I didn't believe it but it's true...

[avevale_intelligencer]

People are selling EVE Online money on Ebay.

You send them real money--I've seen up to a hundred quid quoted--and in return they send you Monopoly money (in vast quantities, true, but a hundred million nothings is still nothing).

James Branch Cabell was right, and Nyronds are truly redundant.

Comments

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see the logic, as far as it goes. We pay other people to do work for us, why not pay them to play games for us as well?

I just see very little difference between that and printing off a bunch of Anatolian zlotniks and setting up a stall in the High Street...

The story sounds interesting. Do you have a link?

[bardiclug.livejournal.com]

To me it's really a symptom of the failure of online game to actually realize the player-based economy that works. Often, gamers find themselves frustrated that they can't progress in the game, due to the lack of funds, and there seems to be no presented gameplay method for resolving the issue. Other people figure out the loopholes in the game play, and have the time to either sit and farm away, or have the specific tradeskill whatsit that everyone will pay for.

Secondly, it's a symptom of a "gear based" progression. Now, I'm not sure if EveOnline is gear based (as I've never played it) but I suspect that if there's money, there's stuff to buy.

Anyway, just my opinion. It's often less frustrating for a player to part with some cash than it is to try to run around and find loopholes in a game in order for them to be successful. The alternative is to stop playing, which is also a good choice, but many players would rather pay someone else for their time, get the cash they need, then play the game on their own terms.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Paying people to play games for you has been around for centuries -- what else is professional football and other sports? The difference with this is that after someone else has got the points / tokens / money you need you then take over and play it yourself. I don't have the time to play games (I don't have enough time to do the other things I want to do), but if I did I wouldn't want to spend a year or whatever working up to the point where I could do something interesting if I could cut that out with cash..

[armb.livejournal.com]

You can buy muscle by taking steroids instead of training for years. You can buy better oxygen capacity by paying someone to extract some of your blood and reinject it immediately before a competition instead of training at altitude for years.
(Sports like F1 racing allow/require you to spend money on performance in different ways, but not as a shortcut for doing things the legal way.)

[armb.livejournal.com]

> Do you have a link
I meant to say "and I can't remember where now", but if I do, I'll put a link here.

Aha - http://www.boingboing.net/2004/11/14/corys_latest_short_s.html was probably where I saw the link, http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/11/15/andas_game/index_np.html is the story.

[armb.livejournal.com]

And here's life imitating art, or something.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/006536.html#006536