These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

EVE General Discussion

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
123Next pageLast page
 

PLEX going up because CCP conjures ISK, buys PLEX, then trashes them.

First post First post
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Bart Starr
Aggressive Structural Steel Expediting Services
#1 - 2012-10-12 06:35:38 UTC
Now, this isn't a complaint. I want PLEX to be as expensive as possible because I don't think 'perse auki' scrubs should be able to fly for free.

That said, PLEX price surges are easy to explain.

A PLEX is simply a 'gift certificate' for game time. A player pays currency and gets a PLEX.
The PLEX represents a promise from CCP provide 30 days of server resources (or AURUM) to the bearer.
Destruction of PLEX is the equivalent of tearing up these 'gift certificates' - or flushing them down the toilet.
This makes CCP happy because they collected $$$ without having to provide a service. The gift certificate, though paid for, never will be redeemed.

So,
-CCP can create or remove ISK from the game at will. (We know this because of negative ISK accounts reported for RMTers.)
-PLEX are available on the open market for ISK, and CCP can create or destroy alts at will.

CCP simply creates ISK out of thin air, then buys them off the market (injecting ISK into the game), and then trashes them.

Result? PLEX prices go up.
CCP then invites players to buy more PLEX - for those players to sell on the market for ever higher amounts of ISK.

Of course, ISK inflation results as CCP pumps ISK into the system via PLEX buys.
But why would they care? They are earning cash without having to provide valuable 'server resources' for that cash.
All they have to do is provide ISK which is 'free'.....even though it erodes the buying power of everyone 'honestly' playing the game.

Simple. Corrupt. Profitable. And CCP is easily capable of it.
(Remember, this is the same company that quietly provided T2 Blueprints to favored Alliances. Then....BANNED Kugu for discovering the cancer and going public with it.)
Destiny Corrupted
Deadly Viper Kitten Mitten Sewing Company
Senpai's Afterschool Anime and Gaming Club
#2 - 2012-10-12 06:41:33 UTC
They might do that, but I think they're smart enough to know that doing it at anything but a very slow, controlled pace would be pretty dangerous. Still, if they can make a few tens of thousands dollars extra per year, they would. Anyone would.

I wrote some true EVE stories! And no, they're not of the generic "my 0.0 alliance had lots of 0.0 fleets and took a lot of 0.0 space" sort. Check them out here:

https://truestories.eveonline.com/users/2074-destiny-corrupted
Kehro Urgus
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2012-10-12 06:42:14 UTC
Someone's going to disappear...Roll

Yeeee! 
Riot Girl
You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack
#4 - 2012-10-12 06:44:55 UTC
When I logged in yesterday, there was an advertisement cashing in on the huge rise in plex prices. CCP are loving it.

Oh god.
Tech3ZH
Doomheim
#5 - 2012-10-12 06:47:29 UTC
Note to self; check rye bread for mold. One can never be too careful.
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Goo Convertor
#6 - 2012-10-12 06:47:53 UTC
That is a pretty serious allegation.

Let us look at alternative explanations.

First: Open Tournament 2012. Entry can be bought at the auction next weekend, average bid for the closed Alliance Tournament was 34 PLEX. The Open Tournament has $10k on the table, so expect much more interest in entering. Expect PLEX demand to be slightly higher than normal.

Second: People are blitzing FW complexes to make billions of ISK a week. These people are of that level of mental competency that they will shove a half dozen PLEX in the cargo hold of a hurricane flown by a faction militia pilot, and undock with faction targets present.

So we have two extraordinary causes for demand. Then we have the usual market speculators who will buy out PLEX and relist at higher values in the hope that they sell at the higher price.

Now given the above, why does CCP need to engage in any surreptitious market action to acquire PLEX for the sake of destroying them? A few thousand PLEX have been destroyed due to pilots undocking with PLEX in the cargo hold. A few hundreds more PLEX will be destroyed as part of the Open Tournament bidding. Pilots are stock piling PLEX for the usual reasons (non-liquid capital, just-in-case-I-become-unemployed).

Of course your story sounds a whole lot more exciting. But I suspect the Truth is quite mundane.

Day 0 Advice for New Players
Touval Lysander
Zero Wine
#7 - 2012-10-12 06:48:04 UTC
Riot Girl wrote:
When I logged in yesterday, there was an advertisement cashing in on the huge rise in plex prices. CCP are loving it.

The reality of the REAL market behind Eve.

I think a great man once wrote.

Greed is good.

"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
Bart Starr
Aggressive Structural Steel Expediting Services
#8 - 2012-10-12 06:52:56 UTC
Personally, I think its brilliant.
Completely legal. Probably sustainable....to a point.
All logs that could prove anything are 'in-house', so, short of hacking, its completely invisible to the player base.
And if someone did manage to hack into 'the logs' - that person would be banned and their name forever censored in the forums.

So congrats CCP, as long as you keep inflating ISK levels within the game, you have a license to keep printing 'real currency'.

Just want to make sure the gaming public understands what is happening here. Public service, you understand.
Destiny Corrupted
Deadly Viper Kitten Mitten Sewing Company
Senpai's Afterschool Anime and Gaming Club
#9 - 2012-10-12 06:59:05 UTC
Tomorrow I'm going to wake up with a little bit of blood on my pillow at ear level. Your post, and your character are going to be completely gone, and I'm going to wonder what the cryptic message I left on a sticky note taped to the back of my monitor means.

I wrote some true EVE stories! And no, they're not of the generic "my 0.0 alliance had lots of 0.0 fleets and took a lot of 0.0 space" sort. Check them out here:

https://truestories.eveonline.com/users/2074-destiny-corrupted
Bart Starr
Aggressive Structural Steel Expediting Services
#10 - 2012-10-12 07:02:22 UTC
Mara Rinn wrote:
That is a pretty serious allegation.

Let us look at alternative explanations.

First: Open Tournament 2012. Entry can be bought at the auction next weekend, average bid for the closed Alliance Tournament was 34 PLEX. The Open Tournament has $10k on the table, so expect much more interest in entering. Expect PLEX demand to be slightly higher than normal.

Second: People are blitzing FW complexes to make billions of ISK a week. These people are of that level of mental competency that they will shove a half dozen PLEX in the cargo hold of a hurricane flown by a faction militia pilot, and undock with faction targets present.

So we have two extraordinary causes for demand. Then we have the usual market speculators who will buy out PLEX and relist at higher values in the hope that they sell at the higher price.

Now given the above, why does CCP need to engage in any surreptitious market action to acquire PLEX for the sake of destroying them? A few thousand PLEX have been destroyed due to pilots undocking with PLEX in the cargo hold. A few hundreds more PLEX will be destroyed as part of the Open Tournament bidding. Pilots are stock piling PLEX for the usual reasons (non-liquid capital, just-in-case-I-become-unemployed).

Of course your story sounds a whole lot more exciting. But I suspect the Truth is quite mundane.


Allegation? There is no crime here. They have the power to do everything I've described - and do it invisibly.
Its their game, their ISK, their market - we are but the puppets.

Only a few years back, a 90-day GTC was 300M ISK. (3.3M ISK per day)
Today, 600M ISK buys you 30 days of gametime. (20M ISK per day)

Thats some pretty serious inflating right there.

For the naysayers, instead of just trolling, show me where 'they can't' do what I've described - and I'll retract.
"They wouldn't do that" isn't an argument, its naivety - CCP wants to inflate their bottom line, and if they can make 'hard currency' by conjuring up more ISK, they will, in a heartbeat.
Tinja Soikutsu
Perkone
Caldari State
#11 - 2012-10-12 07:02:28 UTC
There is not enough tinfoil in the world for this thread...
Malcanis
Vanishing Point.
The Initiative.
#12 - 2012-10-12 07:07:48 UTC
So your arguments reduce to "they could and I would therefore I have proved they are".

"Just remember later that I warned against any change to jump ranges or fatigue. You earned whats coming."

Grath Telkin, 11.10.2016
Bart Starr
Aggressive Structural Steel Expediting Services
#13 - 2012-10-12 07:16:07 UTC
Malcanis wrote:
So your arguments reduce to "they could and I would therefore I have proved they are".



Ooookay, perhaps you can demonstrate how....

A) CCP is incapable of doing this?
B) one could prove it without becoming a CCP employee, or hacking (and getting banned)?
C) this does not generate $$$ for CCP. (through reducing server loads by tearing up PLEX, and encouraging more purchases?
D) how CCP isn't motivated by $$$?
Alice Saki
Nocturnal Romance
Cynosural Field Theory.
#14 - 2012-10-12 07:17:01 UTC
White Coats are coming ^_^

FREEZE! Drop the LIKES AND WALK AWAY! - Currenly rebuilding gaming machine, I will Return.
Kehro Urgus
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#15 - 2012-10-12 07:18:45 UTC
Alice Saki wrote:
White Coats are coming ^_^



Put him in a straightjacket and give him an enema.Twisted

Yeeee! 
Heian Galanodel
Shadow Legion Y
Seriously Suspicious
#16 - 2012-10-12 07:26:21 UTC
"Two by two... hands of blue..."

"An acorn that is unafraid to destroy itself in growing into a tree."

-David Zindell, The Broken God (1992)-
Vaal Erit
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#17 - 2012-10-12 07:27:31 UTC
Nice, accusing CCP of fraud on their own website with zero proof. This will end well for you.
Bart Starr
Aggressive Structural Steel Expediting Services
#18 - 2012-10-12 07:29:53 UTC  |  Edited by: CCP Phantom
Sure, I understand this doesn't portray CCP in a flattering light.

But thats not my responsibility. I'm not here to kiss-ass, or censor myself because it might make CCP look bad. [Edit: Off topic removed, CCP Phantom]

I'm just trying to point out something which has been pretty evident to me for quite some time.

I don't want my fellow pod pilots to dwell in ignorance.

CCP could confiscate every single Titan in the game tomorrow if they wanted.
CCP Soundwave has stated he could flip a switch and make it impossible to target other players in highsec, if he wanted.

Its their universe.

They wouldn't do these things because it would be too visible and many subscriptions would be cancelled.

But if they can get away with something that earns them hard cash, without the player base easily noticing (because they aren't given the tools)....well, why not inflate the ISK economy?

Its called 'plucking the goose with a minimum of hissing'. Do it right and he won't even realize it.

How do you enjoy being naked, silly gooses?
Touval Lysander
Zero Wine
#19 - 2012-10-12 07:30:11 UTC
Vaal Erit wrote:
Nice, accusing CCP of fraud on their own website with zero proof. This will end well for you.

He did admit to being a dickhead in another post earlier.

I thought he was joking.

"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
Herzog Wolfhammer
Sigma Special Tactics Group
#20 - 2012-10-12 07:33:05 UTC
Came to this thread expecting to read about another Kestrel full of PLEX being popped in Jita....


Bring back DEEEEP Space!
123Next pageLast page