The practice of exchanging real money for virtual items, or Real Money Transactions (RMTs), is not a new concept for online multiplayer games, but it is becoming more prevalent. Depending on the game, the practice of RMTs can be considered acceptable with minimal impact on the player base, or they can be considered un-acceptable and have negative impacts on the player base. It all depends on how the game is structured.
Running a game costs money in servers, support and developers. To achieve the needed amount of revenue, gaming companies have adopted a number of different types of payment structures. Some of these payment structures support RMT but in all cases the idea is to provide the game publisher with enough funds to continue the game.
RMTs become an issue when the game is not structured to support these transactions but they still occur. In these games, such as Everquest, WOW, LOTRO and other subscription based games, the gaming companies generally lose money in support costs and in player frustration over the purchase of virtual items. Because they cannot get the items to sell from the gaming companies, many "black market" RMT companies will resort to "botting" or use of 3rd party software to run multiple characters. The presence of these activities results in higher support costs through a rise in player petitions for suspected "bots" as well as issues with the security of the transactions, investigations into un-acceptable play and banning of accounts. In addition to these direct costs, the gaming companies will often have to deal with the player base's reaction to the unacceptable behaviors as well as the reactions to the "unfairness" of some players being able to purchase items against the End User License Agreement while other players have to put in a lot of time for items. The costs, both direct and indirect, can be significant for companies that are not designed for RMT but where RMT is prevalent. Unfortunately, due to the desire of some players to get ahead without putting in the time, the market for black market RMT is profitable.
Subscription based games have used a variety of tactics to combat RMTs, all of which have significant cost. For instance, Blizzard is taking legal action against farmers and companies that create botting programs, and Sony Online Entertainment has created Exchange servers where RMTs are allowed and expected. Both of these actions, as well as the actions of many other gaming companies, have costs for the company, but help to reduce the significant cost for handling the black market RMT companies' actions.
These direct and indirect costs are significantly reduced for games that are designed for RMT. These games may be designed for optional subscriptions or micro-transactions for the purchase of items. In these games, it benefits the player and the gaming company to purchase items from the gaming company. For the players, the transactions are generally secure and there is a guarantee on the receipt of the goods; for the gaming company, they receive the profits from the transaction and have a lower level of petitions and investigations into illegal activity. In addition, these games do not generally have to deal with the negative community reaction to RMTs, as experienced by pure subscription based games, due to the fact that the community expects RMTs to occur.
The acceptance of RMTs, both by gaming companies and 3rd party companies, has been increasing as MMOs evolve and there is every indication that this acceptance will continue to increase. Gaming companies will need to design their games to adapt to these transactions. Some companies will continue the subscription models, and these games will need to have safeguards put in place to minimize black market RMT transactions and thus minimize the costs to the gaming company. Games that are designed for RMTs will continue to be built for secure and guaranteed transactions. Whatever pricing structure the gaming company selects for their game, the goal is to reduce the support costs for the game and maximize their profits. Managing the real money transactions is one way to accomplish this.
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