Blizzard, Square/Enix Ban Yet More Farmers 318
Eurogamer has the news that both Blizzard and Square/Enix have banned another batch of players for farming. The number of accounts, and the amount of money removed from the economy, is astonishing. From the article: "According to the World of Warcraft website, some 30,000 accounts were banned last month - and, as a result, more than 30 million gold were removed from the economy across all realms ... Based on the results of this investigation, more than 250 [FFXI] accounts among those found to be involved in large-scale RMT operations have been terminated... Thanks to these measures, more than 250 billion gil has been removed from circulation."
Re:Federal Reserve (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:World of Final Fantasy?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Either that or the percentage of "cheaters" in WoW is greater than in FFXI. I put "cheaters" in quotes because, at least in the case of WoW, the "cheaters" often aren't using any illegal hacks or third party programs -- they are either buying or selling gold, items, or accounts. That doesn't mean that some (or perhaps most) of the farmers in WoW aren't using illegal macros or other 3rd party programs, but my guess is that the majority of people banned didn't use any illegal programs -- they just violated the terms of use in some way.
Also, from the article it looks like Square-Enix focused on the suppliers (these so-called "RMT" groups), while Blizzard went after both the buyers and the sellers.
If you have any question on how aggressive the staff at Square-Enix is, take a look at this blog [blogspot.com] by a GM for the game.
Math tells all (Score:5, Interesting)
$ 30 for a WoW account key
$120 for the lost gold itself
$ 50 for 2 people * $1/hr * 25 hours to level up a character
$ 50 for 50 hours to farm the gold
----
$250 total
Obviously the $/hr rate is an overestimate, but the gold exchange rate and cost of a WoW key make up the majority of this estimate. At a minimum the total is $160.
So, this is a net hit to the farming companies of $250 * 30k = $7.5M.
All in all, a sizable blow. Unfortunately it will really only hurt the solo farmers, the guys doing it for a few extra bucks from their home. For a very large farming operation this is only a setback of about 2 weeks (100 man hours per banning) in terms of profit.
Re:Ban them faster! (Score:3, Interesting)
A market system that will kill the harvesters: (Score:3, Interesting)
Downside: You won't be able to chuck old/unneeded items on the ground or at your friends, only delete them or liquidate them.
Upside: Harvesting gold loses its profitability in the real world, because virtual items can't be sold for real money. Thus harvesting is greatly reduced.
I don't know how other Blizzard players feel about this, but I'd gladly trade my ability to toss items at my friends for a virtual economy that might not fall apart immidiately.
P.S. Come to think of it, the game might be more enjoyable simply by merit of not ever recieving hand-me-down items. The sense of achievement and respect among kickass characters would be all the greater because it will be known that everyone arrived at virtual greatness through their own ingenuity and perseverance.
Re:World of Final Fantasy?! (Score:3, Interesting)
Farming shows a much bigger problem (Score:5, Interesting)
"Hold a second. That's like saying I buy Castlevania and then hire someone to play it for me so I can do the end boss fight. That makes no sense."
Yup. We're getting closer to the problem. There are actually people who PAY money to NOT HAVE TO play the game. Now, when a game has parts that are so "boring" that it's no fun to do them, the problem starts with the game, not the farmer. The farmer is actually more or less an effect. Not the cause (he's the cause for other problems with the game, we're getting into a circle here).
In a good game, it should not even cross your mind that you want to bypass parts of it. It should be interesting to do just that what is bypassed.
It's not only a problem of WoW, that problem can be found in almost all MMORPGs. And a MMORPG that solves it will certainly sell well. But as long as there are tedious and boring parts in a MMORPG, farmers will exist.
Re:Farming shows a much bigger problem (Score:4, Interesting)
What you're suggesting about a "perfect" MMO is impossible. Why? Because people always want to have the best character, if for no other reason than to buy a level 60 warrior in full epic gear, then go and Heroic Strike someone in PvP with their Ashkandi. (Yeah, HS. I'm sure you've encountered these people too.) And this segment will be there whether your leveling content is absolutely breathtaking or a mindless grind.
stfu noob and l2p (Score:0, Interesting)
Also, who cares if someone farms and buys gold from someone else? SOMEONE had to still pay the money to be online during that time. It's not like free money is poofing out of nowhere. I mean, I even got my character powerleveled. Why should Blizzad care? I am still paying 15/month no matter who played the character.
Re:Farming shows a much bigger problem (Score:2, Interesting)
Sure there are money farmers etc but there is an equal number of people who simply give away money because they don't care. Items do not matter as much in that game and the items that do matter you are given many ways to aquire that do not involve farming etc.
Hell I pay people 50k a pop to jump off skyscrapers because I think it is funny.
The key there is make the money not matter, then it is not a problem if the economy goes bust because the economy is not important to the enjoyment of the game.
Legit WoW Players: Beware of Deflation (Score:2, Interesting)
In a nutshell, inflation occurs in an economy when there is too much cash chasing too few goods. This phenomenon has an inverse called deflation, which occurs when there are too many goods/services chasing too little cash. On the macro level, we haven't seen deflation in America in quite a while, however there have been micro level instances of it. For example, a shitload of wealth was erased a few years ago when the markets crashed. The auto industry was one of several where the effects of deflation were clearly visible. Auto makers had been churning out cars like crazy during the boom. All of sudden a lot of Americans had to tighten there belts forcing car makers to slash prices to clear their inventory.
So why does this make me nervous about my WoW wealth? The answer has to do with my chosen professions - herbalism and alchemy. Assuming that WoW inflation was just a way of life I decided I needed to find a way to earn gold at a rate that equals or outpaces inflation. After all I want my epic mount, good armor and expensive potions. After watching the AH for a while I decided I needed to get into the Arcanite bar transmute business. I then waited for Arcane Crystal (the main ingredient) prices to bottom and sunk every gold I had into purchasing them. Over time I expect my profit margin to be 8-17 gold per Arcanite bar.
If Blizzard's removal of gold triggers inflation Arcane Crystals could hit a new pricing bottom well below their current historical lows. The same with Arcanite Bars. In this situation I would be forced to sell my stock a t a huge loss.
In reality I don't think this will happen. Chinese farmers will find another way to beat the system. Also the amount of gold they took out probably isn't large enough to make an significant impact. At the same time this scenario is still something WoW players should be aware of.
Strange Business Model... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Subsidizing farmers is for national defense (Score:2, Interesting)
If you're going to try and subsidize farming, it seems like it would make more sense to make it part of the welfare system: subsidize the purchase of local fresh produce by the poor. Not only would this keep demand for farmers' products higher, it would provide a "bubble-up" source of wealth distribution (versus the trickle-down model), and it would make getting healthier food a more attractive alternative for the poor.
Of course, the trickle-down proponents would probably just prefer giving large handouts to huge corporate farms.