What has gotten into this world and MMORPGs?!
 

I was watching TV today, forget what show it was, but they were talking about online RPG item selling. It was said that over a BILLION dollars a year is spent on online RPG item sales. That is frickin disturbing, I'm sorry. These kids need to get lives. Anyone who spends money on something like that is a total loser. I'm not a jerk, or someone who goes around hating on people, but hearing that just makes me really angry. I also know that technically it's not my right to tell people what to spend their money on, but I'm not really doing so. To me, spending big money on online items makes you a disgrace to society. A billion dollars is a lot. But most of it was spent in asia, like China and Japan.

I also heard this, and this is no joke. Some kid in China sold his friend's unique sword and he got arrested for a LIFE SENTENCE. He is going to prison for the rest of his life for selling his friend's sword in some damn RPG.

The whole show just made me angry. Some people take gaming way too seriously, and it shows when kids in Japan and China are killing themselves after they lose unique items, and starving themselves to play 60 hours straight of these games. What has gotten into this world?

I think it's crazy how involved some people can get in these games, but I don't think China's RPG laws are all that crazy.

I mean, if someone games for hundreds of hours to obtain a certain item, and there are logs and such that prove that the player has that item and worked hard to get it, then that item certainly does have some value.

A billion dollars a year? I smell bullshit.

I don't smell bullshit at all. It's a totally believable number if you take into account how many people play online games. I think it's insane to "buy" in effect, nothing.

Well, gaming is a form of recreation. Indulge in it too much, and bad things can happen.

There are some people who can have a beer when they're out with their buddies or socializing and never be worse off for it. Then there are the alcoholics who destroy their livers and end up getting themselves killed. Same kind of thing with gaming, I suppose... People have to realize their limits.

I would not necessarily condemn gamers for it, though.

It's not bullshit. Many people make lots of money through selling currency in MMOs. Just look at any MMO and you'll see how big the RMT problem is. You've got people who sell currency themselves, or big companies like IGE, then you got some that run sweat shops. Paying people to do nothing but farm items and gold to sell to real players.

I know for a fact IGE has thier hands dipped into WOW, Lineage, FFXI, COV/COH, SWG, RF online, EQ, EQ 2, Eve, DAoC, Dungeons and Dragons, Second life, and a few more. They buy currency, accounts, and items from players or RMTers for cheap and sell it back to players for more. They make ALOT of money.

While I find it sad people will pay money for this sort of thing you can't blame others for taking advantage of them. You know what they say.. A fool and his money is soon parted.

Oh no of course not...

Their money, their mistake. I don't see why you would be so angry about it, it's not like their spending any of your money on it.

Asians are gamers just like other countries have Olympic athletes. No joke. For some, it's a way to make money in a 3rd world country.

On a side note, my best friend used to plaw WoW hardcore. He ended up selling his account with tons of items for about $400 US. He's going to do it again for the same amount fairly soon. It's great when you see it as a recreational way to make a little bit of cash. You gotta love the game to do it, though.

Oh those crazy Asian gamers. Always good for a laugh.
However, why they are like this I don't know, you'd have to ask someone who a little bit more knowledge in Asian culture.


But anyway, I agree that its pretty ridiculous how much some people are into these types of games. It's such an addiction because of the vast amount of of items you can get and the amount of time it takes to go up a level (no idea how much that is). You always want to be the best one and when you get into a map with a whole bunch of people, say 30 or something like that, you want to be the best! *Cough* Diablo II *Cough*. Two buddies of mine have World of Warcraft, its a pretty good looking game, but I have never played it, and they play the game like mad, but I shouldn't be surprised that both of them never play any sports (one of them plays paintball, but hardly ever) and both are very skinny and unhealthy considering they eat junk food all the time. Its unbelievable what some of these people do.

I also cannot fathom why you would pay real money, and such a large amount for mere online items, even if you did enjoy the game. If you really had nothing better to do and you were exceedingly rich, then whatever floats your boat. Although if you aren't exceedingly rich, buy mass amount of items with real money, or pay an insane amount for something, then you've lost me. I just can't think that these people really have nothing better to do though.

It actually reminds me of playable trading card games as well. For example, when "Cyber Stein", an exceptionally rare Yu-Gi-Oh! card sold for like a couple of million dollars. Right.
There you could make the case that you physically have something (not worth the value, but it's there). With MMORPGs though, it's still just data :S

The problem with this is that people are willing to buy that gold/item. For example, let's say you were offered 1000 gold in WoW for 50 bucks. Let's say that you work, and you make 10 bucks an hour (I'm not sure how it would work if you didn't have a job, I suppose in that case you're freeloading off someone).

So, for 5 hours of your worktime, you can get 1000 gold, which, if you farmed it yourself, would take you about a week or two to do (barring getting any high value drops that is).

Yes, it's stupid, I know. But that's the mentality a lot of these people have when they buy gold. They are saving their time in the game by paying someone else to get stuff for them. Again, sounds stupid, but when you consider a game like WoW, where you have to endlessly run 3 hour+ dungeon raids over and over, it gets boring as heck after a while, unless you're really hardcore (I myself burnt out after a few raids, cause it's boring). So of course some people will try to rationalize that paying a little bit for money = less time overall grinding/farming, which means more time for them to play (and anyone who's played World of Warcraft for any good length of time knows that the endgame content isn't as good as the lvl 1-59 experience overall).

And it seems to happen enough that it's profitable, or else gold selling wouldn't be so rampant. And while Blizzard officially disapproves, they often don't do much about it (they might do a mass banning once in a while, but that's not gonna stop the gold farmer from simply buying a new account, and starting over from square 1).

Of course, this happens in other games too. It's just that WoW is currently the most popular MMO out there (they have like half of the population for MMO players. 6 million people can't be wrong), so of course it gets the most attention.

What's more is that there are sweatshops where guilds of people do nothing but play the game seven days a week, and sell their character or whatever to gamers in America. That's how they make their living. It's like online poker. People make it through college with the money they make playing online poker. Is that wrong? Do those 'losers' need to 'get a life' too? (just sayin'. I'm not condoning manic gamers' habits; I'll never touch a MMORPG in my life)

What scares you is that the internet is starting to merge more and more with reality.

Wrong. He sold the guy's sword while it was on loan to him, and the rightful owner tracked him down and stabbed him to death.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4397159.stm

That's not what it said on the news. Maybe they are different stories.

You know what? You're right probably. He killed him and then got a life sentence.

This seems to be most people's problem, but surely you've all seen antique stores before? Signed copies of books/albums/games? Imports/rares/original packaging?

Ghosts and farts being sold in jars?

Value is subjective. Gaming isn't a different animal by virtue of being electronic. You've all been to Ebay before, come on now.

What, so you've never paid for software before? You think just cause data has not tangable quality it doesn't have value? I mean, how rich is Bill Gates?

Listen, most of the shit you spend money on is as worthless as online items in mmo's. That tv you have, doesn't do anything productive. The computer your on, be honest now, is mostly for internet porn with a side of GFF (Maybe, on occasion, you use it for writing a paper). Anybody who's ever purchased a concert ticket, gone to a sports event, or went to the movies has essentially done the same thing as purchasing an mmo item - done something that makes them happy. And that shouldn't be a problem for anybody (unless your a bigot).

My World of Warcraft account is worth somewhere between $1,000 and $1,200. I'm one of like, 6 million people that play WoW.

Accounts are the most expensive ticket items you can buy. But there's also gear, gold, and on top of those, powerleveling and PvP ladder ranking services that people can pay for. Essentially, *anything* you would want for your character could be acquired if you have enough real world money for it.

It's really not hard to figure at all. And that's just based on one MMO.

For some people it's a way of making a bit of extra cash, like was mentioned. And yeah, it's just paying for entertainment, so what's the harm? Yeah you have those crazy cases where someone gets killed over it, but that happens in pretty much any walk of life if you're stupid.

If it wasn't MMORPGs, it'd be something else, better than that many people getting into online drug trading or something like that.

I don't mess with mmo's anymore. Just consoles. 15 bucks a month for a game you already paid $50 for adds up. At least with console if you buy it then it stays, you don't have to keep feeding in money to play whenever you want. So yeah that's disturbing that people would waste so much money on mmo's.

I don't understand how you can just send off your money, and not have anything physical in return to show for it. That would make me a mental case and send me insane.

If I spend money, I want something to show for it, physically. Not some bullshit on my computer screen. Doesn't matter how good the game is and how addicted I am, I am never going to spend any money on it.

So, what? you've never paid money to go see a concert? or to see a movie? that's dropping money and nothing to show for it. But you're right that's a pretty insane idea.

Probably why Hollywood only makes a few hundred million dollars each weekend

Yeah he killed the guy, right now there are no laws against you stealing RPG swords. Sometimes your account doesn't even get banned. I see people get away with online theft all the time, and I think it was Japan that was trying to look into this and see if there needs to be protection for your virtual items.

Oh and newsflash, it's not mostly kids that buy online currency, it's the people that work, have money but also HAVE LIVES so they don't want to spend 10 hours saving up online currency to buy their sword, instead they spend $50 RL money to buy it.

For them this makes sense, plenty of people buy their online currency because it saves them time that they might not have. I don't like it because it skews the in game economy and those that play need to work extra hard. This is why I don't like MMOs, either you're buying money or you spend hours and hours trying to find ways to earn it and frankly I just don't have that kind of time. I definitely don't spend RL money on it, it's bad enough I have to pay a monthly fee. $80 for a new sword? No thanks.

As for paying for things that aren't physically there, you don't just spend money for something physical in return all the time. I don't see how this is any different than having someone clean your house for money. It saves you time, you're just too lazy to do it yourself. You can pay for service, and this online gold thing is a service.

WoWDetox.com is a pretty eye-opening site. It looks like it's just a large guestbook where people post their stories of World of Warcraft addiction. Some of them are just depressing to read.

Personally getting sick of Bethesda selling items for Oblivion that should have come for FREE, or at least stick them all in an expansion! Then we have World of Warcraft, and wondering whether Blizzard will ever even need to make a Diablo III, considering how much green they are raking in per day. Nothing against multiplayer..but sheesh. :juggler:

Perhaps what these people are paying for is an escape for their shitty real lives. They couldn't be bothered to fix--or don't know how to fix--the problems that make their lives painful to live in, so they just throw money at a fantasty world in which they can immerse themselves for hours and hours at a time being a character that posses all of the strengths these people desire and none of their weaknesses.

^So are you advocating this form of escapism or decrying it?

I made no indication of advocation or denouncement; that wasn't the purpose of my post. I was simpy offering a possible explanation for this behaviour and an answer to the (implied) question:

I personally think that its a completely sane venture to sell items from MMORPGS. Your essentially doing the same thing when you purchase the game. Your spending money on something that will offer you a gaming experience. Then you spend more money to add to that experience.

Sure some people go overboard, but that happens with everything now days.

I've done it. In FFXI I am the thing that everyone hates. Except that I don't make it known that I have bought gil. I don't remember how much it was, but I did pay real cash for 8 million gil. 5 months later I'm down to 5 mil. The average gil buyer will buy anything at cost simply cause they have unlimited amounts of gil. If something that is worth 4000 but someone is selling the last one for 10000, they will buy it. Well..not me - my spending habits didn't change. Reason I did it because this is my 7th time going through the game from quitting - after deleting my level 70 character -.-. With not nearly as much as time as I had previously, I just wanted to get back to where I was as quick as possible. Farming takes ages. I fought the urge to buy gil for 2 years.

I wont ever do that anymore though and with PSU coming out I will surely be quitting FFXI for good and that 5 mil will be removed from circulation. In a way I am happy it is ruined because I got screwed over by people so much in that game. It is wrong for me to rag on my "bretheren" RMTers.. but 400$ for a character..that kind of money I will never spend online unless it's for a new computer.

Just a note that my life is anything but shitty. I must admit I feel a bit better confessing that. When I made the tranaction I felt as if I was betraying myself as a veteran player.

MMORPGs are successful because they combine two popular activities of the Internet and computing world, gaming and socializing. You see all sorts of wild stories everyday about the wild things that happen in gaming with kids playing themselves to death and socializing turning into e-stalking on MySpace. Is it any surprise that MMORPGs, which integrate both, would also have these problems?

Not slamming MMORPGs. I love WoW myself. But the vices that the OP is complaining about regarding MMORPGs can be found in just about any activity. For me personally, the amount of violence that occurs in countries over World Cup losses is more disturbing than what the OP is so outraged about.

Yeah is a problem with some people...but I don't see why other make such a big deal about it though. I seen people spend money on plenty of other worthless things. Is spent for entertainment of some sorts....

I'm a FFXI player myself...though I might not have purchased any GIL myself I can see why some people would.

WinterStorm
Your not on Cerberus server are you? Your name seems very familiar...

I played on the cerberus server for 3 years. There was a thread in the multiplayer forum with an FFXI server directory - you probably saw my posts there. I updated it 2-3 times before stopping. Keep in mind I didn't do the "Sin of RMT" on cerb; I have another character on ragnarok.

Meh...don't worry about me. I care less about this whole buying gil issue people have. I personaly think is both good and bad in some ways but telling on people that buy/sell gil is more of a complete waste of time.

Well if you're ever back ok Cerberus send me a /tell or whatever, the ingame name is "Kittana" or "Desnia"....we'll go PT or some shit :D

I have to admit I purchased virtual items before. Mainly because the little amount of time I have to play would be trying to farm for the items instead of enjoying the game. I don't think I would do it anymore but the way I saw it was I was paying real money to play in a virtual world so why not pay real money for a virtual item?

Damn...... some of those REALLY ARE depressing to read. Throwing away your life like that..... I wish I could be making 80k a year.

People say they buy items because they don't have the time to build up their character. What's the point of even playing the game though? That's why MMORPGs are fun. You build up your character. To me it's like buying a game and using a code to start right at the end boss of a game with perfect stats and beating the entire game in a minute.

If someone doesn't have time to build up stats and train your character, then what is the point in even playing an MMORPG in the first place? That whole reason sounds a little odd to me. I'm not buying that the older ones are the ones buying these because they don't have time. I think it's strictly addictions of kids wanting things NOW, rather than training for them. I don't think it had anything to do with older people with jobs taking a shortcut to dominance, because they don't have the time to play it.

Again, if that were the case, there would be no real reason to even play the game. It's like buying a book and skipping to the last chapter right away because you don't have time to read the whole thing.

Yeah, if there was a way to prove that those stories are actually real, and not just tales written poking fun at WoW players.

MMO's are online pissing contests, where groups of thirtysome players suffer from some clubhouse/ "greater internet !@#$wad" mentality, while pretentious 25-30 year olds troll over the importance of the "INGAME ECONOMY", when they'dprobablymakebtterstfllersforatalkshoworsomes htlolz

"GetafreakinlifeAGHAHHGAJJZZH1!1"

everyone has their own obsessions.. and I agree with the whole 'a fool and his money are quick to part ways' thing because the reality is, most of us have the common sense to NOT to do this and other responsibilities that our paychecks go to in order to keep that common sense in check.

I play Guild Wars, a game where real life money is traded for virtual money and items too, but at least trading in this game is nowhere near as problematic as World of warcraft.

In World of Warcraft, good items are hard to find by just raiding, this is why so many people turn to buying equipment from other players using real life money. In Guild Wars, it is easier to get the items you want, so real life money purchases are a lot rarer in GW than in WoW.