Conclusions After a Month of Play

No, I didn't forget that. I told you, the exchange rate exists whether or not you believe it does or not. Platinum has a value on a 3rd party market, and exists on parity to the 'pinned' price of platinum. Don't believe me? Go to player auctions, and look at any server, look at how much plat costs, and then go see how much a Krono costs in-game plat. You'll find the number, when converted to USD, is almost universal.

pinned price of krono, sorry.

The black market exists as well. You can buy drugs, slaves, weapons and whatever else people are willing to sell. And by your definition, the price on those 'commodities' is fluid and has a real world cash value as well.

However, that analogy would be a little to much to the krono market. Still, the third party sites are irrelevant when talking about the krono. It doesn't matter what it's resale value is. At the end of the day, it's worth whatever DBG's decides to sell it for. And in all honesty, if DBG's ever decided to crack down on these third party sites, it would be very easy considering it is their intellectual property because technically, they own it all.

You may not sell, attempt to sell, purchase, attempt to purchase, auction or facilitate the purchase, sale or auction of any accounts, items, coin or copyrighted material relating to the Games

I agree they would be irrelevant if DBG/SoE/Verant had ever taken action to actually shut the black market down on EQ goods. The fact that this game has been out 17 years and the 'illegal' market still exists and does quite a bit of business (cue the mage bot armies) makes it a pretty integral part of the economy and not really removable from the equation. Platinum (and I believe, a long time ago, Norrath was actually rated one of the top 77 world economies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/1899420.stm) does have an exchange rate, whether or not you want to believe it does. The really sad part is is that DBGs 'legal' way of exchanging USD for in-game platinum comes at about a 50% valuation tax compared to the secondary market.

Sad why? Because the premium for doing it the legal way is not higher? Or not lower?

I've noticed, you keep using this phrase almost like as if you're trying to convince yourself. Not attacking your position on this. But just a friendly observation is all.

Though perhaps my view is more black and white than most on the subject. Still, I would not blame DBGs for something they have no control over, unlike yourself and a good many people seem to do.

And I can only theorize why they have not done anything about it. Two ideas immediately come to mind.

One: The litigation costs to bear a lawsuit down on some of the more infamous of third party sites would of been far to costly for a game that (As in past tense) was barely able to stay out of the red.

Two: When the Krono was introduced, it was (At the time) a way for DBG's to get a cut of that market (This even includes the Heroic Characters to try to get a cut of the power leveling services). The back alley dealings have been running rampant for years (See point one), so it's only logical that doing something like this would help boost income. (Heck, even Blizzard got in on that game).

The unfortunate side effect of this is, it was easily exploitable. Far to many people are willing to screw over DBG's in favor of greed. So to say this was DBG's fault is like blaming the caged canary for being eaten by the cat.

This is where my polarized view comes into play; At this particular point in time, most of the (And I could even say illegal (According to the US laws of IP)) third party trades is consolidated in a single place. EverQuest is becoming popular once again and is in the news more often. There is a point where somebody is going to take notice of this and the market will bottom out once legal action is taken.

For some interesting reading, I highly suggest reading a couple of well written essays (Found on Google) titled: The Pitfalls of Virtual Property and Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier.

http://mud.co.uk/richard/povp.pdf
http://www.etchouse.com/mcma510/readings/castronova-2001.pdf

In reference to the original poster, I can agree to a good many of the points made. A shame to see you go because of the ignorant and greedy few that ruins the game for so many others.

If you actually believe this you are delusional. Third party sites play a large role on the economy and to say it would be very easy to shut down is hilarious.

how many drugs can i buy 4 a krono

yeah, other games have found ways to maintain a currency conversion method that is player driven but doesn't result in tradeable objects that can form a secondary market that undercuts the original.

The fact is, if I want a Krono today, I can get it for about 1/2 of what DBG wants for them freshly minted. Furthermore, Krono prices in game are tightly pegged to the secondary market instead of DBGs marketplace (meaning that 1 Krono = 4k = $2/1kpp in 3rd party = $8 per Krono versus 1 Krono = 8k = $2k/1kpp = $16 per Krono).

In the end, I enjoy Krono. i get to keep my currency in a pegged version that resists inflation. I made over 200 of them doing pottery and JC during Ragefire launch, and am effectively set for the rest of my EQ career. If they didn't exist, I would have had several hundred thousand plat on Ragefire that is now effectively worthless

RMT purchases are risky because they violate the rules and you might get scammed. Also many (most?) people consider it unethical and don't even want to associate with that element. And of course are not offered by a simple button click in game which is linked to your stored CC info. All this means it makes perfect sense that a RMT purchase of krono is a lot cheaper than a legit purchase of the same thing.

The sums are also pretty tiny anyway, it's all just a sideshow. Personally I think the real problem is the in-game behavior it causes and their unwillingness to police it. But I do agree that any change that leads to the system being more profitable for Daybreak at the expense of RMT'ers (without going too far in the pay-to-win direction, obviously) would be a positive thing.

every thread i see you post in you complain about open world raid mobs...they aren't going to remove them from the zones that have had them for 17 years so find something else to complain about already. that is technically cross-thread posting so when an admin sees it there should be a punishment enforced.

Lol I doubt many people find it unethical. Is it unethical to purchase an iphone from ebay rather than apple?

I agree with you BUT ..

now we have items permanently being sold only for ridiculous numbers of krono ... and krono with PP ..

I have seen many people selling items for as much as 35 krono with is just insane and really does break the trade in the game

Maybe you just weren't aware of the RMT market that existed back in the glory days of EQ. Maybe the fact that krono now exists just makes it more obvious to you. But I promise you items were being permanently sold back in the glory days as well, and for hundreds of dollars. Occasionally more.

I know all about it .. I played up to vellious and then stopped playing the game ..

BUT all the did with kronos was legitimatize the poor balance of trade ..

ADD to that the fact that EVERYONE on TLP servers is again paying to play (which was the main reasoning behind krono in the first place as the game had NO income for the servers as a rule prior) makes them a difficult thing to balance out..

on the earlier xpacs there are a lot few items that are worthy of the costs creating and incredibly small market for farmers and exploiters ..

THEN you add to it the number of players that farm krono on say lock jaw or ragefire with their mage armies then cross over to Phinny and force the prices down so they can buy a lot more at an incredibly smaller amount of pp ..

I dodn't think there is a real "fix" for the issue and yet the issue exists and there is NO point in trying to turn a blind eye to it unless YOU were one of those players who is now in the power levels and who can play these games with the economy of a very closed economic system

There is literally no difference in a CoF selling for 100k, or 25 krono if Krono is worth 4k each. What is the problem here? Because your platinum is being expressed in a form of alternate currency? Would you be shocked to know that if you go to Belize from the US, everything is twice as expensive in local currency - but only because the Belize dollar is pegged 2:1 to the US dollar?

If there wasn't an active exchange rate between Kronolatinum, I would agree with you. I just don't understand how people don't get this. USD has an exchange rate to Krono. Krono has an exchange rate to platinum. Platinum has an exchange rate to USD. They are literally the same thing, except Krono has an alternate purpose -- game time, which, /SHOCKER/ - has an exchange rate to USD.

On a new TLP when a rare item like a COF goes up for sale early on. No one has 100k in platinum and won't for quite some time. But a host of people will have tons of krono they have transferred to a new server thus creating a "alien" wealth to a new server that someone looking to "RMT" for lack of a better term is trying to sell to.

I love krono now don't get me wrong, nothing like starting on a new TLP knowing I'll never need to farm in order to purchase any item since I brought a ton of wealth from RF & LJ.

It's just another way to abuse a new economy with relative ease from an outside source especially on a new server with a new economy.

yeah but if it's pegged to krono, and krono is only 500pp, then 25 krono is only 12.5k (early server).

It's still just a rate. All platinum on the server originates on the server. Previously you could have taken money on another server, sold it for USD, then bought platinum on a new server with that same USD, and accomplished the exact same thing.

I agree that the relative ease part is what defines krono. I don't have to go through a 3rd party site to transfer wealth, since Krono is cross-platform/server. It was still possible, though.

I enjoy playing the krono market on these new TLP now. Nothing like starting with a huge advantage from the get go. Silly to let them on a new server with no limits from the start.

He thinks that if he mentions it often enough they will do it.