free. The developers benefit either case. The vastness of EVE's playerbase however means it includes some individuals who are far, far ahead of the average on the income curve.
In the latest "Great War of EVE", a small Russian alliance RED.Overlord (ROL), with connections to virtual money farming industry, grew hostile with their neighbors, the largest player alliance Goonswarm. A certain VERY well off member of ROL then bought at least 500 billion ingame ISK (~$10k+ worth) from the black market to buy its alliancemates five Titan class capital ships (strategic weapons in EVE which take a lot of effort and 2 months of real time to build). CCP got a whiff of the transaction and banned all the titan pilots and their associates.
Unfettered, ROL's "mysterious benefactor" turned to legal means, and publicly sold 1000 real-money-bought timecards to fund its ingame war effort - a cool $27,000 worth. That is an undeniable fact, with sale threads still visible on EVE's official forums.
A harder to prove, but with the above in mind not the least unlikely, were his solid real-money-bribes to the leaders of other EVE alliances for help in the war. It's rumored that Evil Thug, the leader of a powerful Against All Authorities alliance, received a cool $30,000 bribe to turn his ingame organization against their former friends at Goonswarm, and there are more reliable information that certain leaders of other neighboring alliances received solid five-figure dollar bribes to either turn coat, or at the minimum stay neutral, in this purely ingame conflict. Perhaps interestingly, not many agreed.
Real life bribes don't as such have a lot to do with ingame RMT, but that's because the effect of ingame currency only goes so far, and rallying real people one way or the other is the true means to win.
I could spout off comments that boil down to accusations of "denial" but that's just too easy and simple. Instead, I will attack your logic of statement.
The bad analogy statement is "Humans get AIDS." But I am human, and I don't have AIDS, therefore AIDS is not a human problem, but only the problem of those who have it. Yes, I see there are logical problems with my bad analogy, but I think you can see the point.
You are taking a generalization that I have made "personally" and stating that because it may not be personally true for you that it is not generally true. That's just stupid.
The point has been made that MMORPGs create their own economies which affect the real world. At this point it is no longer "just a game." The desires of people to build wealth and power is one common to "most" of humanity. (It is true because history bears this out. It does not matter if it does not apply to you individually.) MMORPGs supplement this human desire "virtually" if you will. (I may not be king of the world, but I am king of the nerds! Sound familiar?) When you break down the psychology of the activity, it really starts to bring to light many facets of human society that generally go unnoticed or taken for granted.
As I said before. I play games. But I am reluctant to play games that I cannot play by myself. Many of the more ugly aspects of people come to light too quickly. In gaming, I appreciate "fairness and balance" as do many others. (Let's call those who appreciate fairness and balance "Type A") Some people, however, prefer to cheat and take advantage of others for their own gain... gain which is usually a thrill, a position in some arbitrary hierarchy system or ladder or a reputation or some other such thing. (Let's call these people "Type B") Some people truly live for that sort of thing. While those of Type B exist (and they will ALWAYS exist as it is a part of the human condition) Type A people will always fall victim to them in some way or another. In the case of MMORPGs, they try to police themselves, (as a player of EVE, I am sure you are aware of how some developers have been identified in some pretty dubious activities?) write software code to thwart cheats and exploits and on and on even resulting in high profile court cases and "DMCA" actions. This stuff has escalated WELL BEYOND the status of "just a game."
They aren't just games any more than social networking sites are "just virtual" and have no impact on "real life." They are all parts of "real life" now. When interactive humanity seeps into a game, all the ugliness of humanity is packaged right along with it.
there are certainly worse worlds to get hooked on -- drugs, sex, gambling -- more examples of "addictive" and obsessive activities that can lead to some serious life consequences.
How is sex worse than video games to be addicted to? Which species are you?
Playing WoW for 70 hours/wk will not lead to unwanted forked processes demanding child support.
In fact, it's a great way to avoid that. Permanently.
I played EVE for nearly 2 years, WoW for the same and in total have been an avid video game fanatic for about 15 years.
It's virtually a given that cheats, exploits/hacks, and with the rise of MMOGs, RMT, will never ever be eliminated from the gaming world. In fact, the former two is what makes some games totally great (perma beserker mode in Doom, and DK mode in Goldeneye spring immediately to mind) and developers include these 'features' on purpose, often taking suggestions from the community at large.
In EVE, like all other MMOs, RMT is a big problem. Corporations and alliances farming materials purely for real world money-making, often hogging research and manufacturing slots aswell; although the cost of holding such slots increases expontially with time now I believe.
CCP (the developer) used to 'unofficially' allow trading of game time cards, sold in increments of 30 days unlimited play time, for in game currency, but as time when on and more people tricked by unscrupulous businessmen, it became clear that regulation was required in order to prevent the cut-throat ingame attitude spilling out into real world, real money, scamming. The current system involves buying a game time card and putting the code with a set price in 'escrow' for another player to purchase with ingame currency. The player checks his account page and accepts the trade, the game time is added to his account automatically and the seller gets the ingame ISK.
This system is win-win-win for everyone, with no moral issues to contend with (unless someone is so addicted they are using their food money to buy game time cards, of course), CCP gets paid for the game time card, the buyer gets to pay for an MMO by playing more, and the seller gets to bypass boring grinding.
I much prefer this system than the alternative.
The problem with the "RMT Creates runaway inflation" argument is that it does not take into account several things:
1) In the game, the economy is in a generally deflationary period which it has been in since game launch.
2) RMT's have been around for well over a year and not only has the general deflationary cycle NOT stopped, it has sped up, with prices dropping rapidly. Observe the cost of T2 parts and ships and compare against before RMT. Generally speaking, T2 is cheaper now.
3) Many many many many other factors drive the economic cycles in EvE, RMT is a vanishingly small one of them.
The thing that the "RMT = inflation" people seem to forget is that there is NO NEW ISK being added to the economy when RMT's are used. The ISK is simply moved from one player's wallet to another within the game. So since no new ISK is added to the general supply, no inflation can occur.
The argument, as made above, that RMT encourages people to just make piles of ISK is specious at best. Many Trader players play just simply for the joy of being "virtually" rich. That is, they make the ISK for the sake of making the ISK. RMT just allows them to play as they enjoy without having to pay out any of their own hard-earned real money to do it.
On top of that there are people who make ISK to collect items with. I know of a couple players who run as traders simply so they can buy at least one of every item in the game.
There are MANY others who run VERY profitable trader-alts to supply their primary fighter accounts. Many of these players do so well with the trader alts that they have ISK to burn.
And that really is the crux of the problem for the "RMT = inflation" argument. The vast majority of really wealthy players who buy RMT's WOULD HAVE MADE THE ISK ANYWAY. The RMT's are just another avenue to burn the ISK pile they have amassed. An avenue that helps along players that are not good at making ISK but have the real money to use on the game.
So no, RMT's have not and CANNOT cause in-game inflation. To try and argue they do is to show a complete lack of economics, the state of the eve economy, and general human behavior.
Now, Who wants to buy my PLEX?
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory