EVE General Discussion

its how the inflation conspiracy works
were all in on it
for a fee of 500m i can get you in on it too

People had alts and they used to PLEX those accounts, so as PLEX prices were steadily going up and PLEXing them was harder, and CCP decided to monetize on delivering SP extractors, they extracted those SP and sold it, to buy more PLEX for less account, PLEXing into the future, to the moon and back again. They can now play Omega clones for free, for like.... ever?

You heard correctly.

It's a lot more efficient, with some exceptions, to make extractor monkeys than developing characters for sale.

What I see happening is that eventually the number of players with characters SP injected to where they want will max out. This will make all the extractor monkeys pointless and not needed. So active accts will drop significantly and CCP will have to come up with a legit scheme to attract new players. Not the false active acct narrative they are currently trying to sell to those that can't look beyond the now.

Mr Epeen

The slippery slope has begun and will pick up speed.

The result being players like me who care enough and earn enough to sub, and those with so much isk to PLEX indefinately, as the remainder of players.

Activity and accounts are going to drop like flies this summer.

There is already so much unused PLEX in stockpiles (especially after Aurum stockpiles where converted), that it has skewed the market.

CCP produces PLEX, but players own, and have stockpiled, PLEX (and Aurum, as converted to PLEX now, making them even richer), WAAY beyond the rate of PLEX introduction and use per month.

I can only speculate, but I would heuristically estimate the current PLEX count in stockpiles ingame sufficient to PLEX 1 Omega character per player currently active in EVE for atleast 2 years.

What that means, is if they dumped their stockpiles in total, CCPs income would be a fraction of now, and ofc the supply would mean players could PLEX even easier, leading to less subbing and no further PLEX purchase for conversion for isk.

The hidden supply of PLEX held by players, is nigh unfathomable.
Thousands upon thousands of PLEX held by concentrated/deliberate entities that have never been introduced to the market for use.

If everyone at once dumped all their PLEX on the market, CCP would earn nigh ZERO cash for years to come.

That is how significant the PLEX holdings of serious PLEX bankers is, and how dangerous to EVE.

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CCP may control the introduction of PLEX into the game, but its these entities ingame that control its value ingame.

CCP cannot/will not control the price of PLEX, it is entirely in the hands of those with PLEX stockpiles ingame.

Ergo: CCPs sub/PLEX sales are reliant on the actions of PLEX stockpilers ingame.
Thus, these PLEX stockpilers not only control the price of PLEX ingame, but also the value of subbing/buying PLEX from CCP.

TLDR: CCPs income from subs and PLEX purchase, is dependent on the actions of PLEX stockpilers ingame, as a factor of isk equity ingame, which these players control..

Shareholders may own CCP, but ingame entities own CCPs income from EVE.

Just as a point of interest here, To a large extent the OOG PLEX market is largely demand driven. The supply of PLEX is infinitely elastic--i.e. the supply curve is a horizontal line at whatever price CCP determines. Thus, demand is largely what determines the quantity of PLEX that shows up in game. As that demand curve moves around, the quantity will move around. This in turn will have an effect on the in-game price. If OOG demand flags, then supply in game will tighten. Yes that can be offset, possibly, by people who have stock piled PLEX but have not put them on the market, but that my not fully offset the effects on price.

Markets are dynamic, so while a rise in PLEX prices in game would, ceterius paribus, result in more people buying them out of game, that is not the only factor at work. For example, the price to get to 500 PLEX for game time has gone up. For example you have to buy slightly over 4.5 of the 110 PLEX pack to get to 500 PLEX to get 30 days of game time. That price increase is like shifting the supply curve up, which ceterius paribus, would indicate a drop in PLEX bought OOG and thus a reduction in IG supply of PLEX. So there are two counter acting effects.

Further, the current increase in PLEX prices in game could simply be the result of this supply effect--that is the OOG supply has shifted up (keep in mind the OOG supply graph will be a horizontal line at the price leve--e.g. a perfectly elastic supply graph) and thus in game supply has shifted inwards (the IG supply graph is most likely your typical upward slopping supply graph) resulting in higher prices.

Basically, one has to be careful when there is a shift in the demand (supply) curve vs. a movement along the demand (supply) curve. If demand shifts--i.e. every point on the demand curve moves left or right, then the supply side is a movement along the supply curve. Be careful reasoning from a price change, it can lead one astray.

I was referring to the OOG market. There CCP is the sole supplier and they can supply as many PLEX as customers want, there is is effectively no upper bound on the number of PLEX they could supply. Thus, it is demand that determines the amount of PLEX entering the game. CCP can have an effect, but only by lowering or raising the price. That is all I meant.

As for the stock in game, some of it may be effectively sunk out of the game in an account that is say, no longer subbed and the player is no longer logging in (for now at least). It is much like ISK in the wallets of those players. It is technically in game, but there is pretty much no way for it to be in circulation and having an effect on the economy.

Then how come the price drops when CCP has a PLEX sale?

supply/demand, with PLEX sale there is more PLEX on market when sale ends prices return to previous state. PLEX is like gold in RL. It's been rising in price since introducion. If I would invest my ISK into faction BS 2 years (machariel for example) it would be terrible loss. PLEX on the other hand...