It's also worth noting that the C2C auction side of the business is another, totally different type of RMT. We're not talking about farming large amounts of virtual currency and offering it to the user, we're talking about providing a platform upon which players can buy, sell, and trade virtual items to one another. This works in one direction--i.e., needing a rare magical item and buying it from another player for $5--but it also works the other way, as in a player can find a rare magical item and sell it for $5, instead of for gold. It's a system designed to synergize with games that are BUILT for that kind of play. For instance, "free-to-play with the chance to buy virtual currency directly from the publisher" is a very popular business model over there right now.

I don't know if this system would work in the US--it doesn't seem very likely, especially considering the anti-RMT sentiment that's prevalent in this country. But nonetheless, this is NOT the RMT that the players are typically subjected to in WoW. I hate even USING the word RMT, since it has such negative connotations, but I fear that if I used a different word, it would be branded as "corporate linguistics".

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