Making Moolah in MMORPG

[Liquidize105]

Tom's Hardware has a fairly interesting article (http://www.tomshardware.com/game/20050729/index.html) on in-game economics. The article covers such topics as real world trading of in-game properties, rent-a-character, big mmo scams, as well as various other titbits. There's plenty of older information cumulated with a few new ones, a good read in general for the uninitiated.

Thanks, player_2.

Does anyone at EA actually pay for it? d:D

[thecrazyd]

Seems odd that they did not mention that participating in that crap can get you banned. There are a ton of scammers out there. In the SOE games at least, if you buy a character from someone, then they can recover it at any time, because the EULA states that the original biller is the account's owner. Seems odd that they would gloss over the multitude of problems with the practice.

[Ernst_Jager]

There was that one time when I was visiting California I paid for it....

Oh you mean paying real money for stuff in a GAME?! Hell no.

[thecrazyd]

Also, it sucks to pay money to get fake items to use in a fake world. You are paying the company money to play on their servers, and you are paying Joe Jackoff the con man money to play your game for you. Whats the point? If the game sucks so much that you don't want to waste your time playing it, then DON'T FUCKING PLAY IT. It just makes sense.

[Lexicon]

The article seems pretty light to me, nothing that hasnt been covered in lots of articles before other then the constant praising of IGE. I did find it amusing that some of the alternative sites they list to buy from are also owned by IGE and operate as fronts for them.

[DeadPixel]

I personally don't see any problems with this. Maybe some people enjoy twinking out their characters with items purchased on ebay. If your argument is the screwed up game economy, that will happen anyway. The longer the game is available the more people will have high end characters, tons of money to transfer to alts and of course large guilds to help you out.

If you don't want to support the ebay twinkers, don;t purchase their items. Don't tell everyone else how the game should be played.

[thecrazyd]

I personally don't see any problems with this. Maybe some people enjoy twinking out their characters with items purchased on ebay. If your argument is the screwed up game economy, that will happen anyway. The longer the game is available the more people will have high end characters, tons of money to transfer to alts and of course large guilds to help you out.

If you don't want to support the ebay twinkers, don;t purchase their items. Don't tell everyone else how the game should be played.
You don't get it. Most of these guys are con men. They hurt people. They lie and say that the practice is supported by the companies and bullshit like that. I work for SOE, and have to deal with the customers who spend hundreds of dollars to buy a character that the assholes simply reclaim the next day and sell again. Or people who buy some money on ebay, only to get banned the next day. This shit is not supported by the companies, and it not only fucks with the economy, but with the players. You want to pay someone to play the game for you? Fine. But they should have at least discussed the risks.

[Heretic Machine]

Also, it sucks to pay money to get fake items to use in a fake world. You are paying the company money to play on their servers, and you are paying Joe Jackoff the con man money to play your game for you. Whats the point? If the game sucks so much that you don't want to waste your time playing it, then DON'T FUCKING PLAY IT. It just makes sense.

Did you ever think that maybe the game can be both fun and tedious? That although most of the time you enjoy playing, you might not want to spend a huge amount of time trying to get a couple pieces of armor? Or maybe you simply only have time to play casually?

I don't buy MMO items, but I'm not going to bitch at people who do. That's their choice, and if it makes the game more fun for them, then that's cool with me.

[thecrazyd]

No, I do not see how anything can be fun and tedious at the same time. Then again, MMOs generally bore the crap out of me after a week.

[DeadPixel]

You don't get it. Most of these guys are con men. They hurt people. They lie and say that the practice is supported by the companies and bullshit like that. I work for SOE, and have to deal with the customers who spend hundreds of dollars to buy a character that the assholes simply reclaim the next day and sell again. Or people who buy some money on ebay, only to get banned the next day. This shit is not supported by the companies, and it not only fucks with the economy, but with the players. You want to pay someone to play the game for you? Fine. But they should have at least discussed the risks.
Umm.. I do get it and thats why I said, don't support the ebay twinkers. EVER! It's like saying used car salesmen lie when they sell you a waxed car that breaks down the next day... Well no shit sherlock, did you just wake up into the reality today?

The world is full of scammers, they only exist because there are suckers. That will never change.

[Vermillion]

The game is much less boring and tedious with a nice gold weapon. Not that I have, or would ever pay for anything, but the ability to passdown/trade/get from friends/guildmates/my higher level characters, sweet weapons to give to my noob characters makes the game that much more fun. It helps to avoid (not totally) the death grind.

*cuddles his death stick* My... precious...

[ldi222]

Im not going to say the thought never crossed my mind to buy some GW loot real quick to get 15k armor. I mean getting that kind of cash takes forever but I havent done it yet mainly because I dont care that much about getting the armor. Stat wise the armor I have is the same anyway. My gold max damage sword is worth some serious loot though but Im waiting for the summer content to get hardcore again.

[ohnam]

Also, it sucks to pay money to get fake items to use in a fake world. You are paying the company money to play on their servers, and you are paying Joe Jackoff the con man money to play your game for you. Whats the point? If the game sucks so much that you don't want to waste your time playing it, then DON'T FUCKING PLAY IT. It just makes sense.

Hell when you make over hundred dollars an hour and you don't want to spend 8 hours grinding to get an item, paying Joe Jackoff a $100 for the item is worth it, when I could have made $800 at the same time.

[Taco]

I played Everquest 1 for about a year when I was 16, mostly soloing, no guild, nothing major. Think I hit level 35.

When I decided to quit EQ I sold all my stuff, all of which I got by trading in game(I loved trading for profits during Sunday fairs), not a single hour of camping. Sold my equipment for $250 total on ebay, didn't even sell my charachter. Good deal if you ask me. My parents got a kick out of it.

I really hate farmers and such, but if you are going to quit the game I don't have a problem with it.