It seems bad at first...

brad81487

It is clearly stated that buying virtual currency with RL currency destroys the system, but there is a few things you should keep in mind...

When virtual currency is sold at an excessive rate, yes, it does raise the price of items. With that in mind, items are worth more.

Where do you think those items come from that people pay so much for? Well of course, people playing the game.

Though buying the currency makes getting money for the person paying RL cash faster, it improves the cost of the items that are virtually droped.

When an item is droped that is fairly rare, because of inflation the value of the item is significantly increased, making a profitable(not the best term considering the item costs nothing for the person who found it) sale for the person playing. This not only inflates the price of high end items but the lowest end of items as well.

Though it seems like a huge loss, it is actually a fairly balanced system. The only downside to the whole thing is that the people who pay RL cash get virtual currency at no expense other than the cash from their pockets(or parents).

Jade6

Otherwise correct, except that you still need to ask yourself where that currency they are selling "at an excessive rate" comes from. You will realise that the effect you described is just a safeguard against a problem which in reality does not exist. The basic fact is that most people derive their fun from showing off, and since gold farmers are depriving them of that fun, they will always oppose the idea no matter what the facts are, so shush. It's pointless to argue about it.

Precusor

/sigh

Bissrok

How much money you can afford to spend on an MMO shouldn't matter in-game. We all pay the same subscription, we should all have an equal chance of making money. I can put in two weeks of work and buy a piece of armor, or some thirty year old can throw in ten more bucks. I don't see how that can sound fair. It hurts the game and it causes constant inflation. There's more money coming in then going out, and more money just keeps getting added in.

You can pretty much assume the devs just thought, "f**k gameplay, I want to make more money".

Jade6

(Gah, too tired of those same old naive arguments...)

Herkmeck

And it still seems bad at the second look, and the third, and the fourth....Sorry RL money and online games dont mix.  Gives the unfair advantage to the RL rich.

But OP maybe just maybe, people would look at your post closer, say if you did'nt just make that account up!!!

novice with one post....yeah just another gold seller trying to get his market flowing again...

Leasa

It amazes me how people can rationalize and justify anything.  If you think inflation is a good thing then you are either ignorant of economics or are a gold seller yourself.

kimosabe

Adding excessive amounts of currency to the ingame economy does not increase the value of ingame items. Just because there is more zeroes behind the price doesn't mean it's worth any more that it used to, since now the value of the currency itself drops in relation to the amount of currency in circulation. Money farmers provide huge inflation rates that don't effect the players that utilize the eBay economy, but this puts all the "fair" players at a large disadvantage since the money they worked hard for is no longer worth the amount of effort they put into it. You cannot say an item is more valuable because the price has increased; you must take into account how much the money is worth, and how easy that item is to possess. The eBay system of ingame economy is unfair to those who do not utilize it, and creates skyrocketing inflation which gives headaches to all players who are trying to get ahead. In the end, eBayers are just screwing themselves out of real money, since the cash the paid for (and spent) is no longer worth what they paid for due to ingame inflation.

eBay sucks.

evirus

no no no.

the most fundimental problem with Rl for IG(in game) currency is that it degrades the qualities of a game. people shouldnt start up a game and equate the items in the market place with how many hours of actual RL work it costs to obtain the item their looking for. the reason games are popular is because they allow you to do things that would be extremly hard in real-life. to pen a part of the game to what happenes in real life degrades the fun of the game. also you get to the point where the difference between a good player and a bad player is the amount of money the player is willing to spend to maximize their equipment layout