WOW: Are you serious?

[ThirtySixBelow]

I was looking around ebay after reading the foxtrot comic of the day about how Jason was going to make his fortune by selling his gold that he is going to mine all summer from WOW on ebay. I was looking at some things on ebay and came across this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/WOW-World-of-Warcraft-Account-60-Epic-HUNTER-PVP_W0QQitemZ280004147139QQihZ018QQcategoryZ4596QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Are you kidding? 1000 dollars for a WOW character? I don't know anything about the game, but this must be a serious character for that kind of money. Is it really worth that price? Won't the person who buys it get made fun of for buying his character rather than doing the work himslef? What would you get out of having a character that is so far into the game? WOW people, enlighten me.

 

[squeezee]

As they state in the auction even "You are bidding on my time leveling for this account". Since it takes a huge time investment to get a character to that point, really if you break it down into an hourly wage they're getting a few cents/hour.

Usually its people who are already playing the game buying accounts. They want another character of a different class who is already at the same point or further ahead in items/reputation etc. than their current one. I know a couple people who bought accounts for this reason (wanted another maxed-out character to play with instead of doing everything over again), of course about all they do is play WoW every waking hour so to them its worth it.

 

[Drexion]

ThirtySixBelow thats normal. I sold my ud rogue for 700 bucks(and I think I sold it lower than it was worth), and a friend of mine sold his account for 1300 bucks.

A guy in one of my classes bought an account with a rank14 character for 1800 bucks.

It takes hundreds / thousands of hours of playing to get characters to that decked out state, character and account sales in mmo's are nothing new. Its a multi-million dollar sub-industry.

You probably didnt hear of it, cause generally it goes against the EULA's of the games, which is why they stay on the down low and use carefully worded sales, like "you are buying the time I spent blah blah...".

 

[markt435]

Yeah i got a friend that sold his. Our other friend said he sold it for way less than it was worth lol. Makes me think I shoulda gotten into the game just to make some money from it since I've been sittin here unemployed and waitin for college to start up ahhaha.

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

So, you can't technically sell your character? I don't understand why the things you do in the game are Blizzard's property. It doesn't really make sense that his character and gear are property of Blizzard. He bought the rights to play the game, so isn't what he does his? Or, does this go for any game that you just pay for the rights to play the game but don't technically own anything? I've never encountered anything like this, I just buy a game and play it so i'm out of the legal loop.

edit: update
http://cgi.ebay.com/World-of-Warcraft-Game-with-60-Druid-and-60-Rogue_W0QQitemZ170006108732QQihZ007QQcategoryZ4596QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
LOL

 

[Drexion]

Oh and as I posted in another thread, WoW can be considered to be a country, with a population of 6.5 million people, and a higher average domestic income than many real life countries.

A typical joe schmloe (casual player) playing WoW doesnt even realise just by playing he is making more money than a typical 9-5 worker in many third world countries.

Which is why there are many warehouses full of "farmers" in countries like china, who have people who play WoW 18 hours a day non stop grinding gold, to sell to westerners. They make more money than they would flipping burgers.

The top companies who focus on mmo account/item/gold sales (like IGE) are worth many many millions of dollars.

Is it really worth that price?

Through the eyes of the beholder, yes. After I sold my WoW account, I had massive withdrawal symptoms from lack of it, and was sorely tempted to buy back another account with a similar character, 1000bucks seemed a fair price to me. I didn't, though I would not have regretted it if I did - the amount of entertainment I get from WoW was worth 100 bucks a month to me.

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

Through the eyes of the beholder, yes. After I sold my WoW account, I had massive withdrawal symptoms from lack of it, and was sorely tempted to buy back another account with a similar character, 1000bucks seemed a fair price to me. I didn't, though I would not have regretted it if I did - the amount of entertainment I get from WoW was worth 100 bucks a month to me.

I guess that makes sense for poorer countries, but if you are an average middle class american playing WOW to make money, a 500 hour character being sold for 1000 dollars is $2 dollars an hour, which is pretty crappy. Although, doing it on the side as entertainment and getting paid $2/hr to play video games isn't too bad.

 

[Drexion]

So, you can't technically sell your character?

Yes and no. Think of it like a Steam account from Valve. You buy the game, then you create an 'account' with a username/password/email.
So you can pass 'ownership' of the account to someone else if you give them those details, even though Valve's EULA may not allow it. Same difference.

I don't understand why the things you do in the game are Blizzard's property. It doesn't really make sense that his character and gear are property of Blizzard. He bought the rights to play the game, so isn't what he does his?

Its just to cover themselves from potential lawsuits. Like say you raid for 100hours to get one item, then the server crashes and you lose the item when they restore the backup.
Some idiot somewhere may decide to sue blizzard over this, which is why they state everything belongs to them, its just a means of protecting themselves.

Or, does this go for any game that you just pay for the rights to play the game but don't technically own anything? I've never encountered anything like this, I just buy a game and play it so i'm out of the legal loop.

Sadly this is the way things seem to be heading, where you dont actually pay for the game and own it, you pay for "pemission" to play the game.
Sony's PS3 seems to be going this route for example - because they are making it illegal (or trying to at least) to re-sell PS3 games, cause they don't get a cut from second hand games. Sony is doing it for greed though, whereas WoW and other MMOs do it to simply protect themselves.

 

[-(Xyphox)-]

wow... that is just sad

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

wow... that is just sad

Now that I understand it better, it's not as sad as I initially thought. It's sad that some people really are messing up their lives over this game and failing out of getting an education. (I've seen it first hand) For those that can play the game in their spare time, and have the willpower to stop and take a break when it's needed, then I think it's cool to share your work with others so everyone can enjoy the game more. This really has to be your thing though to spend that kind of money.

 

[Daggah]

Normally, you'd think that the whole process of getting your character *to* that point would be the whole point...people paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to skip all the fun parts and go straight to the dredgery is pretty fricken' stupid in my opinion.

When I quit I disenchanted all my gear, sent it to all my in-game friends, and deleted my characters. I had one 60 that, although not geared out (only a few assorted epics) could probably have sold for a bit of money...but I refuse to be part of that kind of thing.

The degree of addiction that people are showing is rather unhealthy in my opinion.

 

[G'ßöö]

... WoW can be considered to be a country, with a population of 6.5 million people....

sorry but 6.5 have played not currrently playing. big diff but I think we all get the point. but paleeze, ANYONE WHO BUYS CHARACTERS AND ETC LIKE THIS ON EBAY IS A WANNA BE EGO FILLED, I'M SO FUCKIN USELESS, CAN'T BEAT THE GAME, GOTTA HAVE ALL GAMES ON EASY, PATHETIC FUCKING LOSER! ...the absolute epitome of a idiot wanna be

ANYONE WHO SELLS THEM IS A PURE GENUIS

and yes I am entitled to my opinion

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

sorry but 6.5 have played not currrently playing. big diff but I think we all get the point. but paleeze, ANYONE WHO BUYS CHARACTERS AND ETC LIKE THIS ON EBAY IS A WANNA BE EGO FILLED, I'M SO FUCKIN USELESS, CAN'T BEAT THE GAME, GOTTA HAVE ALL GAMES ON EASY, PATHETIC FUCKING LOSER! ...the absolute epitome of a idiot wanna be

ANYONE WHO SELLS THEM IS A PURE GENUIS

and yes I am entitled to my opinion

You might want to get your caps lock key checked out. I think it's malfunctioning

 

[powersurge]

Actually I think 6.5 mil is current subscribers. As for ebaying gear and characters in mmorpg's I've always thought and always will think that it is cheating and it can ruin the game.

I play to have fun not to wave my e-peen around. If I want raid gear and want to do raid content I'll join a raid guild like I did back when I played Everquest and I'll raid a couple nights a week. (though honestly these days I avoid raiding at all costs. EQ burned me out on it and its not that fun anymore)

Isn't the point of a game to play and have fun and work toward your in game goals rather than buy your way into it?

 

[cieje]

newsflash: wow is easy. It's just time-consuming. How freakin hard is it? it's not. However, I think selling these characters is well worth the price. In fact, I should sell my lv60 druid. I know for a fact that a character on my old server sold for $2200 - and it was worth it; he was definatelly the most decked out toon on the server. Someone bought the account within a week of it being for sale via private channels and not fleabay. It took me like 500+ (I took it slow heh) hours to get 60, rank 10, and tier 2 armor etc I'm sure it took him 2000+ hours to get what he had.

 

[theNoid]

An old guildie of mine sold his for $1000 in a matter of minutes.

The right gear on the right character will SELL no matter what you may think.

 

[DarkfallFan]

There's no way in hell I would ever play another mmorpg that was focused on items that make or break you in a game. Griding to such an extent=lame imo. And the fact that it's not ffa = double lame. Who needs risk v reward heh.

Blizzard is getting paid to make you grind. How genious.

 

[fireburster]

I sold my 3 year acount on Ultima Online for 600 bucks when i quit playing the game. I had some really nice stuff too. It was 10 a month to play so i made what i spent on the account plus a little.

 

[arr4ws]

i guess there is an offer for those kind of thing because there is some demand...

sad ...feels like some kind of internet prostitution...

 

[-(Xyphox)-]

Now that I understand it better, it's not as sad as I initially thought. It's sad that some people really are messing up their lives over this game and failing out of getting an education. (I've seen it first hand) For those that can play the game in their spare time, and have the willpower to stop and take a break when it's needed, then I think it's cool to share your work with others so everyone can enjoy the game more. This really has to be your thing though to spend that kind of money.

I have seen it too, but it was with Muds in HighSchool
Kids would skip school to mud all day.....

 

[-(Xyphox)-]

You might want to get your caps lock key checked out. I think it's malfunctioning

yes appears to be something sticky holding it down

 

[a36steel]

I remember when the first people got Jedi in SWG and they were selling their accounts for like 4 grand. Too bad for those smucks they changed the whole system later to make Jedi a starter class.

 

[cieje]

I remember when the first people got Jedi in SWG and they were selling their accounts for like 4 grand. Too bad for those smucks they changed the whole system later to make Jedi a starter class.

yea haha. I was so stupid someone offered me $800 for my swg account and I didn't sell heh. Too bad swg sucks now. I lost a job and countless hours on that damn game.