Earning Virtual Currency on your Credit Cards 47
ptorrone wrote to mention an article on the MAKE blog, where the author theorizes that perhaps someday instead of frequent flyer miles we'll get WoW gold or EQ plat as a reward for using our credit cards. From the article: "It's not a matter of if, just when - credit card companies, Pay Pal, Amazon, eBay and the individual "gaming" companies eventually bridge the real and virtual currencies with loyalty programs and private label credit cards - there's too much money out there to -not- to do this. This 'demographic' is the battleground. The more you spend, the more you earn, sorta. Virtual $ isn't a crappy electronics doo-dad, it's just a number in a computer. Maybe you'll get some discounted airline tickets when you hit level 60 too, you deserve it! Earn your way to a new graphics card, why not."
That's funny (Score:1)
Re:That's funny (Score:1)
Re:That's funny (Score:2)
-nB
How is this going to work? (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Inflation kicks in worse than ever.
2. It gets harder to get money the "normal" way.
All fluff stripped, it's just another way to "buy" in-game currency. So one or the other will happen.
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:3, Insightful)
Because it has already happened, and was inevitable for any successful game. Open market or black market, real money will be able to purchase anything of value. That's what makes it real money.
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
No. If WoW gold was tied to your credit card, then it would be pegged to a static value to the dollar. Kind of like how the yuan is pegged to the dollar. Now it would be a matter of how much money your are willing to spend rather than how much gold a single farmer can farm.
2. It gets harder to get money the "normal" way.
Not really. They'll be less farmers since you can just get WoW gold from your credit cards directly and I'm assuming that unless your credit card compan
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
True those don't even begin to take as much gold out as gold is being put into the system - but it is woul
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
Also, Gold traded to other players (for buying Arcanite or othe
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
Chris Mattern
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
In fact, "fees" for some service cannot balance money matters in an MMORPG. They can slow the process a little but they can't halt inflation. To halt inflation, the amount of money in the game would have to be static (obviously, since NPC prices and drops, i.e. the other variables in the inflation equation, are static). This would, in turn, require peo
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
Re:How is this going to work? (Score:2)
Fiat Money (Score:4, Insightful)
Dollars, and any other fiat money are too. Just cause it's printed and you can carry some in your wallet doesn't give it any intrinsic value - only the one that we agree to give it.
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
Virtual currency doesn't even have that, unless you count the value of the physical storage the data occupies - which is so tiny it's just as good as zero.
=Smidge=
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
Pedantic enough for you?
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
Over 90% of Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) exist only as bits and bytes. Paper costs 3 cents to produce, regardless if it's a 1, 10, 100, etc. Coinage costs a bit more, and have exceeded their face value many times in the past. For example, dimes are smaller than nickles because dimes were originally silver and nickles were made out of (ahem) nickle. Both quantities of metal are now worth way more than their original face. Pennies before (fuzzy, so check yourself) 1983 are worth more for their copper cont
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
WHile you can use any agreed-upon currency for private debts, a FRN is quite a bit different from WoW gold when it comes to public debts. This, in fact, is what *makes* a currency a national currency: you have to pay your taxes in dollars, and the federal government only offers to repay its debts in dollars. It's kind of a big deal.
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
True, the Gubmit only accepts taxes in FRN in violation of the Constitution Article I, section 10. The ability to discharge all your debts in one currency has quite a bit of appeal. "One stop shopping" is what creates most of the acceptance, as well as demand. Although to be fair, the vast majority of people out there have no idea what money or currency represents and use it without question.
That doesn't change the fact that there are huge problems with any fiat currency. Back in the recesses of time,
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
Men with guns want you to pay taxes. They accept dollars. They do not accept WoW gold. A government is an entity which can force people to pay taxes. That government has a currency only if it accepts payments in that currency. I have to accumulate dollars to pay taxes with even if I don't want to use dollar for any private transaction (at least, according to tax law, people do get buy
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
Not really. In the beginning, the Constitution limited the Federal Governments revenue to "billing" the states in proportion to their population. It wasn't until much later that they set the stage to escape the fiscal dicipline of gold by direct taxation of the people. I won't get into the whole 16th amendment thing because as you point out, the men with guns are asking you "nicely" to
Re:Fiat Money (Score:2)
This is really a non-issue, and I don't get why people think it's of more than importance than the "perceived value" you mention. Anyone can buy commodities in Euros or whatever, as any broker will do the exchange. Prices are *listed* in dollars, bu
it'd be better if... (Score:2)
Re:it'd be better if... (Score:2)
Not a good idea, that doesn't mean it wont happen (Score:2)
My old work place used to give out credit-card points as a reward to their employees, which we could cash in on gift cards to various places like best buy and what not. It was great, considering they paid us next to nothing.
Recently (after I quit, thank god), the management decided to keep all the points for themselves. We're talking about a half a million points per
Only an idea though.... (Score:1)
Probably not cash, but why not some other perk? (Score:1)
It wouldn't take a whole lot to get people to snap up a new credit card.
Re:Probably not cash, but why not some other perk? (Score:2)
Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:5, Informative)
Note: I am not a tax lawyer, and this is not to be interpreted as tax or legal advice. Contact the IRS if you have any further questions.
Re:Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:2)
Again, IANAL, and this is speculation at best.
Re:Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:1)
Re:Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:1)
How about deducting your monthly subscription fee as a cost of doing business?
Re:Taxability of WoW Gold (Score:3, Informative)
More detail here: http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-Februa
If you value your credit card's "points" (Score:4, Insightful)
How about WoW gives me real money for their gold? (Score:1)
Bad Premise (Score:3, Insightful)
Even if the market DID exist, card companies are only going to want a certain number of brands/external services in their card stable, anyway. So, what percentage of the small amount of the population that would shell out for MMOG gold would make the gold their first-third priority? Over Disney, perhaps. Over cash back? Over groceries? Gas? Travel?
Plus, a lot of the gold business isn't for the hardcore... it's for those who just want a little boost. If you're only cashing in twice over your career, why the heck would you get a CREDIT CARD to accumulate small amounts over a long time?
I swear, if I didn't dislike blogs so much, I'd start one to catalogue all the idiocy. People in and around the videogame industry seem to all have a serious case of overinflated sense of importance and think the tail wags the dog.
Hmm... (Score:1)
Incredibly stupid. (Score:3, Insightful)
In spending *real* money on a credit card, I can apply these benefits toward things that are *not* real? Does anyone actually think this is a good idea? You might as well just not get any benefits from your credit card!
Re:Incredibly stupid. (Score:2)
Would it seem foolish if you were to earn a voucher for a movie ticket? I expect it wouldn't, and if you'll grant this much, then how is it any different from earning an in-game voucher? It's all entertainment. You're making the mistake of thinking it's different because it's a "virtual world" when it's really one more type of entertainment.
Anyone know of a company that provides these? (Score:2)
yeah, sure, (Score:2)