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MMORPG.COM News: A Look At MMO Economics
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Overanalyzed.com has posted an interesting (and possibly controversial) article on MMO economics. Here is a snippet from the piece:
| Let me preface this by saying that I personally approach MMOs in a different way than most people. While most play for personal enjoyment, I come to them looking to make money. Obviously, while I do still enjoy the time I spend playing the games, I'm much more interested in crossing the boundary and selling my expertise and services in game for real life money. For those of you unaware, there exists quite a large economy (~$800 million per annum) of people buying and selling things for online games. The large majority of the volume of these transactions takes place via buying and selling liquid assets, ie currency. |
Want to read it all? Click here.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Comments
I haven't bothered to read the article yet but... 800 million??? That's pretty damned much, especially since for the most part the 'industry' is non-professional.
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There's no way I would ever pay RL money for in-game items or currency.
My 2cp
In a way you already do since time is money and when you're playing the game you spend your time, i.e. real-life money, to play the game and aquire/craft items.
aboveGame, the Gamer's Photo Blog
After reading the article a few things came to mind. The first, but perhaps not the most important, was what do these big ticket buyers do with all that excess coinage? I mean really I understand that having 100,000 times as much as anyone else might put you a hundred steps above everyone else, but really why?
The second, a little more controversial, obviously there are more than just a few big companies and a handful of sellers involved in this $800 million dollar industry. So who else is doing this, and how does that make the rest of the gamers that haven't done this or, for that matter, even heard of this before now feel?
So with those two questions posed I wonder where that leaves us? I won't be the first to throw any stones, I know I have seriously considered being an out-of-game trader. But why does this happen?
So here comes what I think the real deal is. The average MMORPG players is not a 13 year old kid with nothing to do and parents to pay for it. Everyone knows that its the 25+ group that funds the MMORPG corporations. And what does that mean? That means that in some cases playing is fun without more incentive. That's right. The game isn't just fun you have to get something to continue with it. This comes from all sorts of things. To do a horrible parallel, look at baseball, you play for free as a child and even way up through high school. But then things start to change...now you're interested in the college scouts...what do they think about you. Suddenly, for those select few, you are choosen. Now what do you do? You go on to Major or Minor league ball and argue over how much you are getting paid to play a game your parents used to spend hella-bank on when you were a kid.
It all comes down to the same thing. People grow up and playing becomes work and work needs to pay. Does this leave the MMORPGs standing with their pants down while profits fly out the window? No. If it did the corporations would capitilize on it. That is what they do, what they are for is making money. Does it affect your game play? The only person who can decide that is you.
The fact is that some people like instant gratification. But on the other side are people who like to put in for the long hall. For many people the ends do not make the means worth it. But who says that this negatively affects their game play? Does some other player snatching up someone elses ill-got goods change the world for the non-outside traders in-game? That's not for me to decide.
Let's keep looking on both sides. I mean...as overanalyzing freaks that the only way to win. [Disclaimer: Do note that not all readers or writers are overanalyzing freaks...only the truly sick sad ones like me
]
Personally I don't worry about what other people are doing. As long as the game has quests/missions for every level of player, it does not bother me if there are some high level players that bought or grinded their way to that level. What matters is that the best quest are not reserved for high level characters. It should be balanced so that you want to progress through all levels.
Balancing between those with a lot of time and those with no time for grinding is a problem. A secondary market addresses this to some extent.
aboveGame, the Gamer's Photo Blog
Lame, but if people want to rob themselves of their own gameplay..... maybe having them pay RL cash isn't such a bad idea lolz