A major debate for quite a while has been: Is buying "levels", "gold", "accounts", and "items" in online games/MMORPG's a bad thing? Well it goes both ways.  Yes it is bad, but in other ways it's also not bad. I will first explain the multiple reasons supporting why it is bad and the cause and effect it has, then I will do the same for beneficial influences and then some reasoning on how it can be a good as well.

Bad- These above items are common things you will see bought upon from players in certain communities. Players who lack the will and want to work for and earn their respect, levels, skills, etc. in the game will find websites where other "players" ("players"= usually the players who have hacked into the game and have made scripts or files that we know as autoers, macros, bots, etc. (these are programs that do the work for you and run automatically without you having to ever lift a finger)) are selling the items or goods they seek and will buy it for real live currency (known as Real World Trading).  This is illegal in some of the rules and contents of a few games, such as the most common known and infamous one: Runescape. For more information on Runescape check out my guide: *Runescape Awareness as of December 10th, 2007.* The reason this is bad is because it's unfair to those players who actually put there time, soul, heart, dedication, and energy into getting everything, while others are going out and getting more than them and passing them within a matter of minutes or up to 24 hours.  For the actual players, this is a disadvantage and usually almost always aggravates them and starts rants and petitions usually seen and heard in forums and in general discussion areas.  There point is valid and anyone who knows about games involving real world people know it's about competition and being the best of the best.  But with buying of such things there's no way a regular, actual player can keep up with a fake "player" because nobody can realistically stay up 24/7 and continuously do one thing without the need to eat, sleep, move, etc like the bots who are made to do this can. However, with all this said there are a few positive and good things about this.

Good- With all these unfair things the one thing that it enables is the continuation of the community and game. Now, don't take this the wrong way, I'm definitely not saying that if every "player" was to not exist, or left, or quit that it would be the downfall and demise of the game, but remember the "players" that do this must pay for membership which means the company is still going to get money usually from them monthly and will be taking it out of the "players" profit. To put it in better terms, it keeps the community alive and going with a little randomness. Also, it's used for purposes such as training or getting a pure (in games a pure is referred to usually as a character who is super strong in one specified category: such as a pure mage/magician would be most likely maxed in mage and have acquired all the bonuses, boosts, equipments, items, upgrades, etc. depending on what's available for that particular game) so then that person can use their character and go earn money or kill points or awards/rewards by themselves with no need for the "players" anymore: kind of like they need a jump start in the game.  Games such as WoW (World of Warcraft) don't have policies that are enforced against trading gold, items, etc. because it's based on a player against player or partnership and teamwork relation in which you help each other and go on raids or runs for rare treasure, etc.  Even though it's taking away from the "main" incorporation (because theres created items are being traded outside of themselves and they're not receiving the money for the items) players use it as a form of communication and a way to form a correlation and trust bond, for if theres us a successful trade, then the person becomes a bit more reliable, and each times the person has a success it builds up until they finally have a lot of success in which they then will be known as trustworthy and go-to type seller. In simple words you could say, "It builds the character in a person who uses a character to present themselves."

All in all, my final conclusion is as follows:

Real World Trading (RWT) is good for some purposes in such as keeping the community a little stronger and to help give the owning Corporation a bit more pocket money for membership terms, along with helping people in society build trust with each other and taking risks as well to grasp the concept and ideology of real life and how everything isn't perfect; you win some you lose some. Contradicting this however, is for those who either don't have the extra money to buy all these fancy accessories or for the people who believe in the true quality of the game and stick with their morals to playing the game the way it was intended to be played and don't use such cheats.  It's unfair to them for they are technically using, abiding by, and playing the games the way they were designed to play, and for them following the rules and concepts they should not be punished by this disadvantage. Overall, there are a few benefits to the whole Real World Trading thing, but in general, the bad things outweigh the good at least in this situation and it should not be done on any game that the rules, policies, etc. bind you no to do and you agree to the terms and conditions no to do so as well.

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