Originally by: Schmooples F'Skilex

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So, with the addition of Aurum, the values attached to a PLEX will be cash, ISK, game time, and Aurum. What happens if you attach a new value to a commodity? The price goes up. A real-life comparison is corn. When corn became widely used for biofuel, the cost of corn went up. This had numerous effects on the world economy. Corn became more expensive for the poor in third-world countries. The opportunity cost of planting corn versus other crops had tens of thousands of acres of farmland already planted across the world being burned to replant corn.

So how does what happened to corn relate to Eve? With people converting PLEX to Aurum to trade on the new clothes market, less PLEX will be available for players to use for game time, which will drive up the cost. Those who must use ISK to pay for the game (poorer Eve players, or those unable to financially interact with CCP due to their countriesÆ fiscal policies or situations) won't be able to afford the new prices without increased effort. Some will just call it quits simply because they canÆt afford to invest the time required, which will negatively impact subscription numbers. Less people playing the game could mean a decreased revenue stream for CCP, which means have a larger impact on the Eve world.

TL;DR : So what does all this mean? Simply put, tying Aurum to PLEX will increase the value of PLEX, driving up its market cost. Higher costs will mean less people able to afford to use PLEX to play the game, which will decrease total subscription numbers. Decreased subscriptions will reduce the ability of CCP to add new content to the game. These are bad things. : TL;DR

What would I prefer? A simple cash shop for avatar items. Buy Aurum with RL money, buy items with Aurum. Make the items non-destructible, so people are more willing to spend the Aurum. I know I would (I would also love to buy a plushie Dominix, just saying). Have premium items on the cash shop, have other avatar items available to be produced by players or drop from NPCs. Non-premium items could be traded on the market for ISK. This would give CCP a direct revenue stream from the cash shop, leave PLEX prices subject to only the market valuations they go through now, and give players multiple options for making themselves look good in game. Just my 2 ISK.

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