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SAPULSO (QTV) Feature on RMT in Online Games

RMT, also known as Real Money Trading, is very popular in the online gaming culture of the Philippines. RMT is simply a person buying virtual equipment using real currency. For example, I want your Heal Clip and I’ll pay you PHP 1,000 for it. Don’t laugh by the way, that was the price when Ragnarok was still in Beta (LOL). Level-up! Games actually sees this as illegal, and we actively pursue people who violate this rule openly in public. I know for a fact that RF Online is one of the strictest when it comes to matters like these. Anyway, SAPULSO, a program on QTV, made a segment on RMT. Here’s the video.

SAPULSO REAL MONEY TRADING SEGMENT


Source

So what do you guys think about RMT? Should it really be banned?

I’m changing the poll on the sidebar to get your opinon on the matter. Should RMT remain illegal or should gaming companies consider legalizing it?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 9:25 am and is filed under Other Games, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 1,445 Views

23 Responses to “SAPULSO (QTV) Feature on RMT in Online Games”


  1. I think it’s not that bad that it can be considered illegal since it’s up to the player themselves whether to spend on it or not, it’s their money anyway but of course, they should know the risks such as being scammed. Anyway, my only point is it’s their money so it’s really up to them whether to spend it on games or not. And besides since other players spend a lot already on loading, either game time or rok points on RO, I think they’d be damned if they quit, so one way for others to get back some of their spendings would be selling their accounts or items, and I think this is better rather than just giving your account, which you spent a lot, to your friends or siblings.


  2. bkit s RagnarokOnline ladtran dun… nka PUB p nga s Pronter (S>2bzeny= 1k or 2k php……. and its said illegal AW..


  3. Wala rin naman magagawa ang LU kung gusto ng player na bumili ng in-game items through IRL money.

    Btw, I voted for “I don’t really care. Rar.”


  4. This is a sensitive issue, if RMT will be legalized in PRO then we are talking about legalizing botters in the game. We all know gamers who sell zennies & items are botter themselves. What do you think sir wauks!?


  5. try reading http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus. lots of interesting articles ans surveys like player life cycle and mmorpg superstitions… The author’s article a bout virtual gold (RMT)
    http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001469.php (dated Oct 17, 2005) should be relevant to this topic ^^,


  6. Sa totoo lang, kahit pa naman dati RMT (Money for you to be able to play online) uso ang RMT eh, pero kaya lang ayaw ng LU! kasi hindi secure. \m/


  7. i voted for no because gaming companies will DEFINITELY take advantage of it. just let it be. its up to the players where to spend their money


  8. I still remember the time when someone would place 100 Php in my uniform pocket and say: “Akin na lang ung napulot mong Slotted Shoes ah…” LOL

    Whether or not RMT should be legalized, in some way its not totally wrong, assuming that the accounts and the pixels included in it belong to its owner, hence giving him/her the right to do whatever the hell he/she wants to it without violating the rights of others, of course.

    It’s not so different from buying items from the Item Mall, really. Well except for the fact the LUG is a registered business entity, and those involved in RMT are reaping the benefits.

    The questions are: Does RMT affect the gaming community and the business of LUG? If yes, by how much? Would it be such a significant effect? Should we ban it? If yes, why only now? And how would you enforce this? (Its like trying to track down every single Limewire or any such similar file-sharing apllication user down. = Almost Impossible.)


  9. wala rin naman maggwa un mga mag baban gawa lang novice e ayus na


  10. sir wauks not only RMT also SEX trde.. totoo ung sir wauks…hehehe pero secret kung sino yun grabe sexy nun at ang gnda wahaha


  11. i think depende sa tao yun kasi diba may iba libangan lng nila yun ,iba gmgwa ng name at ung iba ung addiction dun tlga pumpsok ung sinsbi nila tipid tipid pra may zenny.yung iba nmn they just use there body for it…hmmm alm ko sir wauks ng lagay k n din related to this topic yung s World of warcft yung gurl n ngbebenta ng aliw sa america for gold in WoW


  12. also sir wauks hnd rin zenny ang bnebenta also there characters..yung iba gngwa nila para magkapera Buy and Sell ika nga they buy load and level up after 99 they sell it like 99 sin for 800 ang pinka mahal i think yung alchemist lalo n pag brewer type


  13. e1..ehehe..


  14. this is what pw is. Legalized RMT. everything can be had for RMT. Gold can be bought using load. Gold can be bought using yuan(in game currency) and vice versa. Uber weapons can be crafted in game using materials and materials can be bought using the item mall.


  15. If RMT in online games is illegal because it ruins game balance, then the hypermart should be illegal too.

    Think about it. Some RO players buy zennies from players using real money. While other players also spend real money to buy hypermart items and some sell them ingame for zennies. Either way, players exchange real money for zennies/equips. Rich players get more uber equips than those not-so-rich players who can’t afford to spend real money for RMT or rok points. So where’s the game balance there?

    RMT or no RMT, there’s no such thing as game balance in pRO.


  16. Gaming has surpassed many businesses out there, Hollywood for one. As everything that involves money, it will eventually draw attention from government. Lots of money on a single place, an oasis for taxes.

    I think the main problem with RMT is that, if it’s approved and done by companies, it’s an undeniable fact that the virtual item HAS value. And having value, it could be taxed. In that sense I think Blizzard is very sane to keep up with subscription only, explicitly saying that the virtual characters / items have no value.

    All that considered, I think RMT doesn’t hurt the game as many people say. What’s the difference if I give an item to a friend or sell it to a stranger? Both ways affect “game balance” equally. Hacks, dupes, bots, ill behaviour… those can give a deathblow to any good game.


  17. Whether LU! legalized it or not, RMT will still be there no matter what. It’s already very rampant ingame specially in the US.


  18. i agree with Henie… 100%


  19. I spent money to play the game, so why not try to play to earn. You reap what you sow.

    -Professional gamer


  20. I think it may be legalized once the bot problem has been solved. Until then, don’t.


  21. I think a big chunk why RMT is quite profitable is because of the fact that it is illegal. I think legalizing RMT in MMORPGs will make the virtual currency vendors more competitive with each other, especially those games that do not have efficient bots like RO. This will spawn organized groups focused on just farming money ingame. In turn, babagsak at babagsak ang presyo, possibly to a point where a casual even a hardcore gamer ALONE, to sustain an account using RMT, would burnout trying to farm.

    Though not sa case ng RO, since napakaefficient ng AIs.


  22. depende n sa tao un kung careerin niya ang paglalaro o ndi…
    at saka buhay naman nila un.. wag nlng paki alaman baka magkaron p ng away….
    obserbahan nlng ang sarili bka huli nang malaman n adik ka n pla dun..


  23. As others have said, LU sells items for RMT, however, players are hoping that the profit made by LU will also bring new patches to the Philippines sooner. I doubt highly that LU is trying very hard to be strict on players who sell items and in-game money - in RO you can see people pubbing ALL the time, selling these things. (not just zeny, but someone in Baldur server was selling a complete Valkyrie set for P25k O_o). My brother plays WoW and the difference there is if someone comes on selling gold for RMT the players report that player immediately and the GM’s take action IMMEDIATELY. (unlike in pRO where Vanguards seem to be strangely absent most of the time).

    The problem with selling in-game money in particular is that when the cost of this money is cheap, it causes the prices of items to soar. And it gives a very unfair advantage to players who have more iRL money - or could possibly cause less wealthy players to resort to stealing/selling their personal items for money/or worst case scenario, selling drugs to have money to buy equips. Both new free-to-play servers are honestly, NOT free to play, if you consider you have to buy all your equips. There are players in those servers who who buy load in the commercial servers in order to buy equips. This upsets the economy tremendously and gives an unfair advantage to players who are richer iRL.

    Bottom line is, if LU will tolerate RMT, then well and good, and this topic is moot. If not, then crack down on players who do this.

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