I think one of the most interesting examples of this "grey market" competition happened several years ago in EverQuest. An exploit was discovered that generated huge amounts of platinum (I think it was a smithing combine, but its been a while.)
What happened was two things. First, the real-world price of platinum plummeted. Second, some of the platinum was "laundered" on each server by buying the top items for sale in the bazaar.
It had a noticeable effect on the EQ economy. As far as I know, IGE consolidated with this new "exploit threat" - but it shows how vulnerable and volatile such markets are. The speed of inflation in an online game can be very, very fast.
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I think one of the most interesting examples of this "grey market" competition happened several years ago in EverQuest. An exploit was discovered that generated huge amounts of platinum (I think it was a smithing combine, but its been a while.) What happened was two things. First, the real-world price of platinum plummeted. Second, some of the platinum was "laundered" on each server by buying the top items for sale in the bazaar. It had a noticeable effect on the EQ economy. As far as I know, IGE consolidated with this new "exploit threat" - but it shows how vulnerable and volatile such markets are. The speed of inflation in an online game can be very, very fast.