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<blockquote data-quote="Krug" data-source="post: 41276" data-attributes="member: 2141">CNET report<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-832347.html" target="_blank">http://news.com.com/2100-1040-832347.html</a>Sony has been one of the most aggressive game companies in restricting outside sales, insisting that all material related to its game &quot;EverQuest&quot; belongs to the company. It has shut down numerous &quot;EverQuest&quot;-related auctions on eBay and Yahoo. &quot;EverQuest&quot; items and characters continue to be sold on smaller auction sites, however. Edward Castronova, associate professor of economics at California State University at Fullerton, recently completed a study of the &quot;EverQuest&quot; economy. Based on a review of thousands of completed auctions for &quot;EverQuest&quot; items and in-game currency, he concluded that players collectively produce annual gross &quot;exports&quot; of more than $5 million. If the game's fictional universe of Norrath were a country, its per-capita gross national product would be $2,266--making it the 77th richest country on Earth and ranking it between Russia and Bulgaria. Castronova said the trading outside the game is inevitable because prices set in the in-game barter system don't match players' expectations, resulting in high &quot;transaction costs&quot; that spur players to look elsewhere. The upshot is a Cuban-style system where a moribund official economy is overshadowed by a vigorous underground economy based on U.S. dollars. &quot;It's absolutely supply and demand at work,&quot; Castronova said. &quot;I don't think they (Sony representatives) realize they're confronting the same problems that have confronted real-world policy makers for years. When the government becomes so powerful it can control an entire economic system, how do you do that fairly?&quot; Interesting analysis... frankly I think it's dumb to pay money for characters, but hey it's their money!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Krug, post: 41276, member: 2141"] [b]CNET report[/b] [url]http://news.com.com/2100-1040-832347.html[/url] [i] Sony has been one of the most aggressive game companies in restricting outside sales, insisting that all material related to its game "EverQuest" belongs to the company. It has shut down numerous "EverQuest"-related auctions on eBay and Yahoo. "EverQuest" items and characters continue to be sold on smaller auction sites, however. Edward Castronova, associate professor of economics at California State University at Fullerton, recently completed a study of the "EverQuest" economy. Based on a review of thousands of completed auctions for "EverQuest" items and in-game currency, he concluded that players collectively produce annual gross "exports" of more than $5 million. If the game's fictional universe of Norrath were a country, its per-capita gross national product would be $2,266--making it the 77th richest country on Earth and ranking it between Russia and Bulgaria. Castronova said the trading outside the game is inevitable because prices set in the in-game barter system don't match players' expectations, resulting in high "transaction costs" that spur players to look elsewhere. The upshot is a Cuban-style system where a moribund official economy is overshadowed by a vigorous underground economy based on U.S. dollars. "It's absolutely supply and demand at work," Castronova said. "I don't think they (Sony representatives) realize they're confronting the same problems that have confronted real-world policy makers for years. When the government becomes so powerful it can control an entire economic system, how do you do that fairly?" [/i] Interesting analysis... frankly I think it's dumb to pay money for characters, but hey it's their money! [/QUOTE]

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