Last week, I got a pingback on my old personal blog: Another site had linked to my 2011 article about inflation in five MMOs specifically to demonstrate that inflation in MMOs is an old problem that’s been going on forever. If you ever want to feel old, just have your work cited as evidence of an ancient problem in the genre!
In all seriousness, I’m glad I wrote all of that down because I might have forgotten some of the nuances of those economies all these years later. The weird thing about it, reading through it all again now, is what’s changed – and what hasn’t. I mean, two of those MMORPGs no longer exist as anything but rogue servers, and one of them is in maintenance mode. The problems I described in each game still exist in those games and their spinoffs, as do their solutions. And new MMOs have made most of the same mistakes, which I think is the most maddening thing.
So let’s consider the issue of inflation in MMOs. Which MMO suffers from the worst inflation in-game? Where is currency inflation the most out of control, and where does it actually have the most harmful effect on the game – since these aren’t the same thing?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
