Possibly because some of us hate TP flipping and think it should be disallowed. I consider all TP flippers to be unrepentant leeches on the system and you will never be able to convince me otherwise.
How about the fact that TP flipping in a roundabout way of doing so helps to stabilize the economy because all the money that is put into it also comes out. So instead of the game generating gold (which causes more overall currency to become available, i.e. the value of the currency goes down), players trade gold and the same overall amount of gold remains in the game but it simply trades owners (just like business in the real world!) instead of being generated out of thin air.
Essentially look at it this way: Farming areas in the game for gold is like printing more money. The more money that is printed devalues it in the economy. Trading on the trading post does not generate money, but simply changes where in the game that money is held.
Imagine that participating in the Trading Post on a meta-level is like trading stock or investing, and imagine that that system in of itself is a part of the game to some. Some people truly enjoy gaining money by mathematical analysis and quickly making high-risk decisions, and the fact that such an element as that can exist in this game that is fundamentally about killing baddies is sort of a really cool thing to imagine.
That and the fact that these traders are not in any way devaluing the currency of the game world, other than by taking money from people who have generated that gold. In reality, it’s the farmers who are the true plagues of the system, as they are only serving to make the poor poorer and the rich richer by feeding the system.
Yeah. Think about that. Isn’t economics in video games cool?
No. It does not stabilize anything. It purely takes money away from people. Without those leeches players would be able to buy things at a lower price and sellers would be able to make more. Instead the leeches buy what the players should be able to then sell them to those players at an increased price. Those leeches simply siphon money out of the system to the detriment of all others. That adds nothing of value and simply steals profit and savings from people who actually want to play the game.
Farmers are not the plagues. They at least provide a service. Getting you the goods that you don’t want to farm for, but that you still need. Flippers provide nothing of value for anyone but themselves. They are pure leeches.
I respectfully disagree because I see it differently, but I can understand where you’re coming from. I’d try to explain in further detail what I was trying to express but it’s really difficult to put into words without making a really, really long post.
However, I disagree that farmers provide a service. They simply generate more gold from thin air, which causes the overall value of gold to decrease. This in turn causes prices to go up.
I also disagree that traders cause the prices of items in the game to go up. Look at any commonly traded thing and you will see from the start of the game there has been a very steady and significant decrease in its value (for the most part). This is true for ectoplasm, all other materials, rare items, and etc. Only very rare things have a high value (as one would assume!) and that is no fault of TP enthusiasts.
You should look at some graphs on gw2spidy.net or a similar resource, and then reconsider how you perceive TP traders. In reality, I think they may actually (in a general way, there are of course exceptions like in any system!) help to steadily over time devalue items and make them more accessible. Farmers cause more money to be generated from nothing, TP traders simply exchange money that is already extant in the game’s economy.
This is all speculation and open to debate, but that’s just how I see it.
Addendum: I also believe that ArenaNet should not interfere with the Trading Post by setting market limitations. That would create a sort of government controlled market that would only create issues I imagine, rather than allowing players to freely trade as they see fit.
(edited by McSlaughter.1567)