In-game cryptocurrencies that can be exchanged for real money.

In Game Currency To Real Money Transfer
In Game Currency To Real Money Value
Online Currency Games

The best MMORPG to Make Real Money with Crafting are the ones that feature only legit and official ways to earn real money. All of these projects provide an opportunity to create items and trade or exchange them for receiving some kind value: it can be in-game currency or real money. Gaming & Currency: The Role of In-Game Currency as it Applies to Different Genres. Game currency in MMOs can be a tricky thing. With conventional MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Warframe, currency is a game-changer as gold farming plays a role in the dynamics of the game's economy.

First, Linden Lab is banning gacha mechanics in Second Life. I’m slightly embarrassed that my first reaction to this news was “There’s gacha in Second Life?” I’ve known for ages that people could make and sell content and services in that game, but I frankly haven’t thought about Second Life since before the lootbox controversies and so it simply never occurred to me that users would be using gacha mechanics there. Once mentioned, though, it’s totally obvious that it would happen.

But what’s interesting to me about this is that the announcement specifically says this move is because of “a changing regulatory climate”. I’m not aware of recent changes to regulations around gacha, so I’d love to know more about what prompted this action and what the discussions around the “difficult decision” were like.

It’s worth noting that we have gacha in real life and have for a long time. There are the physical capsule/gashapon machines from which the mechanic get its name, and also things like blind-boxes and CCGs. Why aren’t these seen as just as problematic and exploitative? Why isn’t there a “changing regulatory climate” around these?

I think that it’s mostly because the physicality of the product creates a secondary market. If you like buying a surprise, you can buy through gacha; if instead there’s a specific item you want (either because you only like some of the items in the set or because you’re looking to complete a collection) you can buy from someone who already found that specific one. And if you buy a bunch through gacha and decide you don’t want to keep everything, you can recoup your expenses by reselling your duplicates or undesirables to someone who does want those specific ones. Heck, you could plausibly buy a bunch of gacha, decide you don’t want any of them, and sell them all for a profit.

This flexibility makes the entire system less exploitative. Resalability both makes gacha-purchases more valuable and prevents anyone from being “forced” into gacha and potentially-bottomless spending to get the specific thing they want.

I would argue that what makes gacha a problem in video games (game design considerations aside) is lack of resalability. This is what makes it a money hole that takes more money from consumers while providing less value in return - other cheaper options are removed for users trying to get specific things and users have no way to get any portion of their money back after spending.

I have never played Second Life, but my understanding is that the in-game currency can be easily exchanged with real-world currency via an external market and that user-created goods are resalable - indeed, Linden Lab’s announcement refers to the ability to re-sell items that had been purchased through gacha and indicates this remains intact. So that means that gacha within Second Life does, in fact, have a secondary market and thus avoids the pitfalls and exploitations of non-resalable in-game gacha.

I previously wrote that “it’s very hard to write a law that prevents evil loot boxes while not preventing similar things that aren’t evil.' If Second Life has to remove gacha mechanics because of regulations written to stop abuses by companies like EA, I think that counts as an example of this kind of failure mode.

The second news item that struck me today is that Chinese conglomerate Tencent will be curbing time and money spent in games by minors after Chinese state media called online games “spirital opium”.

Maybe you think that specific plan is a good thing and maybe you don’t, but what’s interesting to me about this is that I’ve been watching Tencent somewhat nervously as they gobble up ownership stakes in a number of international game companies, many of which have huge audiences. It’s hard to tell yet what the effects of this will be, but I can’t help but read it as a bit of a harbinger. It seems likely that Chinese state views on gaming and the Chinese “regulatory environment” are going to have an effect on a lot of popular games developed outside China and played worldwide, for better or worse.

The virtual economy is booming.

There’s no better proof than Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) and mobile games. They represent burgeoning virtual economies brimming with lucrative potential.

More and more gamers exchange virtual goods in-game. Some do it to supercharge their progress and others are after profit (real money).

Game companies have taken notice and refined their monetization strategies.

They turned free-to-play titles into cash-generating machines. Valuable property can be any virtual resource, from player avatars to weapons. Gamers are more than willing to substitute real money and time for these items.

Here are some of the most prominent digital ecosystems to this date.

1. Linden Dollars (Second Life)

Life simulation games have ventured further than any other genre did.

Take the example of Second Life, which allows players to do pretty much anything they want. The game also bridged the gap between real and virtual economy. Namely, players can generate Linden Dollars (L$) by completing tasks and jobs.

It’s also possible to trade real money for them.

The game is unique for embracing laissez-faire policy toward currency transactions on third-party websites. It even recognized the intellectual property rights of in-game assets. The result is one of the most player-centric virtual economies ever to emerge.

2. Interstellar Credits (EVE Online)

Interstellar Credits (ISK) are the economic bloodstream of EVE Online.

They differ from L$, as they aren’t freely convertible to real currencies. One can only use cash to buy certain items from non-player characters (NPCs).

The reverse process doesn’t work. This means you can resell possessions within the EVE economy, but only for L$.

Another interesting feature is none of the resources are finite in amount. Laws of supply and demand apply to their full extent. This level playing field gave rise to market manipulation and confidence schemes.

CCP Games was even forced to hire a real economist to monitor in-game transactions.

3. Gold (World of Warcraft— WoW)

Gold is hands-down the most common of all virtual currencies.

The one from WoW still shines the brightest for many gamers. Blizzard’s megahit launched MMORPG into the mainstream and attracted swarms of devout gamers. At the peak of the gold rush, there were dozens of websites for purchasing the currency.

As years rolled by, the economy became more regulated. The powers-that-be imposed trade restrictions (for real cash purchases). Still, nothing would prevent black markets from popping up.

Blizzard could only hope to steer players away from them.

In Game Currency To Real Money Transfer

4. Gold (Runescape)

Before the WoW craze, there was a fantasy MMORPG called Runescape.

It was one of the first games to enable real-money trading between players. This level of virtual economy is known as the global secondary market.

In Game Currency To Real Money Value

For a time, its growth was unhinged, as there were no trade restrictions. Many individuals amassed wealth over the years via the method of gold farming.

Then, the game studio suddenly decided to start removing unbalanced trades. Many players protested and many of them unsubscribed for good. As for diehard fans, they continued to fill up their gold treasuries.

5. Project Entropia Dollar (Entropia Universe)

A space-themed MMO Entropia Universe has a highly-sophisticated economy.

Online Currency Games

It employs a micropayment business model. Project Entropia Dollar (PED) is the official game currency.