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Sony Enters Intangible Goods Market

Sonyeq Sony has launched a little something called the Station Exchange where Everquest II players can legally sell in-game items to one another.  The idea is that by going legit with item sales players are selling in a sanctioned environment where the risk of losing one's goods in a fraudulent sale is diminished.  And of course Sony takes a percentage of each sale.  In the short term this is a good thing for gamers.  Players can now buy and sell in-game items without as great a risk as doing business on eBay.  In the long run, however...

Since Sony takes a cut of each transaction what's to stop the company from creating powerful in-game items that are highly coveted in the Station Exchange?  People are paying actual real money for intangible items and Sony can create as many of these items as they want.  It seems to me as if Sony has come up with a way to charge a fee for something and yet not actually have to produce anything that costs them any money.

Everquest II is fun today, but what happens in ten years when the game is just a memory?  Players will have pumped out thousands (maybe millions) of dollars in order to purchase... nothing.  Imagine all that money tossed away and nothing to show for it. 

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