Warhammer online is a newly launched and pretty popular MMORPG. Other famous MMORPGs include names such as World of Warcraft (WoW), Lineage, this list goes on forever. Anyway, one thing that they all have in common is that studies show that 22% of players(Deadalus Project Survey) on an MMORPG platform have bought or will buy virtual currency in order to upgrade in their in-game characters. In order for them to purchase gold, someone has to sell it, and this is what Mark Jacobs has to say about it.

“Let me tell you this. I’ve been offered “a piece of the action” both personally and corporately in the past if I will either turn a blind eye or help them in their actions. This would have netted me and/or Mythic a very, very tidy sum, far more than we would see from box sales. My answer was and always will remain the same: Go to hell.”

Some of you might or might not be aware, Malaysia has 2 homegrown companies that thrive on this industry. MOL and Offgamers. There is an abundance of demand for in-game trading and it is a growing market. (update: MOL told me that they too, take the moral highground and DO NOT support gold trading that the game publishers themselves do not allow in the first place. Reason being, a good working relationship with game publishers is worth more to them in the long term). In that sense, I dont necessarily think taking a moral high ground position might be beneficial for the overall business for Warhammer, but Mark Jacobs himself has said, its not about the money.