Links to RMT resources

RMT related links

Introduction to RMT, Virtual Economy and Gold Farming Wikipedia page on Virtual Economy and RMT - A good introduction to Virtual Economy and RMT. Wikipedia definition of gold farming - An introduction to gold farming issue and game sweatshop. New York Times` the life of the Chinese gold farmer - A thorough coverage of the life of gold farmers in China written by Julian Dibbell.

Research and Academics of MMORPG and RMT

MMOG Chart- Bruce Woodcock compiled this market share/player subscription data for popular MMORPG titles. The data was last updated on June 2006.

MMOG Data- Phil White carried on with the research on the marketshare/subscription database. The data was updated to March 2007 and included free to play games. Daedalus Project - Nick Yee researched on gold buying behaviors. Chinese Gold Farming Documentary - a film made by Ge Jin to investigate the myth of Chinese sweatshop.

Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier (2001) - a research publication from Edward Castronova, a well known researcher on the topic of synthetic virtual world and its economy. His work on EverQuest economy became the reference for how the virtual economy could impact the real world.

Terra Nova - An academic weblog about virtual world and its issues such as RMT and gold farming. Contributors include Richard Bartle, Edward Castronova, Julian Dibbell, Nick Yee and others. A good place to openly discuss about RMT, an example is the discussion of attitudes to RMT.

Websites and blogs about RMT in general

Virtual Economy Research Network has coverage on news, research and discussion of RMT issues. It has a good estimate of the size of RMT market.

Virtual Worlds, Real Profit features news and analysis of current RMT topics.

Websites and blogs reporting news about MMORPGs and RMT

F13.net provides investigative articles, news reports and and sarcastic comments on RMT and virtual world issues like IGE speculations and Second Life`s Bragg and Linden case.

Ding! Grats!? - Online gaming news written by the ex-manager of RMT company, has a good collection of general topics and RMT posts. Escapist Magazine covers the latest official and off the track news in MMO games. The feature articles are well researched like this `To Catch a Farmer` article. The Corporation is known for the industry`s news coverage and hardcore analysis of MMORPG related issues including RMT and gold farming. Often insightful and provocative as these articles: real world money supply vs MMORPG money supply and its coverage on IGE Activities.

Websites and blogs from game developers

The Forge - A blog about virtual worlds, games and digital contents. The author, Matt Mihaly touches on RMT and virtual world issues on the legal side such as TOS and EULA violations. Raph Koster - Personal blog of a well known MMO developer, looks on the issues in virtual world and MMORPGs from the designer perspective. Raph had a good explanation on basically every issue in virtual world, including why gold exists in MMORPGs. Broken Toys - A developer at NCSoft, Scott Jennings keeps a blog for things he wants to rant on. Informative and at the same time sarcastic. He`s usually quick on rumors and scandals like this one on IGE being sold and the Allakhazam and IGE story. FreeToPlay, this blog mainly focuses on the Free-to-Play games and microtransaction business models. The writer, Adrian Crook is a producer at Relic Lab, THQ. His has been a big supporter of the emerging item sales model and trying to convey more understanding of the model. Nerfbat is written by Ryan Shwayder, a Game Designer at 38 Studios. He explains the problem with RMT and the future of it from the developer`s perspective.

Websites and blogs specializing in securities, fraud, legal and issues related to RMT

PlayNoEvil - a personal blog of Steve Davis, is a good source of excellent commentaries on game security, fraud and RMT issues such as this analysis of gold farming activities.MetaSecurity explores possibilities and issues in security, fraud and crime in virtual world such as money laundering from RMT activities. Virtually Blind is a blog by Benjamin Duranske, an intellectual property lawyer. He writes about legal matters of the MMORPGs and virtual world such as Second Life. If you are looking for a reliable source of information regarding issues such as ownership of virtual asset, violations of TOS and EULA, this is a good place to read. IM69.com brings another perspective on RMT from Korea where it is commonly accepted. He compares the difference between Korea and the global RMT market.

Websites and blogs from gamers

Tobold's MMORPG Blog - A blog about MMORPGs and games from the player perspective, insightful with analysis, reviews and comments on the current gaming news. His thought on what makes RMT evil is a good read.A group of gamers maintained this weblog, Kill Ten Rats for the ultimate purpose of ranting about MMORPGs. It`s down to earth straight forward opinions from the gamers like this opinion about RMT is fine if it`s just selling fluff.For a really good discussion about MMO economies that took place on SlashDot in response to an anti-gold editorial by PC Gamer Editor-In-Chief Gary Whitt.

Websites and blogs covering IGE

TechSoapBox A blog by Ahmed Farooq who used to be working with IGE. He is no longer involved in MMOs but from time to time he comes up with insider information like this tip he had before Wowhead was officially purchased by IGE. Azzor`s investigative report about IGE is one of the reference articles if you are interested in the story of the industry leading gold seller, IGE.Wandering Goblin reports news and everything about MMORPGs including gold seller`s rumors. Pig, an author of the website writes about IGE history and found the Affinity Media`s incorporation document. Razorwire is the drama queen. Apart from reporting current news in MMORPGs, the website is known for the coverage on IGE`s secret affairs and rumors such as this email from Brock Pierce and the analysis on IGE owns Affinity Media