Gold selling: A long, hard look at the industry |
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Like it or not, gold buying, selling, and powerleveling have become rather lucrative businesses, particularly with the stratospheric rise in popularity of the MMORPG. *cough*WoW*cough*.
So what is gold selling?
Gold selling is the practice of selling in-game items and currency to players in exchange for real world money. Sound strange? It sort of is, the idea of paying real money for virtual currency might seem odd to those unfamiliar with MMORPG culture, but companies like IGE and other gold trading organizations make a tidy profit from this business, so there's definitely a market for it.
Legality:
Perhaps the first issue that springs to mind is the question of the legality of it all. Many video game companies claim that all
virtual items (your character, your equipment, and even your
gold) are their property. As such, a gold seller has no right to sell what isn't theirs. Fair enough... or is it? Are developer EULA's too draconian in their thinking? After all, you've paid for the game... are most likely still paying for the game, shouldn't your equipment, character and gold belong to you?
It could be argued that gold sellers are not selling the gold itself, but are getting paid for simply transferring in-game gold from one player to another as well as for the time it took them to get the gold.
Either way, it's safe to say that gold selling exists smack dab in the middle of one of those nu-age legal gray areas the internet saw fit to leave us with when she blessed us with the gift of new media. Judges, philosophers and lawyers are going to be arguing this one till they're blue in the face.
The effects of gold selling and buying:
Assume you've spent five arduous weeks scrounging together every last in-game penny you could find, saving up for that sweet new mount. Now, along comes John Q. Public, he plonks down twenty real world dollars and gets instant access to the same mount without having to lift a virtual finger. Is that fair? Does it matter?
On the one hand you've probably got a right to feel somewhat cheated, but on the other, gamers have been using cheat codes, guides and FAQs for decades to get ahead of the game, is this much different? Does it affect your personal enjoyment of the game that someone else is having an easier time? Shouldn't a player be allowed to play the game how he or she sees fit?
Much less subjective or open to interpretation are the irritating and downright insidious steps some gold sellers will go to to peddle their wares: spamming and farming, and hacking accounts, oh my!
Of these three, without a doubt the most alarming is having your account hacked, no one should have to experience the misfortune of logging in only to find all their gear, weapons and hard earned cash stripped from them. This sort of virtual crime is often perpetrated by gold selling companies operating out of China, outside the jurisdiction of any real legal recourse.
The inherent dangers of buying gold:
Obviously the simple
act of buying gold in itself can be a tricky proposition, there are many "fly-by-night" companies that
swindle players of their hard earned money. If you're looking for a few horror stories to leave you weeping uncontrollably in the corner, look no further.When buying gold, players usually don't have to do anything but receive the gold in person from a seller. It's worth noting that more often than not it's the sellers who are more likely to get banned (if caught).
However, those of you who do transfer gold to your alts or give gold to friends can sleep soundly with the knowledge that developers don't lay the banhammer down on a whim.
Conclusion:
There may come a time when gold buying and selling will be a regulated and more widely accepted practice, countries such as Australia and the United States are taking steps to create legislature that taxes and keep track of the buying and selling of virtual items.
Pioneers in the virtual economy space such as Second Life already allow players to buy, own and rent virtual plots of land. How will those companies at the forefront of buying and selling gold adapt to these legislative changes? How will gamers adapt? Only time will tell, but the future definitely looks interesting, I'm eager to hear what you guys think about the subject, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Comments [refresh]
I'd call this more of a "glance." A long hard look at gold selling would include an in-depth analysis of the impact on the game's economy, and the effect that the availability of gold has on the popularity of the game itself.
... in the form of pre-made AV, a truly awesome tool that allowed these self same companies that offer gold and powerlevelling now to offer "full monty" BG rigs and weapons for a price too.
On our server, we see it happen in the EU Cyclone group, a "Cheatscale" as we call it referring to the a Stormscale pre-made which usually is carrying several people thru getting their gear up whilst we watch priests with endless immunity, warriors with druid heals, druids with ice-traps, mages with never diminishing mana-pools and rogues with evasion that just never ends.
We have even been told by Alliance players from Stormscale that is what is going on but Blizzard's answer was to legitimise the pre-made allowing an operation to flourish and the people abusing it safe as houses, I and others have submitted a stack of screenshots to customer services, showing these abuses, proving these abuses and still they are there, today in another "Cheatscale" the usual suspects, the rogue that defeated a group of 10 players all by himself without a scratch, oh yes, nice one Blizzard :(
This IS very similar to the gold selling problem. When gold becomes easily obtained, the "cost" (whether in gold or labor) of in-game items must increase or else "everyone and their cousin" will have them. In the attempt to make the item "less than common", it becomes increasingly necessary for those who aren't completely addicted to the game spending every waking hour playing to use methods that violate the EULA.