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The fight against RMT in EVE Online
ThomasN7
87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
Source: www.massively.com/2009/08/11/the-fight-against-rmt-in-eve-online/
It's an unfortunate reality that most any massively multiplayer online game running has to cope with outside influences on an in-game economy because of real money trading (RMT). Game developers tackle the problem in different ways. For instance, Final Fantasy XI has an anti-RMT task force and Warhammer Online has a zero-tolerance name-and-shame approach to RMT. Other companies grab the bull by its horns and base their game around a virtual item trade they can regulate.
The problem of RMT has affected EVE Online just as it has other MMO titles, if not moreso given how its player-driven economy and the Interstellar Kredit (ISK) currency is central to the game. Beyond the potential revenue lost to the black market when players pay real cash for their ships and modules or buy huge sums of ISK outright, there are also issues with players getting their accounts cleaned out by the shady companies (ostensibly) selling the ISK. When that cleverly-named player "ajakdsk" links you to his ISK selling site in a chat channel, following that link could infect your computer with a keylogger, resulting in a fire sale on whatever they find in your account.
EVE Online's creators CCP Games have taken a two-prong approach to handling these issues.
One side of their approach is, of course, the mighty banhammer. They hand out account bans for ISK spammers, macro users, and players who attempt to sell ISK for real world cash, although ISK buyers typically aren't banned. ISK buyers may log in to find they've been caught and a GM removed that purchased ISK, giving the player a negative wallet balance.
[Some feel this is too lenient, but that negative 1 billion ISK (or more) hole in a player's wallet is probably a bit more than a slap on the wrist. Perhaps the problem is so widespread that banning ISK buyers as they do sellers would affect the company's bottom line? In any case, as it stands now, ISK buyers don't receive account bans for this activity.]
The other half of the CCP Games offensive against RMT is the 30 Day Pilot License Extension, typically referred to as "PLEX."
A PLEX is essentially an in-game item that represents 30 days of game time. They can be traded or given to other players, bought and resold. Once an EVE Online player has a PLEX in his or her possession, all they need to do is right click and credit those 30 days to their account.
The principle behind this is what's already been established by some of the free-to-play games on the market. Those with disposable cash in real life but who are short on time can buy game time codes and convert them into PLEX, so they have ISK to spend in-game. (One game time code = two PLEX.) When they sell PLEX on the market in EVE, that's money that players injected into the game that didn't go into the wallets of aklfjalkfjd and his merry band of ISK farmers.
Likewise, players who have more time to rack up the ISK through gameplay can buy PLEX in-game on the market, and play for another month without having to pay a subscription fee.
The ability to convert real world money into EVE's currency, legitimately, has been a point of contention for some EVE Online players. Some have been vocal about how they feel it's a step in the wrong direction, essentially making it OK for players with disposable income to buy what they want rather than earning it through in-game methods. But the CCP Games stance on the matter is that some, or many, players will still do this whether or not CCP enabled a secure system. The advantage for players who want to lay out real cash for virtual goods in the game is that they won't expose themselves to the risks of an account hack by using the legitimate system, although they won't get as much ISK for their real world cash as what the ISK spammers promise.
On CCP's side, this means less time spent tracking down ISK buyers and investigating them, and less risks of account hacks they need to sort out. Plus -- and this is likely the main thing -- they claim a substantial revenue stream formerly dominated by shady ISK farming and selling operations.
A dev blog from EVE's GM Grimmi -- The Way of the PLEX -- explains more about how CCP has used PLEX to combat the various RMT problems in the game. Grimmi writes,"The way of the PLEX benefits everyone involved. The very serious effects of the ISK seller rabble on EVE are limited. Your money is channeled into making EVE more awesome rather than ruining it. Players can use their ISK to play the game and save up their hard-earned RL moolah... In short, everybody wins. Everybody, except the account hacking, credit card stealing and macroing ISK sellers, that is."
While that sounds reasonable, it's been hard to actually gauge just how well-received PLEX really is by the playerbase. That is, until today. GM Grimmi's dev blog charts PLEX creation and usage since they were introduced to the game, and also shows PLEX market activity for 2009.
There's been a steady increase in the adoption of PLEX by the playerbase and presumably a steady decrease in what the ISK sellers are earning, but is CCP Games winning the battle against ISK farmers? This is unclear. Still, the prices listed in the ISK spam promise more ISK per dollar than ever in the past. Factor in that these illegitimate operations are getting more aggressive with account hacks and perhaps CCP's tactics have had an impact.
GM Grimmi adds that the other half of CCP's two-prong attack on RMT (bans, item confiscation, ISK reversals) will be the focus of a dev blog next week, detailing their operation "Unholy Rage." Given the recent mass banning of spamming and macroing undesirables from EVE and that retaliation of the ISK sellers on the forums, we're looking forward to hearing more about this Unholy Rage.
Comments
that blog fail to explain very clear that PLEX-es dont add inflation in EVE, ISK is not created for the player the isk just change hands
BestSigEver :P
I have people in my corp who buy the plexes using ingame ISK every single month, its a way for them to play the game without having to pay the moonthly Sub fees and it suits them down to the ground, they spend a lot of time playing the game and prefer to use the excess isk they have to buy game time than pay hard cash
thus their efforts in game are rewarded by more game time, as for player's who are time poor but (RL) cash rich its a good way for them to still be able to keep playing, I mean whats the point in having a char with tons os SP but no money to be able to buy that super cool ship you can fly
I can see the negative side that some players talk about, after all there is nothing to stop people from selling lots of PLEX and using the ISK to build massive fleets for large corps, at 550Million ISK per PLEX it soon adds up
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
you need a insane amount of money to do that the rumor say for example that RED.Overlord leader is a aluminium tycoon and spend 100 000 $ to build up his alliance
if you look at sov map RED.Overlord only claim a small part of eve if other alliance should charge against them will be easy kill red.overlord only have 700 ppl in the alliance
BestSigEver :P
It is a goon lie/crap ''ROL leader is an aluminium tycoon (it was actually a member than) '' they started spread when some corps leaved from RA and build ROL and joined AAA/BOB sides .
Im agree ISK does not create a competetive force and selling tons of plexes will not bring any good to seller at the end ,it will not work at corp/alliance level .There is something i would like to add ROL has alot of old core RA members ,ppl who fought for CJ while outnumbered anyone who thinks ROL is easy pie so wrong
Actually there is another way for RMT within EvE as well. PLEX is relatively new, the only benefit is that the trading can be done 100% in game on the market. Game Time Codes have been around for several years. You can trade them through EvE's website which acts as sort of an escrow so people can't rip other people off.
The whole idea of CCP's RMT setup is something that should really be looked at by all MMOs. It removes a lot of the scamming that is involved as long as the buyer and the seller both LOOK at terms either on the website or the market. In fact, you will find a higher probability of scamming with the newly introduced PLEX, then the Game Time Codes that have been around for a while now.
In most RMT situations, the company themselves are the ones that generate the in game currently when real money is provided. This system works completely different. It is up to the player base to provide the in game currency when someone wishes to trade pre-paid game time. The isk buyer has the benefit of typical RMT where if you are a casual player, may be necessary at times. The isk seller has the benefit of having someone else pay for their subscription.
It's a nice compromise that removes a lot of the scamming that goes on when purchasing in game currency from illegitimate sources.
One other thing to note is that the price of plex/GTC to in game currency is player controlled. It has become part of the player controlled market. This means, the more people who want to buy PLEX/GTC with in game currency, the higher the demand - which will push the amount of in game isk higher and higher that needs to be spent to purchase the subscriptions. Eventually, it gets to a point where players don't think it's worth it and buy their subscriptions through normal methods until the demand dies down and prices fall.
I have seen 60d GTC (60 day subscriptions) as high as 800m isk at times a couple months ago. However, demand isn't as high right now and people have been advertising to sell them for under 600m in the trade channels. Since it's under player control it's in our hands on how much they are worth and whether or not people buy them.
Back when I first started playing EVE, I purchased 2 billion ISK about a month apart from each other. I didn't really understand the GTC system and the exchange rate was much better.
About a year after I bought the first billion I found my account credited by exactly 1 billion (using 2 separate transactions of the exact same amount as the ISK seller had used to distribute it to me). No explanation was forthcoming, but it didn't take a rocket scientist
to see that I'd been nabbed by CCP. (well, the person who credited me was clearly marked as a CCP employee)
They never caught the 2nd billion however, and I always make sure I have at least a billion in ready cash in case they do.
I was fortunate, in that year I learned the finer points of ISK making and had 2.5 billion at the time, so I was still in the positive after the transaction.
Those who find themselves in a negative position get a double whammy. Not only do they lose the cash they paid for the ISK, but when you are negative you can't buy or sell in the AH house (can't pay the fees) so the only recourse is to buy GTC's and sell them for ISK until you get back to the positive.
Imagine if you bought 100B ISK outside of the approved channel, and they detected it. (not too hard really, they do it all the time).
To keep playing, you'd have to repurchase it all via GTC's, great punishment I would say.
BTW, I'm not complaining about what was done to me, I got what I deserved for circumventing the rules, and one day they might come take the 2nd billion back. (not a problem, have plenty of ISK these days)
No, they didn't ban me, because I've been paying for 3 subs for over 2 years now, and they'd be crazy to throw away the revenue when their other punishement mechanisms are working as intended. (and don't worry folks, my ill gotten ISK did not transform me into a PVP terror or titan of industry, so I didn't unbalance anyone's game, just let me play with a bit of a safetey net and purchase some more exotic things like +5 implants for my characters.)
I've not needed to buy ISK since those early days, but I have considered it and if I ever do again I'll be sure to use the GTC/PLEX system.
Lesson learned.
Who the hell are you, and why should I care?
Congrats! You are a victim of Trollstar!
Naw RED.Overlord cheated for sure which is why massive assets were removed from them. Hence, they are getting schooled daily! Real life money might help ya get ships & mods but without good ole player skill you'll lose said items in 1 sec flat
This week i lost a HAC (200mil ship) due to not reacting properly to the threat of a doomsday. I lost my ship in a flash
And this is how quick people die in EVE. You will die fast and hard.
Most people that might buy isk illegally is usually the mission runners and empire dwellers cause they die a lot less frequently. pvpers die all the time so we prefer to be able to generate ISK
I do not think real life $$$ is a big issue cause you lose things in PVP in a second.
Think rationally, you're just giving away real $$$ when you die. That is not the mentality of a true pvper. I dont want to give away noting. Granted I value the time I spend to hussle isk but at least it was gametime- not real money ive lost when I die
ISK for Plex is not really much of an issue, imo.
Infation? Hardly.
Whole beauty of EVE economy - more ISK you buy, more ISK gets destroyed.
PLEXes work beautifully within EVE, a game with the most effective and realistic ISK sink - ship and cargo loss upon death.
Developers aren't milking money with virtual itens that should be there anyway, rather they provide a safe way for players to purchase monthly fees for in-game money from others willing to sell them, creating a whole market around them, hitting the third-party illegal RMTs, the money goes to the devs, not people that have nothing to do with the game.
Charging people for vanity items or game changing items = BS to milk money
QFT
honestly if a new player wants to buy a time code (2x plex) = (roughly) 600million isk and buy that battleship that he fitted with 6 Tech 1 heavy missile launchers and 3 T1 shield boosters. well thats about 90million isk that dissapeared from the game
the majority of people who will buy plex and sell them for isk are newer players who will want THAT ship but are not ready to fly it.
the rest will buy/sell get isk because they just lost their 300Million isk ship in battle, and chances are that his new ship will get destroyed at some point.
i also see it as people paying other people's subscriptions for some isk. and like the article said, the money is going to the CCP and no new isk in game is being generated, thus no inflation past the normal current rate.
edit: and this would not work in any other MMORPG because items arnt for keeps.
--that ship you are flying, you will either loose it or sell it.
--that sword you bought will be in your inventory/equiped until you sell it regardless of what hapens
Just out of curiosity I went through major ISK selling sites, third-party providers like IXGE and Offgamers.
It seems that CCP at the moment is winning. Two days ago, it was more expensive to buy isk from major resellers than it was to buy Plex. I checked both for the value of 1 billion isk. Both were around ~60€, but buying plexes worked out slightly cheaper especially if you purchased gametime cards and converted those to two plexes (which you can do now).
This system so far has been the best I have seen in any game. It seems that the RMT provided by the game company is the best way reduce third-party resellers and thus the negative effects they bring along.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
Except that ship losses are isk faucets, not isk sinks.
I like the PLEX system CCP has put in place.
I think it helps everyone.
I wish more and more MMOs copied CCPs Plex system.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
1) Plex aren't 550mil each, and probably never will be. Everyone who brings up the 550mil price is just trying to push the market higher through dialogue. It won't happen. They're around 300mil each and even at that price a surplus of plexes is growing rapidly on the EVE market. Soon the prices will be forced to come down in order to move backlogged stockpiles of plexes.
2) Anyone planning to spend lots and lots of RL Cash to sell plex with is going to have to spend LOADS of money, talking thousands of dollars, to make any significant impact. You can sell plex to buy a couple ships... but to beef up an alliance would be prohibitively expensive... even for a very wealthy person.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
6200 RMT accounts banned...
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=687
Give me liberty or give me lasers