A consistent theme I see on various game forums is the issue of prices on goods listed on the Auction House. Mainly, how expensive and inflated the game economy is at any given moment. I'm not without some sympathy for this minor problem.
When setting up in any mmorpg, there is a getting settled, learning curve to get over. One of those bigger learning curves is learning the game economy. I always go through a period where it seems I never have enough game money. Eventually, after going through growing pains, I take a look at the auction house. Especially how it handles pricing on items related to my game profession. Then my money problems are solved.
This doesn't take long to learn. It just takes a bit of patience. So that is why I'm baffled when other gamers cry poor church mouse and demand that price controls be instituted. I'm no monetary genius. I'm not sitting in front of my computer with a million Excel spreadsheets open on my monitor tracking the game economy. Believe me, most games aren't EVE Online. However even the time I spent in EO, I made enough money to purchase ship insurance and buy upgrades.
Game economies are simple to understand. They are basic commerce in action. Which is why economists love to study them. All any gamer has to know in regards to any game AH is this simple, Ben Franklin idea:
Time is Money
Or as Karl Marx in Das Kapital states:
Commodity - Money - Commodity
What you see on any game AH is a collection of goods related to game professions. Some of these goods have already been valorized and can be purchased as a useful item such as a weapon, armor or tool. The game auction house is also chockful of luxury items such as game pets, housing decorations or cosmetic costumes. All of these items will be priced accordingly to how hard it is to gather the items or how rare they are inside the game. The more rare the more expensive in game money.
One of the topsy, turvy results in game economies is that frequently crafted items are considerably cheaper than the basic items used to make them. I believe this is related to the leveling nature of these professions. Most gamers are so intent on leveling these professions in order to access the rare, more expensive recipes that the basic recipes used for leveling are cheap. Since the focus is on gaining experience in professions, the basic ingredients of any profession hold more value than the basic goods produced. That is why you will see a gathered items such as wood, metal or leather costing more in a game's AH then an item made from those materials.
Once you understand this basic underpinning of any game AH, you will make money. So just go out and gather those basic ingredients. Most gamers will like large stacks of items. Hence a stack of 20 or more logs of wood, or metal pieces will sell faster than just small odd numbers.
Now many of the complaints against the pricing of profession ingredients is that they are inflated. The complainers state that these gathered items are available all over, so they shouldn't sell for much on the AH. But they fail to understand is that they are paying a markup for the seller's time. Anything listed on a game's AH required the potential seller to take time out of his/her game to gather said items. Or they required the seller to run a difficult dungeon which also cost them time as well as game fees to fix armor etc. Now the argument that these items are ubiquitous is true. So that is all the more reason to go out and do some gathering. But since these gamers do not want to spend the time to do so and search for convenience instead, I don't understand why they complain about paying for those services.
Another complaint is that AH sellers are taking advantage of other players by monopolistic, gouging policies. This is just ridiculous. The majority of people just do what I do, check the going price for items on the AH and price accordingly. We aren't tracking the game economy with a stock market like add on. Not to say there aren't gamers out there who aren't doing that. They are, but their effect on the game economy is rather miniscule. They may cause inflation of one item or another for a short time but not so much it hurts the game. And if it turns into something truly abusive, the GMs look into it. Believe me, the smarter players quick in exploiting arbitrage opportunities are gone in a flash. The people caught in price bubbles are the fools who were pulled into the Arbitrageur's wake.
A game's AH is a pure, voluntary experience. No one is forcing any player into using it. For those who think the AH is a fool's paradise, they sell direct on the trade channel. In essence running a black market. But unless a player knows the prices on the AH, they won't know if they are getting good deals or over paying. Instituting price controls on AH will do nothing to stop what is conceived as inflation. People will move to where they can make money. If it can't be for basic gathered items, it will be for something else. You can't stop people from assigning value to game items. Its the nature of the beast.
So how do you make enough money to make a decent living for your game toon in any game?
Sell stacks of copper, silver, gold or any other mining metal. In all the games I've played, I've noticed that the mining based professions were always the most popular and consequently their basic ingredients all commanded a nice amount of game money. I guarantee that if you sell the basic materials for mining, within a week or two, you will have enough game money to keep the wolf away from the door for your game character.
Simple, no? Which is why I don't understand all these complaints from gamers who cry that they have no game money or can't afford anything on a game's AH. I suspect most of them are really trying to experiment with whatever monetary philosophy they hold dear at the moment. They complain so much about being at the mercy of AH sellers that they don't see the policies they want (such as convoluted Player market stalls or price controls) as being equally controlling.
Luckily most games keep the Auction House going with little interference from players personal economic opinions.
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