Worlds in Motion - “Learning to Love Virtual Item Sales”
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Presented by Andrew Schneider of Live Gamer and Steve Goldstein of Ping0.
Why is there demand for black market goods? Many do not have time to play so they outsource, they have more disposable income to spend, etc.
Current analyst estimate that $1.8B+ is on the secondary market for virtual goods. IGE stated nearly $1B in gross transactions in 2005. ItemBay and ItemMania accounted for $974B in gross transaction volume in 2006. Economist projections are $5B in gross transactions by 2012.
Sony created the Station Exchange for EverQuest II as a sanctioned service to try to curb black market exchange. They found that majority of people paying real money for virtual items are not farmers looking to make a quick buck. Legitimate exchange promoted sense of ownership and reduced customer service issues by 40%. Interestingly, there was negligible impact on game balance.
A legitimate secondary market must only facilitate trading with publisher/developer consent, be safe and secure for players, and not support farmers. Panelists are discussing the Bragg vs. Linden Lab case and strongly recommending not giving ownership to players of their content.
