Teresa Wisemail
Runners High
IMPERIAL LEGI0N
2
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Posted - 2011.10.31 21:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
I would like to throw another variable into this discussion about the "cost of money" of isk.
CCP has made an agreement with Nexon (A MMO operator in Japan) so that Nexon will be providing billing and localization support to Japan-based players. The catch is that all players accessing from Japan will have to access EVE through Nexon's portal, and they will have to pay using "Nexon points" (Nexon's own virtual currency).
The concern I have here is that an entirely separate money supply governed by completely different rules may end up influencing isk's cost of money. One glaring problem is that Nexon points can be exchanged with other virtual commodities, and are not solely backed with cold hard cash. For example, a player in Nexon's other popular MMO "Maple Story" can sell in-game equipment for Nexon Points. I probably don't need to provide much more detail on how certain types of players will be very effective at racking up a lot of Nexon Points and potentially let that capital flow into the isk money supply. Perhaps CCP has already hedged against that risk, but I have not heard anything to that effect. All I am hearing (and official GM responses that have been received by Japanese players) is "don't worry." Famous last words, anyone?
Not only that, Nexon allows (well, they actually sell these rights) other advertisers the right to use Nexon Points as lures for their promotions, such as the common "sign up now and get 300 Nexon Points for free!." In fact, a very dedicated individual can go around a bunch of promotion sites, registering a bunch of throw-away e-mail addresses to create a bank of virtual currency, and convert those Nexon Points to whatever service provided by Nexon (including access to EVE-- I don't think it's confirmed whether people can directly buy PLEX with Nexon points).
Regardless of whether PLEX can or can not be bought with Nexon Points does not matter, because Nexon points can be gained without spending real money and without contributing to any economic activity within the EVE universe. I personally don't think there is any problem with players buying PLEX within EVE as they would have had to make ISK somehow through generating economic activity inside the sandbox. Nexon points, on the other hand, introduces an unknown factor in terms of economic activity that is external to EVE. How does CCP gain the benefit of that sort of external economic activity?
Perhaps someone who's smarter than myself can help me understand the business model here. It seems like CCP will just keep losing money (potentially) and PLEX values can deflate with people being able to play EVE using non-EVE virtual currency. |