girliegeek

Anyone who is familiar with MMO type games knows that the in game economy can be a pretty big aspect of the game. I’ll use WoW as an example because I am extremely familiar with it but I know that this concept carries over into other games as well. If you are a frequent user of the Auction House, the in game economy does have a direct effect on your success.

For example, I just spent an hour running around Elwynn Forest mining to my little heart’s content. Then I go to the AH to sell off my handful of Copper to someone who couldn’t be bothered to take the time to mine it themselves. Which works because basically I am providing a service … I get the gold for an hour’s work and they get their Copper and everyone is happy. Along comes Mr. Gold Buyer, who sees one of my lovely stacks of Copper, buys it at the respectable price I was selling it for (along with all of the other well priced stacks of Copper) because he can afford it with all the gold he bought. He then turns around and sells it all at a higher price. Sure I still get my gold. But the poor sap who wants to buy Copper now has to pay some stupidly high amount because the prices have just risen. Next time I go to sell, I try to keep my prices lower than Mr. Gold Buyer so that people will still go for my auntions rather than his.

This is obviously a very basic and plain example of what I am trying to get across. Some people say that gold buying is harmless and it just allows the people who have the real money to get a little help in game. I’m not sure sure that I agree because I think it does change things. There’s a game called Entropia Universe which allows you to use actual currency in game along with their own currency. Apparently you can also convert the in game currency called PED into real money so in theory, you could make a profit playing the game. Now, I’m not all that familiar with this game so I couldn’t go preaching about it but sounds like an ok idea to me. I did download the game (it’s free to download and play by the way) but had a hard time grasping it and I read someone telling a new player that it’s often hard to build up enough to actually get anything out of the game and that for most people, it’s just like playing a subscription game like WoW because they always end up depositing into it anyway.

WoWWiki goes into a bit of detail into economy and deflation if you’d like to read about it here.

What do you think? I’d really like to know your views on gold buying and what effect, if any, it has on the game. Are you in favor of gold buying, do you disagree with it, or are you neutral on the issue. I should add for anyone who doesn’t already know this, that gold buying is against the WoW terms and conditions and is a freeze-able offence.