I’ve stumbled on someone else’s idea in another context, but it hit me instantly that the idea has some real merit. There might (definitely) be some legal wrangles (and perhaps a tax headache or three...) to this one, but I think it has a touch of awesome if Anet pulls it off,. Enough awesome that I could see other major MMORPGs out there cloning it for their own use once anyone pulls it off. (apologies in advance to any accountants) Sell items in the gem store, and ship them to our door. The main idea is to sell real world items that people can buy using in-game currency. Take the merchandise page from the website and embed it in the gem store, selling the items for gems. There’s a flat conversion rate between dollars and gems so from at least the payment angle I can see this working. For shipping... UPS/Amazon/DHL/whatever works, although admittedly shipping globally would present a few challenges . Include some buttons, refrigerator magnets, etc as cheap items for younger people to use just to show off their supporter the game... An alternate something as an extension might be a merchant in a remote location (end of a dungeon, perhaps) that sells a “been here, done this” item or two for gems. The tax angle though.... what’s the going tax rate on in-game gems? X) Thoughts, anyone?
I’ve stumbled on someone else’s idea in another context, but it hit me instantly that the idea has some real merit. There might (definitely) be some legal wrangles (and perhaps a tax headache or three...) to this one, but I think it has a touch of awesome if Anet pulls it off,. Enough awesome that I could see other major MMORPGs out there cloning it for their own use once anyone pulls it off. (apologies in advance to any accountants) Sell items in the gem store, and ship them to our door. The main idea is to sell real world items that people can buy using in-game currency. Take the merchandise page from the website and embed it in the gem store, selling the items for gems. There’s a flat conversion rate between dollars and gems so from at least the payment angle I can see this working. For shipping... UPS/Amazon/DHL/whatever works, although admittedly shipping globally would present a few challenges . Include some buttons, refrigerator magnets, etc as cheap items for younger people to use just to show off their supporter the game... An alternate something as an extension might be a merchant in a remote location (end of a dungeon, perhaps) that sells a “been here, done this” item or two for gems. The tax angle though.... what’s the going tax rate on in-game gems? X) Thoughts, anyone?