Sarah: I think your moral objection probably comes from the idea that people play MMO's shouldn't be allowed to buy their way to the same level as someone else, whether in the form of a character level or in game currency. The problem with this school of thought is that it doesn't fit with other facets of life.

If the guy living next door to me has a better job than me, he earns more money. He can afford to buy a better car. So, I spend 5 years saving money to buy myself a nice car, call it a 350Z. As soon as I have enough money to buy my 350Z I do. 3 days later he sees my 350Z and he likes it. Its off to the car dealership for a nice new 350Z for him too.

In this analogy, I spent time to save money to get the car. My neighbor spent the exact same money to get the same car. In the end it may have translated into less time because he has a nicer job, but in the end its the same economic value.

To cite another example closer to WoW: 2 players start new characters. Player 1 is new to the game, never played before. Player 2 has been playing since the day the game released. 2 has intimate knowledge of how to level up quickly. After 2 months Player 2 is level 70 and is starting to raid with a guild he joined. Player 1 is finally level 40 and got his mount and discovered battlegrounds for the first time. In the end the economic value of Player 2's time is much higher than Player 1's.

Should Player 2 be held back because Player 1 couldn't keep up? No. Is time spent playing wow worth less than time spent working for $5/hour? Yes. Is it morally wrong for someone to spend their hard earned money (that also took their time, like your playing does) on a nice level 70 character and some gold? I'd argue it isn't.

But maybe I'm wrong and this attempt to keep a moral grip on our virtual play world is a good thing... I'll say this though, I have never enjoyed a game I cheated in, and in the same way I would never enjoy a character I didn't level myself. Oh, and getting gold in WoW is too easy to consider wasting money buying it...

Don't get me wrong, I understand that RMT is against blizzards (and some others publishers) EULA, and I would never do it myself, but I don't see it as a moral issue.

You are masking your need for your time spent in Azeroth to mean something more than just time spent. You want someone else to be unable to buy what you "earned". Thats not a moral issue, its just you being the capitalist you have been shaped into by society, except this time instead of chasing the economic value of real life currency, you're chasing the economic value of "levels" or "armor" or "weapons". Thats not a moral problem.

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