MMOs and the Secondary Market
by Elizabeth Harper 
Aug 1st 2006 at 4:00PM
The Escapist has a good article discussing the secondary market of various MMOs. It doesn't focus on World of Warcraft, but gives an interesting broader picture on the practice of buying and selling currency in virtual worlds. The question of whether players can remain competitive at this point without the aid of additional financial is a curious one. In Azeroth, additional gold, BOE items, or power-leveling can certainly be of help, but are they necessary to keep up with the rest of the players? For PvP, I'm tempted to answer "yes" - as the bar to reach the upper ranks of the honor system is so high as to make it neigh impossible for many players to reach - unless they do nothing but take short breaks for sleeping and eating between play sessions for weeks on end.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Manji Aug 1st 2006 6:43PM
No MMO that has a built in economy will ever work out the way that the developers planned. People are greedy. This is the same reason why communism doesnt work.
VoIP Ted Aug 1st 2006 7:22PM
That's why I've parked my mage at level 29. No rat race, just pretty evenly matched PVP battles with a minimal time commitment. I'll probably never seriously PVP at level 60.
Pzychotix Aug 2nd 2006 1:46AM
You obviously haven't dealt with the numerous twinks on your server.
Personally, I think WoW deals with it decently well. Armor sets are basically make or break for pretty much everyone at lvl 60, and can only be gotten through raiding with your peers. With Bind on Pickup, there's no selling of the ultimate equipment, and no market for it as such. Gold can be farmed endlessly, but without as much needed things that can be bought, there's really no use for it.
boneyard Aug 2nd 2006 4:03AM
people who can play more almost always have some advantage over people who play less. trying to use this as an argument to say the secondary market is allowed is just silly.