Game currency trading

killingpeople

[ QUOTE ]
2/13/05 wiki definition: Traders in massively multiplayer online games with economic systems play purely to acquire virtual game objects or avatars which they then sell for real-world money on auction websites or game currency exchange sites.

[/ QUOTE ]
www.mysupersales.com

i saw some level 65 echanters for everquest are selling for just under $800

i have a group of friends that have been trading game currency for years. they've bought apartments, cars, computers, furnature, houses, and so on with the money they've made off working everquest.

although restricted by the end user license agreement (EULA), do you feel this type of emergent gameplay is prized by game developers?

what are you thoughts on the subject?

ElysiumGX

i know a family that once played Everquest with hopes of selling their accounts for cash in order to pay living expenses.

While I think it's retarded. If some moron out there would rather spend hundreds of dollars for a high level account they didn't earn...take their money and run.

Mishra

i know someone who does that, he never even comes to school anymore, but he's made a good 5 grand since WoW came out.

i think it's horribly retarded to buy things in a videogame with your real money, but whatever. it just means that they're closer to not affording food or rent and dying, cleansing our gene pool.

MoP

There's a MMORPG where you can convert real-world cash into the game currency, and vice versa... so you put lots of money into the game to buy a house or a vehicle or something, then you can make money off that (in the game) and convert your earnings back into hard currency... pretty ingenious.

It was on the BBC news site late last year, some guy spent $26,500 buying an island in the game, but it means he now has control over it, and anyone wanting to visit/build on/hunt on/do anything on his island would have to pay him for the privilege... then he could make money off that... I wonder if it works...

Found the story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4104731.stm

rawkstar

heh wow... lol thats some fucked up shit mop, I remember playing the beta of project entropia... since I was broke as hell back then the prospect of earning money in an mmo was pretty cool... but turned out u have to put the money in to make anything... hehe the usual trap for yall I say it fucking owns, forget the EULA and all that stuff, I would most definitely allow people make money from MMOs just think about how many people that would attract to ur game, and its true people are basically selling their time spent playing the game, although it is true that the platform doesn't actually "belong" to them, but I still think it should be allowed for people to sell ingame stuff for mmos, its just cool.

ElysiumGX

Second Life has a similar setup where you're able to buy servers. Each server represents a large square peice of land, in which you control access. The game has it's own currency, which can be converted to real money somehow. As online worlds become more popular, we're watching the beginnings of...um....Real Estate? Unreal Estate? Virtual E-states?

MoP

Heh, I'm just imagining what an Unreal Estate Agent would look like... MaleMercA in a suit and tie? An Unrealtor?

JDinges

I made $1k selling my everquest account (only one character on it) 3 years ago.

And I've never looked back

MacD

What I dig about this is the fact that you some kind of virtual archeology going on. There was this article on wired (I think) a while back about this kind of thing. The article ended with this guy who had bought an EQ castle and he was walking the interviewer through it, talking about how he'd left the top room in it's original state and the fact that the castle must have belonged to a high level character because of this and that item (with the makers mark on it).

I dunno, but I like the fact that there's some kind of virtual history being created.

As for companies not allowing these sales...I just don't get it: it increases interest in the game, increases sales...what's not to like? Sure, you get some noobs with a highlevel character...kinda resembles real life in that way

Josh_Singh

Hahah, well first of all you get mmo sweatshops in mexico and other 3rd world countries, where Hombres are paid beans to get a level 80 whatever, then start all over again.

Asthane

Yeah, what ghost_rider said. Normally while I'd disaprove of it but say "let them do what they will"-- when you get scores of chinese bots monopolizing unique items and inflating their prices a la FFXI (more than they would be otherwise), then it's interfering with my play experience.

Characters on the other hand, I usually could care less about, though depending on the game it can be really bad to rely on someone because they're high level, only to find out they don't have a clue what they're doing... but hey, anyone can be a moron, you don't have to buy a char for that