Fans of World of Warcraft (WoW) were excited when Blizzard Entertainment announced that the powerhouse MMO would be getting an in-game subscription token that could be exchanged for one month of game time. The tokens, which launched yesterday, can be bought with real money and then sold for gold, WoW’s in-game currency. The idea behind this system is to give some players the chance to play for free while giving others a secure method to effectively buy gold.

Unfortunately, some early buyers are learning the law of supply and demand the hard way thanks to the new market system for the tokens. Within the first day, the value of WoW Tokens tanked by 25 percent, dropping from 30,000 to 22,631 gold. In effect, this devalued the in-game currency versus the dollar, mimicking the fluctuations of real world exchange rates.

Gold for cash

So what does all that mean? If a player sells a WoW Token when demand is high, he earns more gold than a player who sells when demand is low. Both spend the same $20 on the item, but each receives a different amount of the in-game currency in return.

In Eve Online, which also has a in-game subscription item, players take advantage of these fluctuations by buying the item off the market during spring or fall when prices are lower and then selling it during peak activity in the summer, making a profit.

WoW’s system functions differently, however. Eve players get to set their own prices, leaving it up to the user base to determine the item’s value organically. WoW, on the other hand, automatically sets the market price based on supply and demand, which can change even after players put their token up on the market.

So selling game time items on Eve is like selling your car on Craigslist. You get to pick your price, but it might not sell right away, or ever. With WoW, it is a bit more like selling your car to a dealership. You are basically guaranteed to sell, but you may not like what you get for it.

Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment (c)