MMORPG Economies Survey

Entropia Universe Economy General Economy Discussion
1

Dear All,

My name is Arsenio Starodoumov and I’m a business graduate researcher based in Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden ( www.hhs.se/iib ) and we are currently undertaking an exploratory study of MMORPG economies in the real world currency with a distinct qualitative characteristic. Main focus is on the exploration of the real money value creation in such economies. My other research objective is also to increase validity of such economies in the eyes of the audience, following on the Dr. Castronova work ( http://mypage.iu.edu/~castro/home.html ) .

It would be really great if you could help us with our research by providing us with your answers to the following survey. Your support/information can have any degree of confidentiality as you wish, from total anonymity to the personal acknowledgements in the thesis/article. I will provide all the feedback and the results of the research as soon as they are done, along with the copy of the final thesis/article.

You are very much welcome to make any questions, comments or suggestions regarding our project either by email, PMing, or replying to this post. It’s still an unknown area for us and your expertise would be invaluable in our research.

I also hope that it will be an interesting reading for other PE players and a contribution to the forum :slight_smile:

                                             Survey

General
What is (are) your level(s) in PE?

How much time approximately do you spend per week in PE?

Economy
Do you sell/buy in-game items/avatars outside of the PE (e.g. other auction sites, etc)?

If you do, how often have you sold/bought in-game items during the last month?
0 times ____ 1-2 times ____ 3-6_____ 7 or more _____

What are you using “out of the game trade” for (e.g. to buff up, to enjoy the game better, explore other opportunities, to trade for a profit, etc.)?

When you trade out of the game (if you don’t then in the game), how do you think the price for the item/avatar is set?

Do you feel that you need to trade “out of the game” or constantly deposit peds to better enjoy the game?

Do you consider yourself playing or working (activities to bring positive income in the real currency) when in PE? If both, could you please state the respective shares in percents?

Gods vs. Avatar
What would be the best ways in your opinion to make the developers change their positions on issues in the game?

Have you used the ways in the previous question to make developers change their minds on the issues in the game?

Thank you for your time! :wink:

2

As we do not allow discussion of other mmorpg’s here i have edited one (1) of your questions out, sorry.

3

About the editing of the question, that’s ok, I guess, I will just have to introduce some adjustments later on. :slight_smile:

I also hope I am not breaking any rules of conduct here :scratch: :slight_smile:

4

General
What is (are) your level(s) in PE?

Not sure what exactly you are asking here, but I have 141hp :slight_smile:

How much time approximately do you spend per week in PE?

Too much :laugh: (whenever i have a free moment, amount sometimes changes)

Economy
Do you sell/buy in-game items/avatars outside of the PE (e.g. other auction sites, etc)?

If you count buying/selling PEDs via PayPal, then yes, I do.

If you do, how often have you sold/bought in-game items during the last month?
0 times ____ 1-2 times X 3-6_____ 7 or more _____

What are you using “out of the game trade” for (e.g. to buff up, to enjoy the game better, explore other opportunities, to trade for a profit, etc.)?

If you are asking what I do with the money i get from trades/hunting/etc, I use them ingame unless its enough to sell to someone then i sell via PayPal

When you trade out of the game (if you don’t then in the game), how do you think the price for the item/avatar is set?

When buying/selling PEDs, to me the rate should be $1=10PED, as stated by MindArk.

Do you feel that you need to trade “out of the game” or constantly deposit peds to better enjoy the game?

nah, it would be nice if i could constantly deposit, but i have found that i dont need to… the friends i have made and the nice people ive met make up for that :wink:

Do you consider yourself playing or working (activities to bring positive income in the real currency) when in PE? If both, could you please state the respective shares in percents?

I consider PE a hobby (an expensive one sometimes lol), i dont use it as a source of income :slight_smile:

Gods vs. Avatar
What would be the best ways in your opinion to make the developers change their positions on issues in the game?

If the developers themselves experienced some of the things that we players encounter every day while playing… lag, bugs, scammers, etc. Then i think they will see what we are all whining about :stuck_out_tongue:

Have you used the ways in the previous question to make developers change their minds on the issues in the game?

Well, i cant make them play their game the way we do, so to kinda get there, I write support cases to them about lag, bugs, scammers, etc. so they have an idea of what exactly is going on when we play.

Hope that helps :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Survey

General
What is (are) your level(s) in PE?
I’m a mid level player I suppose, closer to beginner. Been playing for 5 months. I have 105 HP, and I’m an Initiated Knifefighter.

How much time approximately do you spend per week in PE?
Per week? lol, ummm…let’s see at least 4 hours a day Mon-Thur, and prolly 9 or more on weekends…so 93=27 & 45=20 … so about 47 hours a week. (wow, good thing I’m my own boss and I make my own hours)

Economy
Do you sell/buy in-game items/avatars outside of the PE (e.g. other auction sites, etc)?
Nope, but I would definitely buy a Nemesis Helmet for EFD if I had enough…or for cash if I found one at a good price. So, not at this time, i guess is the best answer.

If you do, how often have you sold/bought in-game items during the last month?
0 times X 1-2 times ____ 3-6_____ 7 or more _____

What are you using “out of the game trade” for (e.g. to buff up, to enjoy the game better, explore other opportunities, to trade for a profit, etc.)?
If I used this, it would be so that I could actually find someone with what I need, instead of searching for that person ingame.

When you trade out of the game (if you don’t then in the game), how do you think the price for the item/avatar is set?

Supply and Demand. Item prices change constantly. Depends on loots and who is in need at the time of sales.

Do you feel that you need to trade “out of the game” or constantly deposit peds to better enjoy the game?
Nope. I enjoy PE even when I’m poor. The people of PE are what make the difference.

Do you consider yourself playing or working (activities to bring positive income in the real currency) when in PE? If both, could you please state the respective shares in percents?
I’m playing. I do take PE very seriously, but not that serious. Perhaps this answer will be different in a few years, but for now, it’s a game (sorry, virtual universe).

Gods vs. Avatar
What would be the best ways in your opinion to make the developers change their positions on issues in the game?
I think they should play more to get an idea of what complain about as far as issues. I have no idea how often they do play. I think most of it would change if they had more user interaction. If they would spend more time talking and listening to us. They have gotten better about this, but it would be nice to be able to talk to someone one on one occasionally, instead of having to wait for a reply when filing a case.

Have you used the ways in the previous question to make developers change their minds on the issues in the game?
I use the one way we have to interact with them, yes.

6

General
What is (are) your level(s) in PE?
Im a mid-level player, Id say. My handgun are around 2300. Ive been playing since early December 2003, been pretty hooked since then.

How much time approximately do you spend per week in PE?
Approx 6 hours a day. 6 x 7 = about 42 hours pr week

Economy
Do you sell/buy in-game items/avatars outside of the PE (e.g. other auction sites, etc)?
Not usually no. I did once, bought peds over bank-tranfser from a friend of mine. Only time Ive done it.

If you do, how often have you sold/bought in-game items during the last month?
0 times X_ 1-2 times ____ 3-6_____ 7 or more _____

What are you using “out of the game trade” for (e.g. to buff up, to enjoy the game better, explore other opportunities, to trade for a profit, etc.)?
I dont really do it so :slight_smile: But the peds I once bought went to hunting and a coat.

When you trade out of the game (if you don’t then in the game), how do you think the price for the item/avatar is set?
The price is never higher then what the people are willing to pay. Supply and Demand, really.

Do you feel that you need to trade “out of the game” or constantly deposit peds to better enjoy the game?
I have a strong history for depositng but I stopped that now that I have bills to pay heh. But yes I feel the “need” to have money ingame, not necessarily from depositing, but maybe from selling some of my ingame items I dont use.
Alltho me and my boyfriend go crazy with the creditcard now and then. We’re not very materialistic irl but we certainly are ingame. So Yes, I think.

Do you consider yourself playing or working (activities to bring positive income in the real currency) when in PE? If both, could you please state the respective shares in percents?
Both. Playing offcourse since its fun. But also working in some aspects, specially when it comes to my society. When I say “Im working in PE” I dont mean work to get money. Work to keep the society together, work to skill up.. Everything you do in PE that isnt really fun but you still do it I would call work. Like trading, I find that boring but I do it sometimes.. to finance my playing…hunting :wink:

Gods vs. Avatar
What would be the best ways in your opinion to make the developers change their positions on issues in the game?
…I didnt quite understand the question :smiley:
Edit: understood now that I saw how the others replied.
Overall I think MA are doing a good job, cept for the part where it takes so long for scammers to get banned. If they were as active as us, and experienced beeing scammed, people who ruined events you looked forward to, bugs that might seem minor but have alot to say… Id say they would have more understanding. But it seems lately they are listening to the community, specially now that Marco told about the event system they are making!
Offcourse we can take up problems at forums, send supportcases and just not shut up!

Have you used the ways in the previous question to make developers change their minds on the issues in the game?
still dont understand nada. (stupid norwegian blonde. Forgive me. Me no speak english good.)
Edit again: How can I make them play more? :wink: I cant. However I can write here about problems I encounter and send supportcases on things that bothers me or I think should be implemented. If it works or not, I dont really know. But it will take some years before I stop trying :wink:

LAST EDIT: I thought it was “hours pr day” not “hours pr week”. I fixed that now. Thanks to MB who noticed and notified me.

7

Thanks Runt, Skam and Gruye for helping us out with the survey!

One of the objectives of the research is to infer some theoretical framework for value creation in real currency terms. PE is no doubt one of the most interesting experiments in this field with its relatively flexible economic gateway system.

One of the existent frameworks produced an economic system where any player spent time as the basic input and produced virtual assets. However the reasons are for acquiring assets using real money (pricing) are very varied and so far no unified framework has been produced (as far as we know, please tell us if we are wrong :slight_smile: )

It would be great if a discussion were produced or additional surveys were responded in this thread :slight_smile: All opinions are very much welcome.

8

A bit late.

A bit late but heres my answers :smiley:

General
What is (are) your level(s) in PE?
Able Laser Sniper is my highest set of skills. Which is about the middle of the field in terms of skill sets.

How much time approximately do you spend per week in PE?
About 20 hours a week

Economy
Do you sell/buy in-game items/avatars outside of the PE (e.g. other auction sites, etc)?
Occasionally. Usually I prefer to trade in game but will occasionally trade out of the game.

If you do, how often have you sold/bought in-game items during the last month?
0 times ____ 1-2 times ____ 3-6_____ 7 or more _____
Lots! So 7 or More :wink:

What are you using “out of the game trade” for (e.g. to buff up, to enjoy the game better, explore other opportunities, to trade for a profit, etc.)?
Exploring other opportunities essentially. In general however, the real cash economy in PE is enough to not necessitate the need to trade out of game.

When you trade out of the game (if you don’t then in the game), how do you think the price for the item/avatar is set?
The price of items in PE is set by the supply and demand for those items. Items that are perceived to be rare or useful will naturally have higher markups then those that have no use.

Do you feel that you need to trade “out of the game” or constantly deposit peds to better enjoy the game?
These days I am pretty much self sufficient and able to enjoy the game without depositing. As I’m into business, then the buying and selling of items out of game is part and parcel of my gaming experience.

Do you consider yourself playing or working (activities to bring positive income in the real currency) when in PE? If both, could you please state the respective shares in percents?
I enjoy playing PE to bring in positive income of real money. So its hard to differentiate the two concepts of playing or working.

Gods vs. Avatar
What would be the best ways in your opinion to make the developers change their positions on issues in the game?
In general voicing opinions on the two main forums EF and EP is a way of getting them to consider the issues.

Have you used the ways in the previous question to make developers change their minds on the issues in the game?
I’m always talking on the forums :wink: