Secondary Market and Harmful Side Effects

By Martuk

In every item centric MMO there are always those looking to sell off virtual goods. This act is frowned upon by a large part of the player base and most developers, yet there are those who still buy and trade virtual goods daily. They do this even though the practice is against the EULA, or End User License Agreement, and forbidden by the developers of those games.

Some companies, such as Sony Online Entertainment, have embraced this practice of pedaling virtual merchandise. Some games, such as Second Life, are even built around the concept of buying and selling virtual goods though not all games are made to support it. In games such as Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, where the game economy is not made for such dealings, the impact the Secondary Market can have on the game economy, as well as the players, can be catastrophic. Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online, said in one of his posts on the official forums referring to the secondary market¼

“My point is that facilitating the out-of-game sales of in-game items is undoubtedly a way to make money short term and also to control to some extent (or at least get a piece of) the money being made by third parties engaging in this sort of thing. This is, obviously, appealing in the short term and to someone who may not understand the importance of protecting the long term health and integrity of the game and what really makes an MMOG tick.

Vanguard is being designed as a home for the core gamer for months and years. It is also a game designed such that the integrity of the player driven economy is paramount. Because of that, out-of-game sales will harm Vanguard (they will happen to some degree, although we are determined to stop them in any way possible). Likewise, participating in shortening the lifespan of Vanguard in order make money short term is not compatible with our business plan... our vision¼ our desire to make money long term and host a game that lasts for years, do expansions, build our company, and hopefully create other MMOGs in the future.

So it's not going to happen.”

The secondary market brings a large influx of items, and currency into the game that otherwise would not have been there. This causes something all games will eventually run into - mudflation. Mudflation is the virtual world’s version of inflation. The secondary market just speeds up the process. Some other elements often used by those involved in the secondary market that can harm the player base’s fun and good time in these gaming worlds are bots, and farmers. Bots are computer programs that play the game for a player. They are generally forbidden in MMOs since it is considered a form of cheating. Farmers are people who will continually kill creatures over and over for a specific set of items to be sold for real life cash or to turn the items into game currency which is then sold for real life cash. These farmers will take up residence in various parts of the game, which unfortunately shuts out the players from that content, as well as preventing them from acquiring items needed for quests or progression.

These markets thrive on supply and demand like any real world market. It is then in the best interest of the secondary market companies to see game economies suffer price mudflation. During the free trial promotion of EverQuest, there was an example of how these companies work to destroy the economy of the games they are in. They found a way to dupe, or create illegal copies of an item, platinum without drawing attention. They accomplished this by putting the created currency onto the free trial characters that went unchecked by Sony Online Entertainment. After the patches to fix this exploit, the companies just reactivated the trial characters and let the currency hit the market and drive the economy so high that it was near impossible to purchase good items unless you went out of game or had very wealthy friends in the game. Newcomers to the game had no hope of gaining the needed currency to afford most items. The effect this had on the EverQuest economy can still be seen today. 

Another example of how the secondary market can harm a game is through exploits. Not so long ago, an unscrupulous member of the secondary market discovered a flaw in the game’s design which allowed him to level a character to 65 and load them up with Alternate Advancement skills basically overnight. This, at the time, was virtually impossible to do legitimately in EverQuest regardless of how long you played or how good you were. These characters were then put up for sale on the internet where they sold in excess of $1,500.00. Shortly after receiving these exploited characters a lot of people found themselves with banned accounts. For some reason I lack sympathy for them.

Buying high level characters from the secondary market also hurts the enjoyment of other players within the game. It is frustrating when you have worked to have a character at maximum level that you have learned to play through the progression intended by the game design to them come face to face with someone who has purchased an equivalent character. They will not have the skill to match the character. These players often do not know what their class can do, and more times than not, they don't seem to even know the basics. Tanks that don't know the difference between the skill taunt and the emote of the same name at maximum level. Clerics that don't want to waste mana healing come to mind.

People who buy these characters do not learn to play them. Not knowing what to do when you have entered a group at that level will cause a lot of people grief, and likely a corpse run. When people form a group the minimum expectation is that a person at least knows what their character job is within that group. Part of the reason for leveling is learning your characters function and what they can do, and are capable of, in a group. Leveling in a sense is practice, and practice is needed in the MMO world. Those who skip that important part affect other players when they join a group and can't even activate auto attack. So as you can see this harms the gaming experience of other players, not to mention the guy who bought his avatar is likely never going to be welcome to group with those people again. Word of mouth can make players unable to get groups in some MMO worlds. At high levels these people could discover that they bought a character that no one wants to group with.

In closing I would like to say there are a minority of gamers out there who buy and sell items outside the game. These people do great harm to a world, and a population, when that game is not made to support this. There are games made to support the secondary market, unfortunately companies like IGE will not keep their business to those. Instead, against EULA, as well as the wishes of the developers, they continue to harm the gaming world and economies. These games start everyone on equal ground. It is part of the rules to which the game is played. Using the secondary market in these games is no different than playing pen and paper Dungeons & Dragons and slipping the Dungeon Master five bucks to grant you some extra advantage. Is this fair to your fellow player in any game especially an MMO? No of course it isn't.

They worked hard to get their gear. They leveled up as they should and learned their character. These games are built to pride the player on their accomplishments. How proud is the player who levels to 60 and earned his mediocre gear if he looks over and sees a person who tossed out some real life cash and bought a same level character with better gear, and hasn't the foggiest clue of how to play? Some would say they do this to avoid the lower levels of the game. The game was designed to be played a certain way.  Those levels are there for training and in a sense a right of passage.

Every time you click “I accept” at the EULA screen, you are agreeing to the terms of a legal contract. The difficulty involved in stopping these companies is a long and expensive road requiring the use of international laws. The best defense we as a community have against this for the time being is educating people on the harm that these companies do to a game, and try to sway people against using it. The fact is this market does affect other people by destroying the game economy making it near impossible for the legitimate player new and old to afford the goods with their in-game currency. Some people will argue this is just a game and it isn't that big a deal. The fact it ruins the game for others trying to play honestly makes it a big deal. We don’t play to be swindled by people who compromise our enjoyment by inflating prices, and trying to force the secondary market to be a required element. Since it is just a game you shouldn’t mind playing by the rules.

Everyone levels at different speeds. Everyone goes through what they choose to. The only thing is if we want to get to the top, like all games and life, we have to work for it. Taking unapproved and underhanded short cuts in any game such as this will earn you the label of a cheater. A cheater by definition one who violates rules dishonestly. The EULA is that set of rules. The next time you are sitting at the log in screen about to click “I accept”, keep this in mind.