RMT's perspective

[Matthias]

apologies if this has already been posted, but i only found this vid recently. i did a quick search of the forums and i didn't find it anywhere, but admittedly the search wasn't particularly thorough. if this had already been posted, by all means unceremoniously delete/lock this thread.

but i found this interesting. rmt doesn't seem to be nearly as big a problem on ffxi anymore but still, fascinating.

[ringthree]

Fucking fucks. I have always hated them and always will. Fucking ticks and leeches.

[Matthias]

[Kalmado]

The statement I'm about to make is not in support of RMT. This is just a different outlook. I watched about 15 minutes of the first video and am basing my statement off of that.

Take out of the equation "video game RMT" and insert anything you'd like. When a person or business can exploit the need for something and make money off of it they will. When they see a competitor offering a product or service and they know they can offer something similar for less money but increase their profits they will.

In my opinion what this young man did is no different than what many businesses in corporate America do to their competition on a regular basis. He knew the service was wanted, knew how much the Chinese charged versus what others charged, and sold himself to the Chinese as the middleman where he can offer the consumer a cheaper price while the Chinese can grow their clientele and he can make money for himself. It's actually quite smart, but hits a nerve with us gamers since it invades the games we play.

[Matthias]

it's true it's just entrepreneurship. and really alot of innocent businesses harm another's business. online shopping probably took a chunk away from retail stores. smart phone games took a chunk away from handheld consoles.

i have no business savvy whatsoever so i might be speaking out of sheer ignorance here, but the two key differences i see is 1) this particular business is something that has the potential to ruin the experience for others within the same system. even jared psigoda, the interviewee in the first video, admits that excessive rmt activity will ultimately ruin the game and that, ironically, he himself as a gamer wouldn't want to see that happen. how exactly all that meshes in his head is beyond me but eh whatever. and 2) this particular entrepreneurship, while not illegal, directly involves doing an activity that is not allowed by the system they're working with.

i was rather surprised by jared's explanation of hacking later on in the interview. luckily i changed my game login info a long time ago but still gave me a quick panic attack.