Came across this website talking about how selling virtual goods in games is more profitable that the real economy in some cases. Basically it said that gold farming and power leveling generated revenues in the region of $3 billion in 2009 and was serving as the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. It also mentions that most of the revenue from such transactions ends up in the country where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with some of the more traditional international markets, such as that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the producing country.
Some would argue that such services cheat the system, the game publishers, and the players by giving an unfair advantage to those who would use them and returning nothing to the company that makes or maintains the game, while others see it as an acceptable capitalistic venture of providing goods or services to those who have less time to grind and wish to pay for them.
Being a long time gamer, I've had varying opinions on this subject. I, like many of you, absolutely hate gold spammers in game and report them religiously, yet I have purchased virtual currency for games from these sources on occasion. I've never paid for power leveling, or for specific in game items however.
I've had mixed feelings about game companies punishing the players for taking advantage of these kinds of services on a limited basis, it makes them look greedy...because they did not think to take advantage of this revenue stream. One could argue that the current wave of FTP/micro transaction games is borrowing a page from the virtual black market, lending credence to how popular and profitable this activity is! If you can't beat them...
Either way, this will long be a debated topic...my only fear is that the government will at some point try to assign real value to virtual holdings and tax you for them. Don't say it can't happen here...
http://www.slideshare.net/vlehdonv/knowledge-map-of-the-virtual-economy-an-introduction
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