A personal struggle with the ethics of gold selling and crowns

I said "People win by having fun" to this:

I was simply replying that I don't think "opponents" had anything to do with it. Or very little to do with it...I didn't try to gain leverage over anyone, and I doubt many who buy gold do. Speculation on my part, obviously.

I wouldn't call what SOTA does microtransactions...but that's quibbling over verbiage.

 

The playermarket here gets flooded with gold and ressources already anyway.
Prices keep dropping and dropping.

I just deleted my selling thread i created 2 days ago for above reasons.
It's just not worth it anymore and prices will drop even more in the very near future.

Allowing gold selling to begin with was an bad idea, most sell for PP or SC only.
There is almost no ingame market because of the RMT.

 

Sorry, wassat?

 

Paypal / Store Credits...

 

Maybe I don't understand your quote, what else would they sell for?

Also, another tangent, would it make sense to up loot/gold drops in the game? In other words, allow players to gain gold income easier? Especially at the lower levels...

 

You asked what PP and SC means, so i told you, what is there to not understand ?
My overall point basically was, RMT (Real Money Trade via Paypal and Store Credits) for ingame stuff is just bad for the ingame economy with IGG (InGameGold).

And no, there is no need to increase gold drops, imo.

 

I understood your PP/SC explanation, you made it sound like there was something else they could be accepting. Never mind.

You may not think so, but I'll tell ya what, I wouldn't have purchased gold had the loot drops been even *marginally* better. And I bought waaaaay more gold than I needed because, why not? It's cheap and if you've already decided to buy some gold, might as well get bang for your buck. So while "IMO" you don't think gold drops don't "need" to increase, what would you rather: market dips a little because people have more gold, or drops a lot because they're buying it?

 

At arround ADV. Level 60 - 80 (depending on your build) it becomes really very easy to farm gold.

 

Yeah, I have heard this...I am level 25 and making enough money to keep your stuff in repair and buy skills is difficult. I didn't mind making gold a few releases ago crafting bark bread, but they've made all recipes very complex / not worth it on a small scale. Thank goodness I have a tax free lot, I'd REALLY be in trouble...

 

I mean you "could" be 70+ in just 1 day, just run along with some high level in an T5 Zone for 8-10 hours.... (can be even faster with farming CPs in a group).
Then Gold will be absolutely no issue anymore for you.

However, Gold becomes more and more meaningless since almost everyone sells stuff for real life cash only.

 

This may come as a surprise to you, and it may be worth thinking about: I consider that way of gaining XP to be MORE distasteful than buying gold for real money. I value my effort in raising my skills and getting levels. Following someone around is way too cheap. Maybe you feel the same about gold, but I do not. And I don't know that I could even communicate why I feel that way; it is what it is.

 

Totally agree!

 

At least with the way the system is setup, PP & SC transactions have no effect on the amount of gold in-game so gold still remains valuable. COTOs only cause some indirect inflation through using COTOs instead of gold for taxes for example, but I would guess that inflation impact is negligible.

Also, i've been able to buy and sell all I need in-game with gold just fine.

 

I think you might want to withhold judgement until release of episode 1. Patience is a virtue.

 

I am not aware of any game that "Gold Selling" ever did destroy or break or that did reduce the amount of players. Total Myth. Not proven.

Actually the opposite - Gold Sellers or Level Assistance Services or Gold Farmers do a good Service - that others do not like to do. As i for example would have found grinding in a Game to purchase a cool Item i wan´t far to "boring" i pay for someone else doing it for me.
I was grateful to pay it and happy he provided me the service.

The warnings that you would be banned on other games have always been "political" statements.
I do not believe a second if i see a Game Publisher posting " we have banned 20 000 Gold Farmers".
Yeah... clap, clap.... on a subscription based game. LOL

My own opinion about this is. What people say about "Gold Farming" is totally different then how we all act.

The Gold Farming Market is estimatet to deliver 1 Billion $ a year - and that had been numbers of 2008 i did use. And it was a good analysis.
The real money exchange in Online Games is estimate to be 20 times higher then Monthly Subscriptions in the same market.

It is like saying: Man! eating MC Donald and all this meat is really , really bad for our future. Meat takes so much resources to produce compared to salad. All agree but everyone bites the Cheeseburger.


It is this double morality what i hate.

How come Gold Farming is such a big thing when in every Gaming Forum i have been reading in my live all agree it is bad for the Game. All clap and cheer.

But where are those customers then!! If it is not us!!



And believe me all. I am having a really, really hard time to believe that with a Game Set Up like Shroud of the Avatar - the minority of us have ever purchased Gold form Gold Farmers, or Services like leveling and Items Delivery.
I actually believe the opposite.


So here i wave the Flag - I think Gold Farmers have provided a Great Service and did fill a hole of a need we all have - "not enough time".

And actually they did "teach" the Gaming Industry that they are dong it all wrong - and now many Games who have adapted to this system - are making a fortune.

They just call it different- Add on Store for example, or buffs you can buy to finish something faster - Pay to win?? , or Skins you can purchase... get the idea!



Game Publishers are adapting the Business Model to the system of the "ones you all hate".



Why do a stupid Monthly Subscricption if you make 20 times more money with the Gold Farming System.





So that was my wording to eat.


Bash me. Will not change my opinion at all.

But this "Moral" Thread again will not answer me the question why Gold Farming is such a huge market. Where are those customers?. - Do not believe that these are some bad hidden deep under the earth hidden bad people. I believe we are the majority who purchase from Gold Farmers.