Roleplaying Game Taken to Court

[Azure Trance]

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-832347.html

My question regarding the RPG to Court article is since the developers wont allow PCs to trade items for cash, does that mean that the company itself could plan to conduct its own official virtual items for real cash enterprise? Or do they really only do this for the integrity of the game?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

1) If my character has a magic sword in an MMORPG what that means is that I am currently paying money to use the MMORPGs intellectual property (of the character) and if I do certain things (complete a quest in game) they will further let me use the intellectual property of the magic sword.

At no point do I "own" anything to sell to someone else.

2) I know the EQ folks at least think e-Bay hurts the game. I talked to some of the developers and one of the GMs while we all had been drinking after a Fan Faire. What they are concerned about is a undergound market forming that extends it's e-Bay enterprise into RL. So if you promise your guildmaster that you will get Golden Efritti Boots by Thursday and you fail ... have you broken a contract? Furthermore, will a climaite have been created where the guild will beat the snot out of you in RL if you don't do it? Those are extreeme cases, but the dev/support team of EQ doesn't want that kind of thing in their game.

 

[Dragonblade]

As someone who studied economics I think this whole issue is absolutely fascinating. Particularly when you look at the hard data compiled by the economist who conducted the study of the "underground" EQ and Dark Age of Camelot economy.

He found that based on real world transactions for the fictional EQ currency, it is being traded for a about one penny per platinum piece. Which makes the fictional EQ currency more valuable than the Japanese yen! And simply based on the real world dollar amounts being traded for in-game items, EQ has a GNP on par with Bulgaria!! And EQ doesn't even exist outside of cyberspace!! Absolutely fascinating!

 

[Maddenus2]

omg roflmao

/emote smile

etc

didnt you know. We all live in a Harry Truman type world. None of you are real. Only I am real.

Everything is virtual. Except me. And even then i doubt that I am who i think i am.

"umm are you sure those mushrooms were ok?"

umm i just noticed something

in my game my chr is poor, I am a cleric and i dont get to loot much as i am always medding and healing.

In real life i am always poor......
but i think thats because I'm always playin the game

 

[Pielorinho]

There's a posh restaurant in town that doesn't take reservations: it always takes a long time to get into the restaurant. So there are some wealthy people in town that really want to eat there, but dont' have the time to wait in line.

I've got the time, so I go early in the day, wait in line, and get the best table right by the windows overlooking the cityscape. Then my partner goes outside the restaurant and auctions off my table to those cash-rich, time-poor people.

Strangely, when the restaurant found out what I was doing, they made me stop.

******

There's a fun game online that doesn't start you off with the best items: it always takes a long time to get those items. So there are some wealthy people that really want to play the game, but don't have the time to get those items.

I've got the time, so I play all day, do the work, and get the best items. Then I go online and sell off my items to those cash-rich, time-poor people.

Strangely, when the game company found out what I was doing, they made me stop.

******

It's important to remember that in an online game, you're in a virtual place of business, and you're buying the rights to use the tools of that place of business. That purchase, however, doesn't give you the rights to do whatever you want with those tools, any more than ordering a cup of coffee at a restaurant gives you the right to auction off your place at the table.

******

How's that for a stretched analogy?
Daniel

 

[Desdichado]

Daniel, I'm not sure I follow. The analogy with the table at the restaurant I got...

Anyway, as a former economist, this kind of stuff really bugs me. In the long run, what EQ has done is restrict the amount of utility in the system. The guy who plays his character for a long time and then sells him obviously thinks it is worth his time to do so. He increases his personal utility by playing and then selling. The guy who doesn't have that kind of time, who then goes and buys the character also increases his personal utility. To him, having the character is more important than the cash.

EQ itself makes its money on continued playing of the game. By shutting down this type of operation, they curtail the need of the guy who sells to go out and play more. They curtail the desire of the guy who buys, because he's forced to stick with a low-level nobody that he doesn't really want to play. Therefore, the play hours logged are considerably less than they otherwise would be.

Everybody loses.

 

[Pielorinho]

EQ itself makes its money on continued playing of the game. By shutting down this type of operation, they curtail the need of the guy who sells to go out and play more. They curtail the desire of the guy who buys, because he's forced to stick with a low-level nobody that he doesn't really want to play. Therefore, the play hours logged are considerably less than they otherwise would be.

Everybody loses.

If I were a moderate EQ player, it would definitely curtail my interest in the game if I knew that people were surpassing me in ability just by purchasing higher-powered characters. It would take away from the sense of fairness of the game. And I'd be less likely to continue playing. And that means EQ makes less money.

I think that from EQ's standpoint, either the buyers and sellers of characters lose, or the game company and the moderate players lose.

The restaurant analogy ain't perfect, definitely: for one thing, table space is a limited commodity, whereas high level characters (I think) aren't. But it was as close as I could come, pre-coffee.

Daniel

 

[Kestrel]

As a player of DAOC, I'm glad that they ban the sale of characters and items outside the game. Of course, I am pretty poor in the Real World (relatively speaking of course) and spend a lot of my time in the game trying to improve my character. It would bother me to think that someone that is kicking my butt in Realm vs. Realm combat is just someone that bought the account on Ebay, as I spent a ton of time just to be viable.

But then again, if things were changed in DAOC and it was easier to level and levels didn't matter so much in RvR combat, then this wouldn't be such an issue to me.

Regardless, the lawsuit is interesting.

 

[Voneth]

What would be real interesting would be to see how quickly the companies would change their mind if someone could arrange to give them a cut from every real world sale.

It's simple business.

 

[Kestrel]

If DAOC did that, thier integrity would go out the window. This is one of the things that they specifically said they would not allow in the game.