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Yes, the headline is correct, World of Warcraft is facing a serious decline in the strength of its national economy. Maybe some of you remember this little piece of news that was posted to the World of Warcraft message screen last month:
"World of Warcraft Accounts Closed - 6/9/06
In keeping with Blizzard's aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft, we banned over 30,000 accounts in the month of May, and with that removed well over 30 million gold (GP) from the economy across all realms. The banned accounts were taking part in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items, which severely impacts the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.
We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft.
Many account closures come as the direct result of tips reported to our GMs in game or emailed to our Hacks Team by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated, and those that prove false will not result in corrective action.
Thank you for your continued support, and good luck with your adventures in Azeroth!"
World of Warcraft, you are so brave in the face of such adversity. In light of this news the entire WoW community should be collectively peeing their pants. Now I am by no means an economist, however, I have seen Wall Street (starring Charlie Sheen), and I'd like to think that I know a little about how a national economy works, and I am here to tell you that the World of Warcraft is facing a complete economic repression (or regression). For those who haven't seen Wall Street, one of the foundational principles of economics is Scarcity.
Here is a small primer in Scarcity:
Scarcity is the constant battle between what an economy can provide versus what the consumer demands. An example of this might be End Game Raid Gear. Current End Game Raid Gear is a commodity desired by all players, however, Blizzard does not want to flood the market with End Game Raid Gear, because it would no longer be a valuable commodity. In order to keep End Game Raid Gear desirable Blizzard makes it ridiculously crazy-difficult to acquire, and markets it to the "cool kids". Emo kids use AH or Auction House Gear because they are more interested in making their outfits look cute than playing the game well.
Alright, now that you know as much about Scarcity as I do, we can move onto another important part of economics, and that is the principle of Exploiting Other Nations to Raise Your Own National Economy, or How America Got Rich. Under this principle the exploiting nation (Azeroth), derives cheap goods and labor from the exploited nation (China).
Prior to June's announcement this system was operating normally for Blizzard. Reputable companies like IGE were exploiting foreign labor to power the WoW economy and the nation prospered. Azeroth boasted a GNP of $25 billion (GP), and Kalimdor had just crested $10 thousand (CP). These numbers are even more impressive when compared to the Gross National Product of other online game worlds:
Puzzle Pirates: $100,000 (Pieces o' eight)
Star Wars Galaxies: $10,000 (Poodoos)
Auto Assault: -$500,000 (USD)
![[]](http://www.notaddicted.com/forums/ http://www.notaddicted.com/gaston/Farming.jpg)
Skilled foreign laborers hard at work in Loch Modan
WoW's initial strike has already removed an estimated $30,000,000.
The unfortunate aspect of this demographic is the recorded inconsistency in this particular group's playtime and the lack of dedication to any single pursuit. Without the tireless efforts of a subjugated nation, World of
Warcraft will continue to decline
until the entire market bottoms out.
However, there is time to repair this deficit and restore the economy to working condition. I propose a three step program to accomplish this:
1) Provide every citizen of Azeroth a 400 Gold Piece "tax cut" of unbacked currency.
2) Welcome back the people of China with another fireworks festival and a profession called "noodlecraft".
3) Provide buildings to support foreign labor operations. Buildings should be constructed in the following areas: Africa, where players can mine precious stones, China where people can create a variety of material goods to be sold at the Auction House, and Russia where brewers can resupply Azeroth with Volatile Rum.
By following this three step plan, WoW's economy should be back to a place where supply exceeds demand and epic items cost the same as Linen Cloth. Then I can finally afford some [Valorous Bracers] for my Paladin.
Attachment(s) from Shane B
1 of 1 Photo(s)
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