Online Gold... And the laws behind it?!

I am a very fond player of Guildwars, and have enjoyed playing it for a long time now. I have in the past purchased online gold to achieve some progress through the game when otherwise i have no time to do so myself.

and yes i have used online gold for 15k armor purchases. And im all thumbs for farming, and using in game methods to earn the money, but i find it is very hard to do, with very little time available.

Since its been declared that its not a good thing to purchase online gold by Anet, i must ask why??

And even to be threatened to loose our accounts?!

Although i can understand why they dont want outside money being spent towards other "groups" or "corporations" instead of attaining the money themselves.

But why has'nt Anet or NCsoft or whomever!

come to realize that the market for Online gold is a goldmine! (no pun intended)

Why does'nt Anet or NCsoft sell their OWN guildwars gold online, and "legalize" the purchase of that gold?

As someone whos been a guild leader for 3 different guilds, and built them from scratch, money becomes slightly hard to come by, and in most of the guilds ive been in ive been aiding those who need money for whatever need they may have, by handing out gold.

And honestly if the people are willing enough to spend some money on guildwars gold then why not? Why not make a killing off the market, and sell it through the guildwars online store?

As ive already sent emails to NCsoft asking them these same questions, and they simply said; "Customer Support is unable to discuss the ramifications and issues that come with Gold trading. We encourage you to consider posting your questions on one of the many Guild Wars Fansite message boards." So i came to GuildWars Guru hoping this is where i might get clear answers.


My hats off to you guys here at GuildWars Guru if you know the answers, and even if you want to comment, i welcome it all!

Thanks for your help!

~ M. t. W.

Because like most games gw is about timespend to earn items/ armor. Not money spend :/. Still imo loot scaling was a very bad thing :/, even if it balances out HM.

Simple answer: Gold sellers make profit off of Anet's game. Not good

As long as there are disparate scales in economies, where one can get labor cheaply enough that wealthier people will pay to have things done for them, it will happen.

Look at neighborhood children mowing lawns - are the people who buy from them "cheating" and deserving of grief from their neighbors for having their lawn mowed for them?

Just my 2 yen.

Thanks!
TabascoSauce

so anet should do what the op suggested: sell on-line gold to undermine the bots! problem solved.

The reason why buying of in game gold illegal is the fact that its a form of cheating. Instead of going out and getting the gold yourself, you pay someone some money and they give you theirs. People would be exploiting the game for their own personal monetary gains. Exploiting the game is against the rules.

You asked why A-Net doest sell doesn't just sell in game gold for cash. Well the answer to that is quite simple. It would turn this game into a "Cash Shop" game, giving richer players an advantage over the poorer/"Don't want to waste money" people like myself. This would also introduce more gold into the economy, this raising inflation sky high. Now the people that could barely afford their goods, not can't afford them at all.

In general, not only does A-Net not allow this nor do the websites that people use (E-Bay) allows this anymore. Though you may find it though to get gold you just got to keep saving up, or learn to farm HM for tomes, or go out with some keys and do some chest runs. Getting stockpiles gold is hard, but not impossible.

Nope. In game, we're all equal based on skill. Selling legit gold/items for real money will simply create a gap between the haves and have-nots ie: those with a credit card and those who don't.

And OP? I think you can kiss goodbye to your GW account for openly admitting you've bought gold.

The reason is simple: ANET has chosen to take a stand against sweat-shop-mmorpg-farming.

Since ANET owns Guild Wars and all of its content, it can set all terms for using its product. Players can only play Guild Wars by accepting the End-User-License-Agreement (EULA), and breaking the EULA's terms means forfeiture of all access to the game.

Sony Online Entertainment faced a similar problem a few years ago with their Everquest MMORPG. Ultimately SOE chose to sell gold and items directly to players and set the price so low that bot-farmers couldn't compete. The solution worked and got rid of most botters, but SOE's pathetic customer service and lack of meaningful game content ultimately doomed their flagship title.

That's the key. If you have the ability to buy gold without repercussion (even from A-Net), the cost of any item that isn't fixed by a trader/merchant would simply increase exponentially.

To put this in a very simplified example:

I would like to have a gold Gothic Sword.

I see someone advertising in the trade channel that they have one for sale.

I offer that seller 25K of gold that I earned by playing the game.

Player B just bought 1,000,000 gold from A-Net. They see the same sword and offer the seller 100K. They really don't care that they "overpaid" for the item, because they have tons of excess gold still in the bank.

That seller then goes to buy something else with his newly acquired 100K, and the cycle continues.

Yes! Let's let Anet sell gold and weapons so this can turn into every other Korean-style MMO where the people who pay the company get the better gear!

Or not.

Personally I think buying gold is lame in itself. You spent your own hard earned money to change it into a currency in a video game.

Guild wars is a game where you can get the best gear for VERY little gold. The things that cost alot (15K, skins etc.) are just there as a social status kind of thing. You can preform the same with easy to afford weapons and armor so there is NO reason to need to buy gold.

Oh man this is such an awesome topic.

So, for all you nay-sayers, answer me this - is a wealthy person cheating when he goes to the hospital and gets good medical care?

This is not a fair world. I admire your premise, that in a controlled world we can have more egalitarianism and fairness than what we get in the real world, but those (presumably mostly) chinese gold farmers earn a fair wage in their country. Their labor costs are simply so much cheaper than ours that it is economically viable for us to give them pocket change for their time and effort, and in-game gold.

How can this be stopped? It cannot. So, right or wrong, maybe the OP was asking for real-world answers and not charged righteous rhetoric.

Thanks!
TabascoSauce

skill perhaps, but no one is equal based on time. and there is already a gap in this regard. selling gold would be a solution to make up part of this disparity.

Last time I checked, you had to own something in order to sell it (or have the right to sell it). That notwithstanding, the reason Anet doesn't sell gold and prohibits the practice is the same reason governments don't allow you to print money in your home. If everyone has access to unlimited funds, the ingame economy (to the extent it really exists) would be crushed under the weight of devastating inflation and all items would instantly lose their value.

BTW, it is quite bold of you to admit to violating the Rules of Conduct and the EULA, and give your IGN at the same time.

one major reason that hasn't been mentioned: taxes. yeah, the more people sell and buy online currency, the closer the IRS and other tax institutions get to taxing in-game wealth. and the day i start having to pay a tax when i loot a rare item is the day i stop playing online games completely.

IMO, remove the economy completely. It causes way too many problems.

But on topic...the only laws against gold selling are the ones in the EULA.

Its their product. Its their service. Its their servers. Its their bandwidth. Why should a third party be allowed to profit from it?

They arent licensed. They arent given permission.

Try running to a business, and then have someone suddenly enter your property and start profiting from YOUR customers.

This post simply flabbergasts me.

Are you saying that buying clothing manufactured in third world country sweatshops is perfectly acceptible, because "we just can't do anything about it" and "if they're willing to accept the money, it must be a fair wage?"

Type in the word "sweatshop" in google, click on a few of the links, and see if your attitude towards "cheap labor costs" changes.

Time invested = wealth is a tried and tested game mechanic by selling gold in game they risk upsetting a huge playerbase. I wouldnt of bought this game if people willing to spend real money had a fair advantage.

Regarding black market gold selling besides damaging the in game economy Anet is not going to like other people making money off their work.

Mathew The Wise - I suggest removing your in game name from you account options or youl get the ban you rightfully deserve, o wait its also your account name on here

TobascoSaurce - Id say morals & company reputation are pretty valid "real world answers".

Hi matthew, you think right, lets all buy millions of mesos and scatch off guild wars, we will be rich =)

There are two primary reasons why selling in game gold is bad.

First I think you should study the situation in China and the gold farms themselves. I think once you have throughly taken a look at it you will understand why this is so bad. That is not a life I would want for anyone.

Second GW Gold is the intellectual property rights of ANET. They own it for their profit not someone else's.