Walayden Obsidia
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Posted - 2010.07.09 20:04:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Astria Tiphareth
Originally by: Jagga Spikes
note that PLEX neither has real money value attached. you can't legally sell PLEX for money, same way you can't legally sell non-PLEX items for money. same way, their ISK value is what players are willing to pay.
You're not wrong, but this is what I meant about perception. It's impossible to argue that one position is right and the other is wrong, because what we're dealing with is the intangible 'what is this worth?'.
The PLEX was worth something in real currency at one point. The same cannot be said for any virtual made items on the server. It thus has an associated value, in the same way that today $1 has an associated value of 66 UK pence. Nobody defined that except as the collective perception of a lot of people trading it.
Bear in mind that currency is effectively a sophisticated barter system, and the idea that somewhere along the lines the barter is allowed to become 'and you give me that, and I'll give you nothing' doesn't fit that well. In the real world, done directly between two individuals who agreed something different, that is called fraud - so I can understand and empathise with those attaching real monetary value to PLEXes and expressing some concern.
Your last paragraph doesn't present a good example, because the trade isn't "you give me that, and I'll give you nothing." It is "you give me that, and I'll give you this, and you have the ability to risk destroying it, at your discretion". It's like when you order a burger, then after the burger is delivered to you, you accidentally drop it in a toilet. The fact that you can no longer use what you bought does not change the fact that what you bought, was in fact delivered to you.
When someone buys a G/ETC, the purchase agreement is that for the buyer's money, the seller gives someone the right to play the game for another month. The seller then voluntarily converts this "right to play" IRL into a commodity in-game. When the buyer does this, they accept that they are giving up their "right to play for a month" and getting in return an in-game item that the player base has now been informed can be destroyed. Because the player base knows everything they need to know, in order to make a rational decision, CCP is not responsible for the ramifications of the decision the player makes.
Consider this analogy: You are in my house, and I tell you "if you sit on my couch, there is a chance that I'll slap you across the face", and you agree to these terms, and then sit on my couch, you have no basis for complaint if I do, in fact, slap you in the face.
Or this one: You buy a physical GTC and then throw it into a container that you know could contain a substance that would destroy it. If the card does in fact get destroyed, you have no basis for complaint.
Because every action regarding G/ETC's and PLEX's are entirely voluntary on the part of the buyer/player, and the buyer/player has complete information, there is no basis for anyone to complain.
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