Part I
Online games are generally a means of recreation for game lovers, but not a few also make it a place to make a living
Real Money Trading or better known as RMT abbreviation, is a process whereby one online game player performs the transaction of buying and selling items, services or IDs with other players using real-world currency. Most of this phenomenon occurs in the games that are Massively Multiplayer Online Roles Playing Games (MMORPG), but did not close the possibility to occur in other genres. MMORPG games that make players as if by having their own roles like real life, making them competing to be the best. This is where the economic law concerning the market that is formed, occurs because of the demand and supply. One of the fastest ways to become a 'god' in a game is to buy resources from other players using real currency. It could be currency in the game, rare items, to leveling services. The emergence of players with needs like this, making some other people play games is no longer as a means of recreation, but rather as a livelihood.
History In Indonesia
The first online game in Indonesia that successfully seized so much public attention is Nexia (2001). Shown with a simple 2D graphics, this game managed to amaze gamers thanks to the features of playing games and chat at the same time. Exploring the vast world plus side-by-side variations lets people play these games for hours every day. Here also gamers start to know the term RMT. Their limitations in playing this vast game, making them inevitably buy resource resources from other players using rupiah. The life of this RMT market indirectly lifted the development of the online game itself by luring so many good people who really want to play serious or just become a trader. In the 2000s this is the game online in Indonesia entered the golden period. After Nexia was successful, came the Ragnarok Online Game (RO) in 2003.
The game made by Lyto is the culmination of the success of online games in Indonesia. Although using the pay-to-play system, the players continue to grow. Because of the enormous enthusiasm of the players, Lyto has to add several times to the new server. How about the RMT? One of the rare items named Golden Thief Bug Card was rewarded up to hundreds of millions of rupiah! Who buys? There is! According to rumors circulating there are also players who can afford to buy cars from the sale of Zeny (currency in RO) although later known to use illegal programs (BOT). After RO, there are still other MMORPG games that spelled out success making the internet cafe business mushrooming in Indonesia. Call it Rising Force Online (RF), SEAL, Perfect World, Lineage 2, and others. Not only the players and cafe entrepreneurs are affected by the rise of this online game. Publisher-publisher online game began to grow and compete to bring the best online games.
Part II
Online games are generally a means of recreation for game lovers, but not a few also make it a place to make a living
Online Games are currently Popular As Mobile Legends, AOV, and so forth. (MOBA)
The rapid development of communication technology cannot be denied helped change the trend and the era of the online game itself. Warnet that used to be so much and easy to find anywhere, now its presence the fewer thanks to home internet service (ISP) is getting cheaper and faster. Entering the year 2015 game population of personal computer online (PC) in Indonesia is decreasing. Many publishers have to go out of business and close their game services. Only a few games that can survive until now. Call it the game Point Blank, Rising Force, and other games that can be counted on the fingers. Some of these games were up to make the version of 'reborn him'. This reborn version is like regenerating the game into their early days. It was created to recall the attention of gamers who once had triumphed in the game. Now online games are beginning to shift from PC era to Mobile era. Mobile, Tablet, and other compact gadgets are the main choice for gamers to play. Playing on mobile devices allows them to play anywhere without being limited by time and place. Although initially, mobile games are casual (Fruit Ninja, Candy Crush, Angry Bird), now more and more popping up other games that are hardcore and can make gamers play his gadgets for hours.
Eg like Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Mobile Legends, and others. Unwittingly gamers begin to adapt to the new mechanism of playing mobile online games that are quite different from PC online games. Almost half of the mobile games implement energy refill system. Unlike in PCs where you can play non-stop until bored, mobile games are created so that players have to wait for energy first in order to play. Item Mall offered is much more 'crazy' when compared with existing mall items on PC online games. We often hear that people spend huge amounts of money just to upgrade their in-game components. The more it seems that the RMT system is getting complicated. Almost most online games now can no longer do 1 on 1 trade. the items obtained are bound (tied to the characters that get it). The impression, if you want to become 'god' in mobile online games, we must pay expensive to the game maker first. This could be a controversy in the eyes of gamers because making the game no longer depend on the skills they have, but on how much money they spend.
Pros and cons
Almost all of the existing online games prohibit this RMT system. Only a small portion of the games actually legalize RMT. Eg like Diablo with the auction system, although later discontinued because many who do the exploitation. Before discussing more the pros and cons of RMT, it helps to look at the advantages and disadvantages if a game legalizes RMT system.
Advantages:
- The game will be very lively and crowded because there is a second 'market'
- Make games fairer for those who have real-life work
- Can help the economy as a potential job opportunity
Deficiency:
- Change most of the player population to 'farmer'
- Spawns a lot of BOT
- Spawns a lot of Hackers (duplicate items)
- Spawns a lot of chat gold spammers
- Creating players NOOB (gods item but minus skill)
- Unsecured security of each player's transactions
Part III
Online games are generally a means of recreation for game lovers, but not a few also make it a place to make a living
Looking at the points above we can already understand why RMT is prohibited in most online games. However, this does not make the guts of the RMT-ers shrink. Although it is getting harder to deal with items in the game, there are many other things that can be traded between players even though they know that it violates the End User License Agreement (EULA). Call it that is still crowded, leveling services (GB / Boosting) and buying and selling ID. In Point Blank games for example, GB services are still widely used since the first until now. If anyone thinks this is legal, then they are wrong. From the time of Point Blank held by Gemscool until now switched to Garena, there is always a call to raise the rank naturally. For those who violate will be subject to sanctions in the form of rollback to ban the account.
Do you sanction? Of course, had time to walk, but the magnitude of demand from the players to the services of GB to make the game publisher overwhelmed. Until now the impression gained as if GB is a legal action. Other big games like DOTA 2 are also not spared from this phenomenon. It is easy to find MMR boosting services in social media. A valve as the owner of this game does not stay silent, many steps have been taken, one of them by requiring players to register the phone number if you want to participate in the ranked match. But still not reduce the number of enthusiasts boosting services out there. Not to mention the sale and purchase of ID that can be sure always present bitmap online game available. Then why does this continue to happen and seem unstoppable?
According to Equilibrium Game Theory, coined by one American mathematician John Nash, at first, short-term interaction, one-time interaction, there is an individual tendency to intercept each other, resulting in a loss to all parties involved. But the Game Theory was followed by Robert Aumann who was the winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics, wherein the long-term interaction, every individual will have an incentive to cooperate, because the long-term benefits of cooperation will be far more useful than tackling for big profits just once at the beginning of the interaction. Every individual in the business needs to see interactions from the side of long-term interests.
The above theory gives us the enlightenment that RMT phenomenon that has been happening always get rejected early in the game by certain parties. But over time, there will be a point where both parties will benefit from this RMT system. We take the example of boosting on Game Point Blank. As mentioned earlier, that this way is opposed and not allowed at the beginning of its appearance, but the more indirectly the publisher also gets benefits and benefits. For example by benefiting from the sale of EXP and Point UP items that players use when boosting. Certainly almost most of the online games that can survive in the long term, always involving the RMT process in it, both legal and illegal.
Conclusion From Articles Above
RMT systems in every online game will continue to exist, legal or illegal, like or dislike, closed or outright. It all happened like a feud between criminals and law enforcement. We naturally want to live without the presence of criminals. But is that possible? Could it be that all evil on earth could disappear? Certainly not. There will always be law enforcement who is ready to anticipate it. It's the same with online games that have their own 'law enforcers'. There will be a chain effect and actions and reactions from both sides until later reached the point where the two already consider this as a 'commonplace'.
So, what do you think with this RMT? Agree or disagree? Do not forget to follow @muhammadfaisal for other interesting info about games!
