Using real-world money to buy in-game items or currency in an MMO (hey, buddy, how much you want for that armor?) is currently a much frowned-upon practice, but Turbine Entertainment's Jeffrey Steefel thinks that may not always be the case. Speaking to Eurogamer, Steefel said he thinks Sony's Station Exchange might just end up changing the current MMO business model:
Station Exchange is an auction house that allows* EverQuest II*
players to legally buy in-game assets from other players using real-world currency, with Sony Online moderating the entire process, keeping everything on the up-and-up. (I use the term "legally" a bit loosely here--though no actual law is broken, such purchases usually result in an account ban or suspension from the game.)
The debate over the secondary market, is a tricky one. On the one hand, if a player wants to spend his own money to shortcut the game, it's his cash, so why not? On the other hand, this creates the potential for a bunch of greedy asshats (gold farmers) to make the game suck for other players. I know you folks play some MMOs, where do you fall on this issue?
LOTR Online boss talks gold farming [Eurogamer]
