In the mid twentieth century when queer was deemed to have negative connotations and homosexuality was overly clinical (up until 1973 the DSM classified it as a mental disorder) a movement was established to rebrand the words “homosexuality” and “queer” as “gay” to describe same-sex attraction without the cold negative connotations. Similarly some prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett have attempted (although much less successfully due to in my personal opinion a poor word choice) to rebrand atheism which they see as having negative historical connotations as “Brights”.
Real Money Trade (RMT) is the traditional (rather awkward) term for virtual game currency and item sales. Traditionally, producers of games developed for a Western (as opposed to Eastern) market have been violently opposed to RMT. As such the word RMT starting with Ultima Online and EverQuest has developed fiercely negative connotations among many publishers, developers, and players within the MMO industry. It was common to see RMT as “evil” which upon critical analysis is both sad and humorous. Of all the evils that our world contains suggesting that engaging in a voluntary transaction (which by economic definition helps both parties) between one fiat currency backed by a government and a virtual currency in a game world is somehow in any way “evil” destroys the very connotation of the word. Interesting enough both gays and atheists have also in a similar fashion been called just as unjustly evil for just as ridiculous reasons. Supporting any of the above three was seen as a sure way to destroy (both real and virtual) society. In reality these fearful claims never materialized.
Today, industry veteran Markee Dragon declared that the era of RMT is over. Western gaming companies are starting to see the light (or at least the dollar signs) and realizing that as Markee claims many prominent games’ secondary market (RMT, and anything else that isn’t first market) is nearly eight times the size of the first market (box sales and subscriptions). Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) realized this and introduced publisher supported secondary markets with the Station Exchange in EverQuest II. Korean based NCSoft (one of the few eastern game companies to penetrate the North American market) introduced Dungeon Runners on a free to download and play model with an optional subscription plan to access to better items and equipment. North American companies with venture capital and publisher support which specialize in creating publisher sponsored secondary markets which five years ago would be unthinkable are now a reality (see PlaySpan).
The seal has been broken and once publishers find a way to tax or capitalize the money stream that secondary markets generate there will be no turning back. For now on all future blog posts and reviews will refer to the RMT market as the “Secondary Market”. We here at GameRates gleefully look forward to the imminent arrival of this budding “secondary” wave and will watch as it shakes the industry.
