There are also many MMORPGs, such as FFXIV or WoW, that do offer player trading but mainly trade through the auction house. Because it’s simply faster and more convenient for many players.
The counterexamples: ESO and Corepunk
Which games make trading interesting? A good example of a social trading system is ESO. While many transactions also run through a type of auction house here, these stores are tied to guilds.
And so you do end up talking to other players because you first have to become part of such a trading guild. In the guild chat, you often exchange prices.
Furthermore, ESO also allows direct trading between players and has made it its goal to ensure that direct trading between players is an important component.
However, the upcoming MMORPG Corepunk sounds the most interesting to me. It promises that you will get the best equipment through crafting, but it’s directly bound to you. However, you can craft the equipment directly in a trading interface for another player, to which it will then be bound.
This adaptation ensures that an auction house doesn’t work at least for the equipment and that crafters can make a name for themselves in the game again. Because it should be difficult to obtain the best recipes. They will not simply be sold to you by the teacher.
What do you think about the situation regarding trading between players? Do you welcome the auction houses or do you sometimes wish for the old times back? Feel free to write it in the comments.
In the coming months and years, several interesting MMORPGs are on the horizon. We will introduce them to you here:
The 8 most promising new MMOs and MMORPGs for 2021
In the old MMORPGs, it was important to know the best crafters on a server. They provided the best goods. In many new games, however, there is no direct player trading anymore. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch is annoyed by this change.
“In the past, MMORPGs were more familial and social” – this sentence is heard and read again and again. And there will hardly be an MMORPG player who would deny this statement. The “simplification” of the game is often identified as a problem or the fact that “everything must be doable solo”.
I would not completely disagree with these points, but I see the problem in a completely different aspect. Because for social interaction, it is important that players are brought together somehow. This can happen through 40-player raids or hardcore content, but these aspects are not important to me.
I would much rather welcome it if I had to interact with other players in my daily life – for example, through trading. Because while I depended on other players in Guild Wars 1 or Star Wars Galaxies, they have today virtually been replaced by an auction house.
Players spend more time in the AH than with other players
What is the problem? If I want to sell rare or particularly strong items in Guild Wars 2, Black Desert, or Retail WoW, I travel to the nearest auction house for that. There I list the item and wait for another player to buy it.
Done.
That was my interaction with another person who bought my legendary great sword Düsternis in Guild Wars 2. I farmed for weeks for that, yet at the end I don’t even know who is now holding it.
And that annoys me immensely. Because trade is made easier by auction houses, and many new MMORPGs don’t even allow me to trade directly with other players. These games include:
- Guild Wars 2
- Bless Unleashed
- Black Desert
- The upcoming Elyon
Especially in Black Desert, the renunciation of player trading is complete nonsense, because economy and trade stand at the center of the game. But this center quickly becomes the auction house.
What makes trading so interesting? In player trading, you are reliant on contacting other people. In Guild Wars 1, I fondly remember selling items in Kamadan and getting into conversation with other merchants or buyers.
Through one of these conversations, I met my later guild leader. He was selling a very rare Naga Raincaller minipet back then, and of course I wanted to know how he got that mini.
In Star Wars Galaxies, it was important to know the best crafters in the game. Because it was virtually impossible to level up multiple professions high. Thus, you were basically forced to interact with other players and could even make a name for yourself in the game, so that everyone had to know the armorsmith XY.
In modern MMORPGs, however, nobody knows the person who listed an item in the auction house.
Auction House serves as protection against scams and is much faster
Why do games refrain from direct trading? The direct trading between players also carries dangers. It can always happen that someone uses trading for fraudulent actions, for example, by calling out an overpriced price or tricking with the items.
Often such frauds result in additional effort for the game developer, for example through tickets where players would like to get back their item or money that was taken from them in the fraud.
There are also many MMORPGs, such as FFXIV or WoW, that do offer player trading but mainly trade through the auction house. Because it’s simply faster and more convenient for many players.
The counterexamples: ESO and Corepunk
Which games make trading interesting? A good example of a social trading system is ESO. While many transactions also run through a type of auction house here, these stores are tied to guilds.
And so you do end up talking to other players because you first have to become part of such a trading guild. In the guild chat, you often exchange prices.
Furthermore, ESO also allows direct trading between players and has made it its goal to ensure that direct trading between players is an important component.
However, the upcoming MMORPG Corepunk sounds the most interesting to me. It promises that you will get the best equipment through crafting, but it’s directly bound to you. However, you can craft the equipment directly in a trading interface for another player, to which it will then be bound.
This adaptation ensures that an auction house doesn’t work at least for the equipment and that crafters can make a name for themselves in the game again. Because it should be difficult to obtain the best recipes. They will not simply be sold to you by the teacher.
What do you think about the situation regarding trading between players? Do you welcome the auction houses or do you sometimes wish for the old times back? Feel free to write it in the comments.
In the coming months and years, several interesting MMORPGs are on the horizon. We will introduce them to you here:
