Why I think cross-league trading is just as bad as real-money trading

I've been seeing a lot of threads where people are complaining about being scammed when trying to trade things from default to HC leagues. I am quite concerned about this, because it seems like there is now a thriving cross-league black market that could have a negative effect on the game.

To see why cross-league trading is just as bad as real-money trading, let's consider why real-money trading is bad in the first place. In order for a competitive game to be fun, there has to be a level playing field in which only in-game performance matters to determine who wins or loses (or scores higher or lower). Real-money trading skews the playing field so that external resources (real-life wealth) can be a substitute for in-game performance.

In PoE, each league is meant to have its own isolated economy [source], with only one-way transfers from short-term leagues to the permanent leagues and from Hardcore to Default league. Each league also has its own separate ladder, so each league is in effect its own separate competition. When considered from this perspective, wealth from another league is just as much an external resource as real-life wealth is.

The reason why there is no officially supported way to conduct cross-league trading safely is the same reason why there is no official pay-to-win microtransaction store. GGG does not intend for cross-league trading to be a legitimate game practice. If you are considering conducting a cross-league trade, please reconsider. Not only are you exposing yourself to being scammed, you are also damaging the integrity of the game environment and ruining the fun of other players who do not engage in such practices.

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

The reason why there is no officially supported way to conduct cross-league trading safely is the same reason why there is no official pay-to-win microtransaction store. GGG does not intend for cross-league trading to be a legitimate game practice. If you are considering conducting a cross-league trade, please reconsider. Not only are you exposing yourself to being scammed, you are also damaging the integrity of the game environment and ruining the fun of other players who do not engage in such practices.

The difference there is GGG never came out with one of the main bullet points being: "There will never be cross-league trading. Ever."

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mkmaddage a écrit :

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

The reason why there is no officially supported way to conduct cross-league trading safely is the same reason why there is no official pay-to-win microtransaction store. GGG does not intend for cross-league trading to be a legitimate game practice. If you are considering conducting a cross-league trade, please reconsider. Not only are you exposing yourself to being scammed, you are also damaging the integrity of the game environment and ruining the fun of other players who do not engage in such practices.

The difference there is GGG never came out with one of the main bullet points being: "There will never be cross-league trading. Ever."

From http://www.pathofexile.com/leagues

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Characters can only see and interact with other characters in the same league. In this way, each one is its own isolated economy.

Ill tell you why i think its just as bad as real-money trading.

Once, i lost my item because someone offered HC currency, even though i had the best offer.

I'm still raging.

I'm quietly stunned GGG made a cross-league trading board, but at least they put 'UNSAFE!' in the board title, LOL.

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

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mkmaddage a écrit :

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

The reason why there is no officially supported way to conduct cross-league trading safely is the same reason why there is no official pay-to-win microtransaction store. GGG does not intend for cross-league trading to be a legitimate game practice. If you are considering conducting a cross-league trade, please reconsider. Not only are you exposing yourself to being scammed, you are also damaging the integrity of the game environment and ruining the fun of other players who do not engage in such practices.

The difference there is GGG never came out with one of the main bullet points being: "There will never be cross-league trading. Ever."

From http://www.pathofexile.com/leagues

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Characters can only see and interact with other characters in the same league. In this way, each one is its own isolated economy.

I don't follow... I assume you're not replying to the main bullet points thing cos that ain't a main marketing bullet point (whoops... maybe I forgot the "marketing" in there...) I was referring to the fact that "this will never be p2w" was one of their main points sold to journalists and sites from the start. Cross League Trading isn't even a pimple on their marketing plan's ass.

The mainly reason this happens is because when u die at hardcore u are moved to default league and people try to sell their items for HC currencies
This should be fixed and HC chars should be dead forever not moved to default.

its a minor annoyance, regular SC players do not have HC currency.

If players want to risk trading their items for another persons HC currency because they want to start playing hardcore instead, then they are welcome to.

There will never be influx of items to the HC league.

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

In order for a competitive game to be fun, there has to be a level playing field in which only in-game performance matters to determine who wins or loses (or scores higher or lower)

PoE is built around luck; it will never be a game in which only the performance of the players matters. If you somehow remove cross-realm trading, you'll be transforming this game that's unsuited for serious competition into...a game that's still unsuited for serious competition.

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GusTheCrocodile a écrit :

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VoxelSquid a écrit :

In order for a competitive game to be fun, there has to be a level playing field in which only in-game performance matters to determine who wins or loses (or scores higher or lower)

PoE is built around luck; it will never be a game in which only the performance of the players matters. If you somehow remove cross-realm trading, you'll be transforming this game that's unsuited for serious competition into...a game that's still unsuited for serious competition.

Seems like it to me.

I would agree that cross-league trading is a thing which can create problems, and which can create problems of a category similar to those created by RMT. I don't think that makes it "just as bad".

Cross-league trading does not create an unambiguous and huge advantage for players who have real-world money. Therefore it is not just-as-bad. It may be bad, but it is not as bad.