There's an understandable problem with selling game currency in subscription games, where it's generally considered verboten for good reason. While some subscription games will sell you things in addition to the monthly fee, there's a general sense that you should earn your advantages. But in free-to-play games that have a cash shop allowing players to purchase items directly... well, the very idea of gold selling seems kind of silly. But it can happen, and Runes of Magic has experienced a bit of a problem of late with the trade of Diamonds (their cash shop currency) for gold.
The game has traditionally treated the currencies as interchangeable insofar as players with lots of Diamonds and not enough gold could sell their excess to other players. Unfortunately, the current spate of RMT activities have called for draconian measures: they've taken away the ability to trade Diamonds for gold. They've also temporarily removed the ability to send gold through the mail. The official announcement stresses that this is a temporary measure to combat unacceptable behavior. While less gold spam is a good thing, fewer features are a negative, so this new is a mixed bag for Runes of Magic players.
Reader Comments (11)
Posted: Apr 20th 2010 10:22PM whateveryousay said
My guess is that they will permanently discontinue the ability to trade diamonds in game and only allow the trading of the actual cash shop items themselves in the future. It's unfortunate but it is the way most of these games go.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 12:21AM Dogorox said
Um... ok. Could ya maybe explain what problem is being created by this type of trading? I don't play RoM.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 12:47AM (Unverified) said
We players aren't really sure either. If I were to guess, I'd assume that "money laundering" is making it harder for the staff to track down sellers and buyers to determine exactly which accounts are violators.
Unfortunately, Frogster seems to have become overwhelmed and backlogged by the most recent few patches/maintenance cycles while also preparing for the first installment of Chapter 3 later this week. Their communication on recent issues hasn't been so hot.
Interestingly, the recent trend (in the past couple weeks, perhaps) of world-chat and targeted-whisper spam suddenly vanished today.
Reply
Unfortunately, Frogster seems to have become overwhelmed and backlogged by the most recent few patches/maintenance cycles while also preparing for the first installment of Chapter 3 later this week. Their communication on recent issues hasn't been so hot.
Interestingly, the recent trend (in the past couple weeks, perhaps) of world-chat and targeted-whisper spam suddenly vanished today.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 12:57AM (Unverified) said
best
best
best
best
best
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 12:58AM (Unverified) said
I feel diamonds sold on the player market end up overpriced anyway.. I suppose it's nice to have that option, though.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 1:12AM Graill440 said
As i have stated about this and similar things its a very easy fix the devs have no balls to make permanent, gold or any other currency is bind on aquire, this goes for one account or twenty owned by the same individual. Items that are crafted can be put on an AH and sold once, meaning when someone buys it, that item is bind on aquire. Problems solved all around.
This has nothing to do with choice and can oly help the economy, besides i dont give my money away in the real world, why would i trade it off ingame? Guilds will have some heartburn over this but the mechanic can be easily adapted if the devs have half a brain.
Devs, you know how to fix gold sellers and rmt trading when it dents your own pocket books, grab your nuts and fix it.
This has nothing to do with choice and can oly help the economy, besides i dont give my money away in the real world, why would i trade it off ingame? Guilds will have some heartburn over this but the mechanic can be easily adapted if the devs have half a brain.
Devs, you know how to fix gold sellers and rmt trading when it dents your own pocket books, grab your nuts and fix it.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 9:14AM (Unverified) said
Graill, this would in no way fix the problem. All it would do is aggravate the playerbase. If you wanted to get gold from a goldseller who you just bought from, all you would have to do is put 1 herb on the AH for 100,000g and when they buy it, you get your gold.
To others, the problem with diamonds is that the goldsellers buy the diamonds, sell them on the AH for tons of gold, then sell the gold for more than they paid for the diamonds. It is like the easiest farming ever for them.
Reply
To others, the problem with diamonds is that the goldsellers buy the diamonds, sell them on the AH for tons of gold, then sell the gold for more than they paid for the diamonds. It is like the easiest farming ever for them.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 9:23AM (Unverified) said
Oh, and don't forget that for these goldsellers who sell diamonds on the AH, it is in their best interests to inflate the gold price for diamonds as well, so that when they do sell them (and believe me, they do sell them), they will get more gold, thus make more cash when they sell that gold.
Reply
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 9:11AM SkyStreak said
City of Heroes: The Freedom Phalanx will come out in 2012 for Xbox 360. It won't be an MMO, but a Marvel Ultimate Alliance style action RPG that will have a similar user interface to CoH. The game will feature the signature heroes and villains featured in CoH.
City of Heroes 2: World of Heroes will come out in 2014 for the 10 year anniversary of the original game going live. It will feature a total engine overhaul, 3D graphics upgrade, and will also allow for importing of CoH1 characters and Veteran Rewards over tot he new game.
City of Heroes 2: World of Heroes will come out in 2014 for the 10 year anniversary of the original game going live. It will feature a total engine overhaul, 3D graphics upgrade, and will also allow for importing of CoH1 characters and Veteran Rewards over tot he new game.
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 10:04AM (Unverified) said
Perhaps a worthwhile experiment would be to make an MMO that doesn't have an economy. Maybe just focus on the politics (Between players and guilds), persistent world, amusing quests and PvP? Make gear cosmetic, but let everyone have access to all the gear at any time.
Finance it by making selling early access to new content once a month. A new battleground is out, but you have to pay 10 bucks to get in, sort of like how DDO does it.
I think it could work.
-SirNiko
Finance it by making selling early access to new content once a month. A new battleground is out, but you have to pay 10 bucks to get in, sort of like how DDO does it.
I think it could work.
-SirNiko
Posted: Apr 21st 2010 3:41PM HuBu said
RoM and FA need a better mean of scanning the accounts being created to spam gold. They also should give certain players (upon approval) the power to ban bots and spammers.









