Massively

I've never understood why RMT would "ruin" a game's economy, any more than buying/selling account would, and that seems to be less frowned upon. Just because someone else is farming the money, it's still going to be farmed and spent. I guess maybe they're doing it faster, but at the same time, someone's doing it and the repercussions of that would be both good and bad and even each other out, maybe.

Reply

Its not just the VCs who see money. After all, pretty much every online game reports substantial bans for gold farming every month. If that is not a clear indicator of market demand, what is?

Reply

Some players legitimately hate ANY mechanic that allows other players to try and catch up with them, but many many more dislike RMT because of the practices that bulk RMT sellers use rather than because of any question of principle. Whether it's monopolizing profitable farming spots (and griefing people who try to elbow in), spamming the game's mailboxes/chat channels/etc, or outright keylogging accounts to steal the contents, the current crop of RMT sellers do many things that aren't fun for regular players.

If this company can make RMT work without all this crap (and game companies would stop making stupid and lazy timesinks like "farm 5000G for an epic mount so you can unlock the quest to get your Netherdrake" that can be entirely bypassed with an anonymous cash "donation"), I wouldn't mind. I'd rather see an open market where anyone who really doesn't want to do X, Y, or Z can buy their way out of it than the current system where those who actually want to manage to do it illicitly anyway.

Reply

I dunno spending real money for fake currency will always make you lame. It's already eough to just pay the montly fees for a mmo but when you wanna spend some real world cash for a make believe item thats where you cross the line. If you can't put in the hours to play a game then you should not be allowed to reap the benefits plain and simple.

Reply

It's not the economy so much as RMT just takes the fun out of the game if your throwing more money then the monthly fee just for items that don't exist. While some work legitimately and sacrifice time for their efforts. Your basically paying someone else to play a game for you.... you might as well just not play the game at all if you have to rely on RMT to help you buy things in a game.

Reply

RMT will eventually be a part of the MMO market, but the role it will play has still to be defined. Obviously it undermines the core game mechanics to allow people to pay real money to get ahead.

However, allowing certain non-core items to be part of the real money trade may eventually be part of the role. Paying for ancillary services such as name changes, character transfers and other convenience items certainly seems all right. But paying for coveted advancement such as widely desired epics or large sums of gold would obviously destroy the motivation of people who acquire these through in-game methods.

For instance, nobody would care if you paid somebody to farm a full set of MC or BWL gear for you. MC gear is obsolete and not highly desired, so nobody feels slighted if you acquire it through real money trade.

So obviously there is opportunity here, but only if those who exploit it acknowledge and respect sharp limits.

Reply

RMT ruins gameplay for those of us who actually play for real. those who buy fake currency are those rich casual gamers who don't appreciate the game they just want to have the best stuff but don't want to work for it. and those characters that are the sellers throw off the balance of the in-game economy in a major way making things extremely more expensive for those of us who play for real making it really difficult to get anywhere in the game cause we're spending our time fighting RMTers for money just to get that one item we need. they take over our camps they spam our chat logs the are all together a bother. 9/10 gamers prefer not to spend MORE on a game then the monthly fees and the sleep.

Reply

I did once, long ago, pay real money for in-game currency. I went in with a roommate to buy 80 million units of Anarchy Online currency. While it provided a short period of extra fun, we both quit the game within several months afterwards. It undermined the sense of advancement of our characters.

The moral of the story is that RMT destroys the motivation to actually play the game. This is certainly not in the interest of the company operating it, or the other players who are spending in-game time and effort to acquire the items or money.

Reply

As I pointed out in today's blog post, "strategy guides" used to be a bannable offense too. Multiboxing. Chatting spoilers. Powerlevelling. And so on.

Reply

Of course Westerners dislike it. Paying money to get ahead in a game is just not cricket.

Reply

I gather what RMT is, but what the fsck does 'RMT' mean?

Reply

Real Money Trading. I think. :)

Reply

I don't like the idea of players advancing through the use of RMT(even if it is condoned by the game maker), but I would much rather have RMT than the farmer situation we have in Lineage2. If people are going to buy and sell in-game items I would at least like to see that money go to the game maker and my fellow players.

Will I partake in it? As a seller? Maybe. As a buyer? Hell no. I play games to play games. WTFPWNing people with my Visa just doesn't sound cool.

Reply