11-25-2005, 12:36 PM
Farmers hasten a pre-existing and seemingly inevitable problem inherent to mmorpgs: Oversupply. It happens, gold farming or not, items will be devalued from the sheer number of people farming them. Inflation skyrockets with the sheer number of people and buying power bidding on scarce resources. Yes, gold farming makes it worse, but its really the underbelly of a bigger problem that anyone with experience with these games (mmorpgs, diablo 2, everquest, UO, etc) should see coming from miles away.
While I don't like ebay gold farming, I realize its a mmorpg with few steady money sinks (repair, reagents, ammo and alchemy are the only ones I can spot off the bat, and alchemy's optional). Whether you have farmers for gold, or farmers for epic mounts, there's a lot of people out there competing for the same resources. Gold farmers do not require morals and seem less, communicable, and accountable. That is a problem, but the underlying system is a bigger one. High populations with high supplies will devalue your individual gold and items, and make certain things easier to obtain to an extent.
Farmers, however despicable in their methods, are a symptom of a bigger problem. I see many of the complaints made against farming as inevitable.
Demand for older gear is limited by the rate of incoming new toons. You'll have an oversupply whether from older toons, or farmers. Inflation will occur for the rarer gear by the richer older toons. Do I blame farmers for this? Nope, it'd happen whether they existed or not. They're an easy scapegoat for WoW's economical problem, especially since many are foreigners. Hate for farmers tends to bleed into racism. I don't like either forms of hate, especially when they're the symptom, not the disease.
Inflation for the rarer items, overly abundant item prices actually drop due to oversupply. Still, this is what happens in a high-pop traditional mmorpg with or without farmers. Someone else will mine "your" RTV, grind on "your" monsters, and generally deny you access from certain items, while oversupplying on other items.
While I don't like ebay gold farming, I realize its a mmorpg with few steady money sinks (repair, reagents, ammo and alchemy are the only ones I can spot off the bat, and alchemy's optional). Whether you have farmers for gold, or farmers for epic mounts, there's a lot of people out there competing for the same resources. Gold farmers do not require morals and seem less, communicable, and accountable. That is a problem, but the underlying system is a bigger one. High populations with high supplies will devalue your individual gold and items, and make certain things easier to obtain to an extent.
Farmers, however despicable in their methods, are a symptom of a bigger problem. I see many of the complaints made against farming as inevitable.
Quote:This happens in every MMO that has a level cap. Once the majority of players have a maxed out toon any product that is desirable to high levels has a value relative to its rarity is essentially the same as how long it takes to obtain.
Demand for older gear is limited by the rate of incoming new toons. You'll have an oversupply whether from older toons, or farmers. Inflation will occur for the rarer gear by the richer older toons. Do I blame farmers for this? Nope, it'd happen whether they existed or not. They're an easy scapegoat for WoW's economical problem, especially since many are foreigners. Hate for farmers tends to bleed into racism. I don't like either forms of hate, especially when they're the symptom, not the disease.
Quote:Big woopity-de-doo, everybody's got oneInevitable. End game raids are on 'farm' status by many guilds too. Once the challenge threshold has been crossed, there is no return.
Quote:economy inflation continues because of the money generation of farmers
Inflation for the rarer items, overly abundant item prices actually drop due to oversupply. Still, this is what happens in a high-pop traditional mmorpg with or without farmers. Someone else will mine "your" RTV, grind on "your" monsters, and generally deny you access from certain items, while oversupplying on other items.