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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSurvey reveals player wealth disparity
by Michael Gray 
Nov 11th 2011 at 9:00PM
The top 1% wealthiest players control a mere 24.25% of the game's gold. Half the people who answered the survey had at least 35,000 gold. However, the bottom 75% of players controlled a mere 14% of the game's gold. This describes a huge disparity between the top gold earners and the bottom.
This isn't really a surprise, though, when you think about gold in game. In WoW, you are perfectly capable of running out of things to buy. There comes a point where additional gold no longer serves a purpose; unlike real life, where you can always buy bigger, fancier, and more expensive things, WoW has a high-end value cap. Gold becomes a goal all on its own. If you've got 35,000 gold in your pocket and you've already bought everything you want, what would you do with still more gold?
The survey results are interesting to read and definitely worth your time. But keep in mind that that roughly 2,500 people responded. The total number of players is more than three orders of magnitude greater; be careful about what conclusions you draw.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Sixincheals Nov 12th 2011 11:34AM
Regardless of how many people responded, this survey is statistically invalid. Since the study relied on voluntary response, it automatically becomes biased. This is due to the fact that when a survey is solely composed of voluntary response answers, people who tend to have a stronger opinion will take the survey whereas others who fall towards the middle of the spectrum tend to not take it. So, while it may be interesting to see the results, they are most likely inaccurate in some way, shape, or form, if not biased.
Killik Nov 12th 2011 11:46AM
More pertinently, people who don't seek out WoW information would remain unaware of the poll's existence. These players would almost certainly skew the average wealth results further downward. Still, it's in interesting exercise and provoked a discussion.
Lou Gagliardi Nov 12th 2011 1:10PM
#occupystormwind #occupyorgrimmar
thisguy Nov 12th 2011 4:10PM
I may only have 6k-10k gold but I don't use that to measure one's wealth in wow. I have nearly every profession and mat I could ever need. My wife and I had to make an alt guild just to store everything. We don't sell a ton of things because we provide our friends with anything they could desire. If we were to sell our mats and goods we make I'm sure we could reach the 100K mark easily, each. I think that the survey should consider NET WORTH of the account. Gold is for people who are greedy and is just like gearscore was in Wrath. Professions and mats control the market, I have been known to crash the market just for giggles due to my overstock of mats.
rapsam2003 Nov 13th 2011 3:08AM
I think you'd need to survey more than 2,500 people to get accurate results. Unfortunately, that's what surveys do. They ask a small amount of "typical" people and draw a conclusion. Problem is, you never get a highly accurate conclusion, because it's just impossible to ask (in this case) every WoW player how much gold they have.
Arbolamante Nov 12th 2011 5:06PM
I have a large amount of gold because I've been playing a long time and I'm a miser. I think the most I've ever spent on anything the AH is about 500g, though off-hand I can't remember anything over 350g. So it piles up -- silly, but such is the way of the miser. I'm the same way in real life. If my account drops below where it was the same time last year, I feel poor. A bit odd I guess.
Russell Nov 12th 2011 7:46PM
I am part of the 1%. If you aren't, get out there and get a job. Stop being so lazy!
Naphtali Nov 16th 2011 12:50PM
Now if they were dem's they would make the rich give a large portion of their money to the poor.