Like it or not, it looks like the exchange of real-life money for in-game products is here to stay. Sony Online Entertainment announced that it's "Exchange", which has only been active since July 15th (a little over a month) has already taken in about $180,000 USD. The "Exchange" service alows SOE subscribers to "buy and sell the rights to use characters, items and coin through a secure, official online auction site."
Currently, use of the service is limited to EverQuest II and even then is only available on two of the game's servers. Both The Bazaar and Shadowhaven provide the service.
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The following is some data that weve collected from Station Exchange activities after its first month.
- In the first month, over 45,000 characters have been active on the two Station Exchange EverQuest II servers
- Station Exchange participants have spent almost $180,000 in auctions in the first 30 days
- Nearly $80,000 in characters, almost $10,000 in items and close to $90,000 in coin.
- On the average for the first month, those players actively participating in Station Exchange are spending over $70 per person
- Over half the items listed end up selling
- The recent average value of 1 platinum piece is above $8
- Almost 60% of all items for sale list for $20 or less
- Over 50% of purchasers are buying their virtual goods as an instant purchase vs. a timed auction.
- Characters and items are more likely to be impulse purchases, while players tend to be more conservative with coin
- The highest price character (Iksar Lvl 50 Fury/ level 50 Sage) sold to date went for $2,000, which is currently the dollar cap on Station Exchange
- Average character price is $185, with the median being $130
Of characters sold:
29% are Fighter archetype
27% are Priest archetype
25% are Mage
17% are Scout
- The biggest power user on Station Exchange spent more than $8000 in the first month of service
- The 20 most popular items sold on Station Exchange:
- pristine teak strong box
- pristine strengthened leather backpack
- Rough Ruby
- Rhodium Cluster
- Ebon Cluster
- Necklace of Flowing Orbs
- Bent Ebon Disk
- Smite (Apprentice IV)
- Rough Coral
- a Qeynosian small wooden barrel
- pristine fashioned palladium torque
- Tellurian Recruit (Adept III)
- Storm Of Lightning (Apprentice IV)
- Lightning Burst (Apprentice IV)
- Fissured Ruby
- Palladium Cluster
- Rough Jasper
- Minor Healing (Apprentice IV)
- Tellurian Recruit (Apprentice IV)
- pristine imbued ebon vanguard cuirass
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Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Comments
I dont care one way or another for the exchange, but who the hell would spend $2k on one character?
I get people who spend around $150, though I personally would never do it. But $2000? Insane if you ask me.
I remember when people were saying: "who the hell would spend $150 on one character? I get people who wouls spend around $25, though..." you get the idea.
It's all a question of perceived value. For someone who spends 50+ hours a week playing a game it may make sense to them to purchase a character for $2000 if the utility (enjoyment) they recieve from the character is worth more to them than the cash. Also remember that they aren't purchasing a consumable resource, they will still have the option of reselling that character to recoup at least some of their initial investment (you can even make money this way if your lucky/have lots of time to spend developing a character).
Personally I'm in my third year of college and haven't had time to get into a MMORPG since I started. So reading/conversing over articles like this one seems pretty pointless in the grand scheme of things.
WARNING: Spelling and grammatical errors intentionally left in document to test for Anal Retentive Trolls.
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I guess that's good for them. The minute any game I'm in starts something like this up is the minute I cancel.
Why would I play a game where the developers have a direct financial interest in the items and content. Instead of just the game as a whole.
When they start thinking about resale value of items and their cut from such. It's just not a good thing.
I'm glad EQ2 didn't make this crap possible on all servers, or principle wouldn't allow me to play it period. Some people really do have more money than brains, and I'm glad Sony is taking it from them in this safe way rather than they get scammed or something. Not that people that would pay real life hard earned cash for in game items and characters don't deserve in some way to be scammed.
If they allow it on my server, I'm out, plain and simple.
Would I play on some of these servers .. no.
Do other people want to? Sure looks like..
I didn't like this when it first came out but now that it's here I actually applaud it a little.
This IS happening on eBay and other sites anyways. Why not make a couple bucks off it and be able to police it a bit.
Its like Amsterdam there where weed are hookers are legal; the government makes money not only off the taxes, but can use policing services for the bigger things. Its going to happen one way or another..
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Don't click here...no2
Only problem is they still arent policing the other servers either.
And I cant wait if they decide to do this with SWG. I will watch as SWG crashes and burns, laughing histerically and playing a violin. heh.
Kai
Take a look at the EQ2 boards at the moment to see how much of a 'success' this is - hundreds of accounts suspended for receiving duped Plat, even tho Sony were the intermediaries in the exchange, and the seller is (in the vast majority of cases) innocent. Sony's answer to this - tough read the EULA.
Whole guild banks wiped out, toons rolled back months (and minus fabled gear and some real good quest stuff - but the journal wont let them do the quests again) folks with accounts suspended getting 'stock answers' from a CS that seems incapable of understanding English, let alone the problem, and folks being told to be patient while they sort it out (that is of course when they can get any kind of intelligent reply) and then waiting in excess of 16 days (last time I checked)
Yeah, Sony brings that crap to my server and I'm gone!!
Join the darkside, you know you want to.. millions already have.
You'll be WoW'ing
when you do 
This sickens me. I'm against sanctioning the buying and selling of virtual items. Once they allowed this and even encouraged it, that's when things went down hill. I can't wait for City of Villains.
http://www.StationExchangeSucks.com
It's always something...
Unreal... I can't even imagine spending $2,000.00 on an in game character, it's nothing real, nothing tangible, it's doesn't even belong to you. Not to mention you have absolutely none of the pride of actually getting that character to it's wonderful status... Guess it takes all kinds of people, seems like such a waste though.
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AHA! Double standards. You've got this wonderfull ethical stance on one side - yet you participate actively on a forum sponsored by (among other things) selling ads to IGE
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I can see a future when we'll all have virtual property of some sort where we put a high monetary or psychological value on it. Look at that virtual nightclub in the novel Snowcrash. Lots of people wanted to be seen in there just like in an exclusive real life nightclub. People might have rare or even unique virtual objects that others would be prepared to buy too. It's starting with games and virtual play worlds but it could move on to more general virtual environments that nearly everyone will hang out in
I think the cyberpunk authors were spot on in the belief that virtual property will eventually be seen to be as valuable as real life property by the population at large.
That's my Terra Nova (virtual blog) bit anyway.
Raymondo
> hundreds of accounts suspended for receiving duped Plat
That would be a pretty low number in any game. Blizzard used to suspent thousands of accounts in one go in Warcraft servers for using dupes. So this always happens in any case.
Seriously, the only reason people get pissed off about this sort of thing is that they use their uberness in-game to extend their penis, so when somebody gets the stuff without effort, they feel impotent. Otherwise they would not care what others are doing.
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