Quote Originally Posted by The_Jackal View Post
The fundamental problem with MMO economies is that they're not economies. Credits (or Gold) is a waste product from having fun, and players have no recurring expenses, and even in the event they did have recurring expenses, they can be met even with the most modest level of income imaginable. The MMO-poor aren't poor because of economic forces, they're poor because they're unbelievably lazy or incredible spendthrifts (or some combination of both).
Most of the MMO-poor I have encountered, literally have a fear of doing anything without the best possible gear on their person to go do it. So they spend money, every single level up, replacing any gear they can. At max level, these are usually the people who pay gold for raid gear, and they won't bother to raid to get that gear until they are as decked out as they can be with money.


Which is why making money in these systems is always trivial, why inflation is always ridiculously high, and why none of these games allow anything of real value to be bought with their 'money'. The real MMO economy is the one governing the reward schedule from weekly raiding, limiting the itemization gains possible by any given raid team over the course of a one month billing period. The MMO cash economy is just smoke and mirrors to make players feel affluent by raining cheap money from the skies.
There are very few purchases that have any meaning in an MMO, or at least purchases that use the in-game currency. That first mount/speeder? Tends to be significant. There are a few similar examples, but they are indeed few. Less now in that other MMO, what with the money sinks either greatly decreased or made all but trivial with increased income potential.