Who's buying all that gold, anyway?
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jun 11th 2007 at 2:47PM
Really, I'm curious. Who's buying this stuff? I've seen goldsellers advertising gold in amounts of up to 11,000 -- for over $1600. Perhaps you're doing a double-take at that number, but it's not a typo -- I do mean sixteen hundred dollars. Now, I paid $50 for the game itself, another $50 for the expansion, $15 a month to play, and the occasional $25 to move characters around, which means I've spent over $500 on this game in the two years I've played it. That already seems like a huge amount of money to me -- but if gold sellers are out advertising $1600 worth of gold, that must mean that at least a few people are interested in spending that much.All I can think of are the cries of agony that surely follow when the buyer is inevitably banned from the game. Blizzard does keep track of gold transfers, and I imagine that transfers in such high amounts set off red flags in their system. So what happens when you've just spent $1600 on virtual property that Blizzard has politely reminded you belongs to them? (Yes, Blizzard does hold on to the idea that all in game items are their property, and thus cannot be bought or traded for real money.) I can think of less risky ways to invest!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jormundgard Jun 11th 2007 3:48PM
Nihilium.
ApolloIV Jun 11th 2007 2:58PM
@1
Damn that's a good bit of money. And yeah i really don't see why people need to buy gold? Making flying mount money is pretty easy if you have a profession. Spending 1,600 US dollars on a game is pretty crazy considering the fact that you are already paying a mounthly fee just to play the game.
FatherOrly Jun 11th 2007 3:02PM
Maybe there are resellers that are interested in buying that much gold. Or lazy billionaires who don't want to farm it themselves. :)
Tridus Jun 11th 2007 3:11PM
The same people who buy $6000 computers with dual $800 video cards: people with more money then sense.
Scott Andrews Jun 11th 2007 3:11PM
Engineers?
John Jun 11th 2007 3:13PM
buying gold is like a cheat code, i guess....you know, at some point you cheat then get sick of the game. that's my guess as to who's buying the gold - there's gotta be a big chunk of people who just buy the gold, get whatever they want, then get bored of that and move on to something else.
or, it's people in guilds who want to keep up with the joneses, so to speak. who knows.
Hank Jun 11th 2007 3:16PM
This gives me a great idea to fix engineering....
Pingmeister Jun 11th 2007 3:17PM
When you HAVE that money to spare why not spend it?
If it's a substantial percentage of your monthly income then I agree it's not very well-thought out.
But there are those folks where $1600 doesn't have much meaning.
I hate those people!
-j Jun 11th 2007 3:57PM
Members of Nihilum? ;-)
HungryHippo Jun 11th 2007 3:22PM
Someone please tell me how you make 42,000g, I woke up and was so proud of my 312g. Now I just feel broken...
So if anyone has a good link to a guide please post.
/cry
Slarti Jun 11th 2007 3:22PM
A very interesting fact: here in germany, 5k gold is advertised for around 80-200$ (depending on the actual realm of course). So 11k would be around $400 - extraordinarily "cheap" compared to the US prices.
I am really wondering where this huge difference comes from. Either the demand for gold is way lower here than in the US (which I don't really believe), or it is substantially harder and therefore more expensive to farm the gold in the US. There just has to be a reason for that difference...
knulpm Jun 11th 2007 3:30PM
I dunno, every once in a while you run into somebody who screams "Gold-buyer".
I remember pre BC I was in Stormwind when another warrior asked me where I got a piece of equpiment. I noticed he was standing next to me. I inspected him and EVERY SINGLE PIECE of his equipment was an AH BoE.
A couple of them were decent if overpriced (think he was dual wielding a Krol Blade and a Assassination Blade. But some of his amor choices made ZERO sense. He had a Lionheart helm, but he also had a purple CLOTH Flarecore mantle. He had caster stats item. Made me sad.
The Cannabis Connoisseur Jun 11th 2007 3:41PM
@1 you sad philistine
Swimnurd Jun 11th 2007 3:51PM
Fearwarden of Bloodhoof.
Author X Jun 11th 2007 4:05PM
I don't play WoW (I noticed the title of this link from another blog), but I thought you'd like to know about my experience with this sort of thing.
See, I was on the site Gaia Online for a number of years. I just played on and off, but early on I went to a small event at a local con, and won the door prize, which was a super-ultra rare limited item from 2003 (this happened in 2005). So, despite being a casual player I got involved in very high-end trading and deals, etc. Then, shortly before the Wii was out, I found out that people were selling their gaia gold and items. I compared the prices of various items on eBay, added up my accumulated inventory, and rounded up ever so slightly to get $1500. Yeah, $1500 from all that crap that didn't even have a functional purpose, just to make your character look good. I also noticed that people were actually willing to pay more for large lots than individual items (that is, more than if you combined the average selling price for the items in the lot). So, I took the rounded-up value, took a few screenshots of my inventory (minus the items I was wearing in case I did want to go on the site again later) and said "Buy it now or best offer" figuring I would reject a few offers for $50 (which I did) and see what people would actually give me.
Much to my surprise, after a couple days, someone outright bought it. One person, one purchase for $1500.
If you're wondering why I turned that into a huge, long-winded story instead of just saying I sold some gold for a lot of money, it's because I'm gloating about it. Which I do at every opportunity :)
Birthmark Jun 11th 2007 4:07PM
It's pathetic. And a sign of the sick addiction so many people have for this game. I would NEVER spend real life money on WoW gold. The idea baffles me. And the crazy thing is, I know people that have done it. They were only buying like a 100 gold to level but still. I really don't like how adults with jobs take this game way too seriously. I don't understand how you can have a family and still play WoW. I simply don't undersatnd it. I can't imagine growing up in a house hold where my parents were addicted to WoW. And the idea of people spending $1,600 on WoW gold almost makes me want to puke.
I think my new quote in my WoW forums sig sums up my feelings perfectly:
!*#! this game and it's addictive bull*!#!
Quoi Jun 12th 2007 8:44AM
@18
And you're here why?
I bought gold once. It was 300g for 5 bucks. I used it to powerlevel tailoring when I was a level 35. Looking back on it, I'm not proud of it, nor was it a good idea.
Coherent Jun 11th 2007 4:32PM
How do you make a lot of money in WoW? Never spend any money. Religiously farm every day. Buy low, sell high.
If you play WoW as an economic game where "winning" is "making money" then you'll be able to accumulate gobs of cash very quickly. But since your habits are set, you'll never be able to enjoy spending it ever again.
Also, you'll never find anything worthwhile to spend it on. WoW is not a game where huge piles of gold will elevate you to meta-amazing-super-godliness. If you want that, play the "make money in real life" game, you'll have more luck. Perhaps you'll find life satisfaction when you join Paris Hilton in useless mega-stardom from raw wealth.
Unfortunately in WoW you can't spend huge piles in-game cash and build a fabulous empire of sycophants. If you want that, you might try EvE Online, I hear it's quite possible to do exactly that.
WoW is a game where there's many ways to play, but the only victory is the one you find in your own heart.
Wulf Jun 11th 2007 4:39PM
@18: I've never purchased gold, and never could see myself doing so. However, I can see why some people would do so, and it's not borne of addiction...
It's a matter of time. Is your time more valuable to you than the price of a couple thousand gold? Do you not have the time, know-how or resources (I.e.: Non-farming class) to pull up the kind of gold you want for your mount/enchants/etc., but you still know where you want your character to be?
Then (though 'illegal') gold-buying makes sense. You don't have the time to invest, but you want to have what those who have much more time to invest, do.
Jellodyne Jun 11th 2007 5:20PM
If you think the reward for earning gold doing dungeoun runs and whatnot is the gold then you need to get your head straight. This is a GAME we pay money to be able to play. The reward is the playing. The gold should be totally secondary.
Let's put it this way, would Pac Man be fun without the score? (Assuming of course you find Pac Man fun) Yes, of course. It's the thrill of evasion, the clearing of the maze, chomping that high level Galaxian fruit, etc. OK, now imagine a Pac Man machine where it cost a quarter to play but you could put in a second quarter to add, say, a million to your score. Whoopee, right? Lookit, my name on the high score table!