Makoto_Gin
I think some of you are missing the base point she's getting at, even if it's abit simplified, it's essentially what folks before her have talked about and what would take a miracle for things to go back to---items, particularly rare items, monthly collectibles, and now chance and cash shop items, to be at reasonable prices and yet still be a way for you to work for them without simple easy gain. Back when I joined the site in 2004 the most expensive I saw some rare items and MCs were alittle over 100k if not less, but I wasn't really that much into the site at that point. Since 2006 I have seen static jumps in prices for everything, especially after the marketplace reformat in 2007. The gold pay out changes, and henceforth the various gold sinks we have now have been made to either try to back peddle on that marketplace change and/or try to make things fairer for everyone which has had an whole range of affects in an adverse way. Also when there's an item you want or an item you have you know someone else wants, you're going to do what you can to get it or sell that item, and less not forget the site used to have a really bad botting and hacking issue at various points in the past that has caused some of these item inflation
I have seen people try to curb a lot of that greed, when I was able to and felt inclined to donate/spend cash on the site I would do the same,but there's only so much one person can do or even a handful of people especially if you don't have the millions or billions of gold some of the older (or more obsessive and driven, or however you want to see it) users have. Also for quite a few people gold and items pretty much equate to wealth and status in the real world. The most expensive thing I have is a pair of mini demon wings I got from a friend who quit the site in 2010, but I don't wear them much because of the things I just mentioned but also because I tend to forget I have them, but I still have them because she was a very good friend of mine and they were one of her favorite items. Point being it shouldn't matter, but it does, and there are too many people, just like in the real world, who aren't going to let that notion go because with that much gold they can do whatever and be damned if they actually try to do some good with it or be alittle less greedy even with the other folks out there who do try to do something good with all that wealth.
Jumps in item prices the past few years have been the result of real inflation, not artificial inflation or people being greedy. Booty Grab was a particularly bad offender. The game gave out so much gold for so little work that the gold became worth less than it was before, and prices skyrocketed. Think of it like this: say Gaia decided that, tomorrow, they would give every user ten million gold. Suddenly everyone can afford more items and they all get bought up. To return the market to a balance, prices of the items will go up.
And a lot of people can tell you, a lot of prices have been evening out or going down lately. There's a GCD thread called "I can't believe that item is that inexpensive!", where users post links to items that have either drastically dropped in price, or are a great deal for what they are. (like a low cost on an item with nice hair, or a ton of poses) I attribute much of the deflation to the increase in cash items. I remember when I first joined, MCs were a much bigger deal. Took me several days, maybe a few weeks, I can't remember, to quest for Gwee the Dragon, my first MC. A new user now could easily raise the 30k I paid for the item and buy something else, maybe something even higher quality.
There are certain kinds of items that you can mostly only get with cash items. Pets, weapons, backgrounds, and others. Back when I was new, MCs were in much higher demand. It seemed like every other person was questing for the Ancient Katana. But now, that's not the case. Reason being, there are so many more weapons available that are just as good. The Ancient Katana has more competition. When the Ancient Katana is one of the only weapon items available, more people will want it because they don't have other options. But when you put out a few hundred other weapons, in more variety, many people will stop eyeing that katana and go after one of the new ones. When I was new, there were a few pricey MCs I wanted even though I had no chance of getting them at the time. Kiki and Coco, and the Katana. But now, I don't care much about any of those items. There are more and cheaper weapon options, and the same goes for cats, well, animal companion items in general.
But, really... Why is it such a big deal to you? "Do some good" with virtual gold? Yes, it's nice when people give gold and items to each other, I try to do it once in a while if I see someone questing for something and they aren't too far off, or I can easily afford the item, and I definitely enjoy getting gifts myself. But in the end, they're just pixels we use to make our virtual dolls look nice. Even if a user decides to hoard all of his gold and constantly plays the MP to get even more, he's not doing any harm. It sucks and it's not fair when people hoard items to artificially jack up the price, but people can still buy other items.
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