Guild Wars 2

Hey all!

I really don’t know much about the game economy, and this is probably a pretty obvious question but…

Does ANet benefit at all from allowing us to purchase gems through in-game gold? I think this is a really amazing feature, but I am curious!

Well, there is a lot of things going on with that statement. And a lot of things to consider.

1. It is a “sink”, arguably a needed one as far as gems and gold are concerned.
2. It removes gems from the BLTC and then destroys them through purchases.
3. It benefits them in a broader sense that players see it as a positive, and enjoy it while playing the game knowing they have options aside from $ to spend. Players who have cash and players who have gems can buy the same things. This is definitely a benefit for everyone.

I’m no economist, but I’m sure someone, even John Smith, could explain exactly how they benefit and the entire economic impacts that are beneficial. But sadly, I was never very good and macro/micro in college :P

yes because those player that play for free (buy gem with gold) are still potential customer and keep the server alive. No one want to play a dead game.

It also makes the gem→gold conversion rate more attractive which may encourage folks to spend money on gems they might not have otherwise spent.

Geotherma.2395:

Well, there is a lot of things going on with that statement. And a lot of things to consider.

1. It is a “sink”, arguably a needed one as far as gems and gold are concerned.
2. It removes gems from the BLTC and then destroys them through purchases.
3. It benefits them in a broader sense that players see it as a positive, and enjoy it while playing the game knowing they have options aside from $ to spend. Players who have cash and players who have gems can buy the same things. This is definitely a benefit for everyone.

I’m no economist, but I’m sure someone, even John Smith, could explain exactly how they benefit and the entire economic impacts that are beneficial. But sadly, I was never very good and macro/micro in college :P

I disagree with the assertion that the exchange is either a gold sink or destroys gems. Yes it removes them from the game world at large but the exchange simply stores them.

As for the question at hand. It provides a service to “hard core” gamers who play a lot of hours in a month to earn gold, which doesn’t flow like water in this game.

It provides a source of gold for those who purchase gems with cash and wish to convert them into gold as the exchange consists of two pools, one of gems and one of gold. The relationship between these two pools sets the two exchange rates. As more gold is exchanged for gems the rates go up, making the opposite transaction more attractive to a player who wants to purchase gold with cash via gems, which then lowers the rate. As the rates go up, it puts the squeeze on RMT services since gold/$ goes up.

gold to gem conversion is a minor gold sink. gem prices rising is a bigger sink.
when you buy 100 gems with 3g, that 3g is removed from the game. someone will then sell 100 gems for 2.4g. this effectively removed 0.6g from the game (I don’t know the exact decrease in price, 0.6 was just for example). not as big as the initial 3, but something.
if gem prices rise over time, it means more people are buying gems than selling, so more gold is being removed than replenished. this removes the full 3g from the game.

buying gems with gold profits Anet because then the gems to gold conversion becomes more appealing to potential money to gem buyers.

I don’t quite consider it a sink because when I think of a sink in a game context I think destroyed. JS hasn’t made it clear if that 0.6 is destroyed or accumulates in the coffers of the exchange and is used indirectly to drive up the exchange rate over time. Yes it’s gone from the “world”, as in another player can’t spend it, but it affects the exchange rates between gold and gems over the long term.

And as others have pointed out the benefit is with Gem→Gold rates increasing, it can attract players to buy gems who wouldn’t just to get gold.

It is making them big piles of money, so yes, I think you can say that they benefit from it.