At the age of thirteen, I’ve been
playing video games for the majority of the spare time that I have. When we
talk about gold farming in class, I realized that there were a lot of opinions
on spending and trading time for internet points. I think that video games
teaches us a lot of about money and economy at an early age, without us
actually knowing what we’re doing-except for the desire to gain and be the
best. The first game that I play that relies on the cash shop was Flyff; a MMO
that essential was a grind race to get to the top level. The grind was
extremely long and boring, and at certain point, it would take hours to days to
just gain a level. In the cash shop, there are items that help you gain
experience faster and also dress outfit. People who play the game have an
incentive to buy these outfits because it makes them look different than other
players. So for some people, video game is also about individuality.
In Flyff, people can also choose to sell these
cash shop items to other players. Since you cannot buy gears from the cash
shop, most people use the currency (penya) to buy the item from the players who
have obtained the loot. For some people that means just buying progression from
the game rather than spending the time, whole for some it is trading their time
for monetary values. This is still a practice that is popular in many MMO
companies today, especially in Asian country that relies on the virtual market.
In the U.S the dissatisfaction of the cash shop system is made apparent buy
consumers. If the game has a cash shop factor that heavily influence the game,
it is consider a fault. Most people including myself, feel that it is unfair
for people to be able to simply buy game progression with money, something that
destroy the game’s economy and content value. Another example is the new
released Diablo III in 2012. The game was highly hyped on the launch day and
included an auction house and a real money auction house. However, with the
presence of the auction house, many people felt that it was futile to actually play
the game and grind for good gears when you can just go to the auction house and
buy them which lead to the announcement of auction house shut down one year later. For many games like this, some players have earned a sizable income
monthly by simply playing video game.
Currently, major game companies
have improved their MMO principles. Cash shops are now implemented for aesthetical purposes such as outfit, dyes, skins, mount and etc. These items don’t affect
the game’s content as much and still net income. Another approach by not having
a cash shop is to have a monthly subscription fee. These fees are monthly and a
way to isolate spammers and gold sellers from ruining the game. Some of the
games that I play falls under two categories: free to play content with
aesthetic cash currency (such as League of Legends), and monthly subscription
based (Final Fantasy: ARR). I think that video games teach the players a lot
about economy at a young age. When I was in middle school and high school, I
did not receive any education on economic principles: I felt that by playing
games online, I can truly be successful in my own world. Games can teach the
consumers a lot about real world values that are not in everyday school
teaching curriculum.
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