This was demonstrated when, in a message board entry prefaced by stating “Sell Equipment before Patch 1.0.5 Hits!” (a patch is a piece of software added to an operational program or application as bugs are found, changes desired, or ways of improving performance discovered), a player warned that,
Blizzard just announced that the drop rates for [certain] items are going to be doubled … if you haven’t already, you should consider converting your current gear to cash … since real $ [are] the best hedge against gold devaluation.
If historical cases of hyperinflation — real, and now virtual — have one thing in common, it is the instinct among its victims to blame the symptoms rather than the disease. The Austrian economist Hans Sennholz noted that during the German hyperinflation, “intrigue and artifice” were believed to be at work. Similarly, a handful of Diablo 3 players, frustrated about the decimation of their purchasing power, expressed increasing suspicion of manipulation and conspiracy theories.
Why are certain items priced so astronomically high? Many of them are not even that good yet cost 100’s of millions of gold. … I have about 45,000,000 gold saved up [and] check every few days to see if I can get any upgrades that are worth the gold, but … everything is vastly overpriced … clearly controlled by the gold sellers.
This, however, is not the first time hyperinflation has struck Blizzards virtual worlds. A few years back their now iconic game World of Warcraft was truck by a similar economic melt-down, when trade moved out of the game, and on to Craigslist and E-Bay. Gamers were selling their loot and gear to the highest bidder offline, and then simply handing these extremely sough after and costly items to its new owner online. However, an in-game mechanic forces a player who trades an item to give something in return, be it another item or other tender. Since the real trade already had been executed offline this was simply a facade, and the meant-to-be super expensive sword was traded for an shabby copper coin.
The virtual money lost all its value, prices on in-game items skyrocketed, and the hyperinflation was a fact. Blizzard had to close down servers, migrate players, and sanitize the entire economical system. Its funny to me how instances of the economy that we are trying our hardest avoid in real life, apparently cannot be circumvented not even i worlds we fully control.
The virtual money lost all its value, prices on in-game items skyrocketed, and the hyperinflation was a fact. Blizzard had to close down servers, migrate players, and sanitize the entire economical system. Its funny to me how instances of the economy that we are trying our hardest avoid in real life, apparently cannot be circumvented not even i worlds we fully control.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar