One of the leading problems in any MMO community is the influx of gold and items that gold sellers and botting farmers pour into the economy. Even in Lord of the Rings Online the problem is evident through all the constant tells and in game mails I find myself receiving from these annoying individuals on a regular basis. Imagine being at the beach relaxing in the sun, the gulls flap overhead, and the water is washing up on the shores. The relaxing atmosphere has placed you in a state of complete serenity as you enjoy the peacefulness of your surroundings, but all of a sudden a burley figure of a man in pink kangaroo pajama’s jumps right in your face shadowing out the sun with a big glowing neon sign that says “Buy Kangaroo Pajama’s Here”. Your peaceful tranquility and relaxation is suddenly interrupted by this annoying figure with a flashing neon sign. Grant it that’s an extreme analogy, but its funny and accurate. That is the feeling I get when I am immersing myself in Middle Earth lore and suddenly have this gold selling tell or mail flashing in my face. Disturbing? Perhaps.

My own views on how destructive gold selling and farming is to a games economy, not to mention all the annoying tells and in game mails we get telling us to buy gold here have been made pretty clear and I hold true to those, but not to long ago something odd happened. When I engaged in a forum discussion over that very topic a person tried to explain to me how I should not oppose the secondary market. The logic behind this being, gold farmers live in a country that is oppressive and that farming gold in a sweat shop paid them better than working a regular job. It was at that point I thought have I been wrong? Should I be thinking differently? In any case as I stood there reading this post I came to realize that one of us… was nuts, and for the first time ever…I thought, wow…It isn’t me. (Thank you Lewis Black.)

The first thing here is that all gold farmers aren’t in oppressive Asian countries as this individual pointed out. In fact we have quiet a few here in the United States. The main point still remains that gold farming and botting harm a games economy and are against the EULA (End User License Agreement) of most games. I’ll concede to one point of the argument from that discussion. It is a game, but I also offer these finer points to consider.

1. Gold farming and botting cause an increased rate of Mudflation. New players are often times unable to play the game as intended due to inflated prices and that creates the feel that one must buy gold to play. In other words, the gold farmers are able to destroy the economy and try to force people into a position of having to buy gold.

2. While it is a game, it is also my hobby. It’s something I do for enjoyment and to have fun. Why then should that be subjected to someone ruining it and my fun in the process to engage in an activity the gaming companies themselves forbid through the EULA?

3. Getting tells from these guys is more than annoying. I can’t count the times I log in and a few minutes later Goldilocks is sending me a tell to buy gold here. Then not a few minutes later I have an equally annoying in game mail on the same subject from a different one.

Now you may say that it’s a minor annoyance, but I ask you this, would you tolerate the burly figure of a man in pink kangaroo pajama’s, with the neon sign hovering over you at the beach? I think not. This activity harms the playing atmosphere of the game by disrupting the economy. I watched the economy of Everquest crumble over night thanks to one of these gold selling companies. I have watched the markets be manipulated so they can milk money from players who would never even have considered it an option, and now I watch their attempts to be legitimized by buying up certain gaming sites. We as the players are the only ones that can keep this from happening to the Lord of the Rings economy by not supporting these guys. So keep reporting the bots, mails, and tells from these people and let’s help Turbine keep our servers free of these individuals.