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?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

A billion dollars a year? I smell bullshit.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Stealth

A billion dollars a year? I smell bullshit.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

I'm not a jerk, or someone who goes around hating on people...

Oh no of course not...

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

These kids need to get lives. Anyone who spends money on something like that is a total loser.

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.

FELIPE NO

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

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'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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

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.

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

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Krelian

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Lord Jaroh

I think it's insane to "buy" in effect, nothing.

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.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Summonmaster

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

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).

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

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.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

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:

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.