Warhammer online: Age of Reckoning can it Protect its Gold?
Tila Miles
Warhammer online is scheduled for release on September 18, 2008. Will it, like every other massively multiplayer online role playing game with an exchange barter system, be suck susceptible to War gold farming? Time will only tell but if the past predicts the future the possibility is high. There are numerous reasons too for others to make a buck from MMORPGs like warhammer. The main being that people will buy from you and or trade for what they are selling. If a gamer doesnt want to tediously go through building up the gold to buy that special item they want they could just buy it from someone for real money. The same goes for War powerleveling, you want that high level character now, and well you could by him from somebody that is willing to part with their leveled up toon, for a sometimes unreasonable price.
This practice has been going on ever since it could be done. For Everquest, another MMORPG, there was so much selling of in-game items for real cash that the BBC did a report that with a exchange rate of game currency to real money that everquest would be the 77th richest country in the world. The developers for EQ made a plea for eBay to stop putting up such trade auctions. This has lead to many specialty sites dedicated to game to real currency exchange. Will Warhammer have the same issue?
Not only with EV is there seen to be a problem between fiction game gold to real money exchanges. In early 2006, Square Enix of final fantasy found that a group of players had found out a way to generate game currency and exchange it for real currency, which, drove up prices for all items across the game, In response, 700 accounts were permanently banned and 300 billion gil (final fantasys take one money), was removed from circulation.
In response to more and more of these types of fictional gold for real currency from other developers has been varied but altogether a bit futile, for there are more sellers and buyers then there ever were. Square Enix has declared that the trade of items for real currency is officially a violation of the Terms of Service for Final Fantasy XI. In July 2006, Square Enix banned or suspended over 8,000 other accounts for manipulation and commerce. As of 2006, Square Enix has regularly banned accounts found to be in violation of the Terms of Service, some using third-party tools, removing billions of gil from the in-game economy. EQ seems to have taken if you cant beat them join them approach, in that EverQuest 2 launched Station Exchange" servers in July 2005. The program provides buying in-game items for real money from fellow players for a nominal fee.
With all the in game trades and selling form real to fake money from all the other MMOPGs out there one has to wonder if Warhammer is prepared for it. What will it do in response to the possibility of selling in game gold and turning it into green cash? Fair for us players? I think not, you spend all your hard time and effort farming WAR gold and they remove it from the game because your friend in need of help also wants some. What good would it be if you were in a guild or have a bunch of friends but yet to can't share gold with them?
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