The virtual economy in World of Warcraft has become so inflated that players are now able to buy gold for practically nothing, says IGN. World of Warcraft, initially launched in 2004, was indeed a goldmine (no pun intended) for those who were able to exploit the game through exploits and sell virtual currency to other players.
Recently, however, gold sellers have hit upon hard times. The enormous amount of competition, combined with increasingly lower prices, have meant that many vendors are struggling to turn a profit.
One anonymous source reported “We are selling currency for so little now that we might as well just give it away.”
Interestingly enough, the virtual World of Warcraft economy mirrors real world economies. Here, we have a simple case where there has been a huge oversupply of gold and items being sold to players. Prices naturally drop.
This is good news for new players, who may wish to get a bit of a boost and buy wow gold.
But there are in fact thousands of people that rely on selling virtual gold in order to make a living. In China and many third world countries, thousands of people often spend in excess of 12 hours a day playing the game, in order to ‘grind out’ gold and sell it to other players. Cheaper gold prices mean that grinding out gold legitimately is no longer profitable.