Hands on with Sony Station Exchange: Bring on the Real Money Trade
by Vladimir Cole 
{ May 18th 2005 at 4:39PM }
We stopped by Sony's oasis in the middle of the E3 floor to get a handful of demos on their new
products and initiatives. The Sony product on display that changes the rules of the game and the business of gaming the
most has to be the new "Station Exchange" application that will allow Everquest II players to buy and sell their
characters, coins, and items online.
The auction system is simple to use. In mid June, players will be given the option to transfer their existing characters to one of the two Station Exchange-enabled servers that will open for play in late June. Once on this server, players merely step up to the same in-game mailbox that they use on regular servers and the shopping process begins. I watched a Sony representative drag an item from his character into the mailbox and click a confirmation dialog to confirm that he wanted to list it for auction.
Then he logged in to a web interface, set an opening bid, an "instant purchase" price, a reserve price and an auction duration (from one day to one week). This is all pretty standard auction stuff, but Sony has clearly invested in a streamlined interface. It's so clean and easy to use that he could have completed the entire operation in under a minute.
Players will pay $1.00 to list coin or items and $10.00 to list characters. Hear that sound? It's Sony's cash drawer ringing. When an auction is completed, Sony skims 10% off of the proceeds of the sale before sending money to players' PayPal accounts. Sony's cash drawer rings. And that drawer will keep ringing if Sony manages to grab a significant portion of the illicit trade in virtual goods, which estimates peg $200 to $400 million dollars per year.
Of course we asked Sony how this will change the game for players of Everquest II and their response was two part: first, players will need to elect to take part in Station Exchange servers, so its not like real-money-trade will be imposed on existing populations of players. Second, Sony recognizes that many gamers are professionals who really dont have the time in their lives to spend massive amounts of time per week camping the very best gear, yet they still want to keep those people as customers. Offering the money-rich, time-poor player the option of purchasing gear is just giving customers what they want.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
F.M. Luder @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
First, Everquest is shiite. Second, why the hell would you give Sony money for nothing? It isn't a real product, just a few numbers in a computer. Any body else see a chance for major fraud between players? Somebody is gonna figure a way to rip somebody else off. Friggin' unbelievable...
Jason @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
it's a virtual product. microsoft obviously sees the potential, since that's all they talk about with the 360
leojsoap @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
It really leaves me at a loss to imagine people paying hundreds of dollars to their everquest accounts for 'services' and now items, Don't these players have better things to pay for?
arich @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
I don't play Everquest, but this really makes me wonder about in-game scams, now. Legitimately, every item in the game has a real-world cash value.
I remember the stories of that guy who scammed a bunch of people out of in-game money in one game. In the environment Sony is creating, that would have meant possibly thousands of real-world dollars.
Do online gamers have anything to protect them from what are essentially con games defrauding them of REAL money?
What about duplicate items that are sold to you through Sony's system, that then disappear when Sony discovers they are duplicated?
What about in-game glitches that destroy an item you paid real money to acquire?
I think there's a lot of untread legal ground here that SOE is going to be forced to contend with.
I wonder if this will be considered interstate commerce. I wonder if 13-year-old powergamers are going to suddenly own Lexuses they can't drive.
dose of logic @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
you have to have a paypal account to use it, and i'm sure using sony's system will be safer than using ebay and other shady virtual trading sites out there.
sony will have usernames and accounts to take direct action against any fraud.
aren't you guys thinking about this at all? i don't understand how you are veiwing this this as a negative. yes, perhaps fraud will happen, but there will be a much less chance of it happening there and more of a chance for retribution than there is now.
Jestor Rodo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
SOE sheesh - what a whore! , for years now SOE has gone after the online player autions and now they themselves in yet another crackpot, cock-ka-mainme publicity stunt is now going to set up shop. A free glory hole for every purchase I Say!
Love that Jestor - SOE doesn't
Joey Geraci @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
It was funny how all of the Sony fanboys were criticizing Microsoft for the xbox live marketplace, and then Sony sets up a system like this. I guess all these companies are companies after all.
As far as that guy that talked about those shady online auction sites like ebay, and how the fact that you have to have a paypal account is one of the things that makes this one different, you really don't know what you are talking about. ebay owns and runs paypal, and most ebay sellers require buyers to pay through a paypal account. ebay also has buyer protections in place and monitors and has the power to punish shady sellers. You shouldn't talk about stuff you have no knowledge of.
L'Emmerdeur @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
I was depending on the fraud in sales of virtual goods to kill off the whole market. If all of the MMGs pick up this new business model, then fanboys will create ubertoons, and then sell them to middle-aged well-to-dos. So you'll have servers of ubertoons being controlled by mediocre gamers who could never have earned their characters and equipment on their own, and the hardcore types farming all day long to sell.
Farming is no longer an unavoidable nuisance, it becomes the central theme of the game.
Ever partied up with WoW players who suck? You leave quickly, cuz you spend all your time wiping and trying to teach them that a PALADIN IS A HEALER AND NOT A DPS DEALER. These are the kind of players you will have - they don't know the game, they never earned their stuff or their level, and they get you killed over and over because of it.
So here I'll sit, a man who plays a moderate amount of WoW, with pretty good equipment in one of the larger (but not fanboy) guilds on my server, a man who has the pocket to buy the Ebay gold and equipment, but chooses not to, and next to me will be a guy who whipped out his credit card and bought all the cool stuff without playing for even five minutes.
Why should I bother playing this game, then?
andrew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
stop your whingeing..if u got a problem with what they are doing, just go and look at the sites that supposedly create characters for the best price and sell the gold for the best price..it's already happening..smart companies like sony are cashing in..why wouldn't they? dumb companies like TURDbine outlaw it..u think it stops anyone? NO.. at least u will get what u pay for..i got a guy who pays his rent from playing the game..don't know about u, but i intend to do the same thing..and i will love every minute of it..u will actually find that the average joe buys 1 or 2 items from someone else..for a bit of a hand..not play the entire thing out of their wallet..that, my friend, would b just plain dumb..
shane lambert @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Wooot!!! This brings a reason now to farm ...GET PAID... Stop reading this and go GET PAID... Got to go my camped spawn just popped.... go to station exchange , and buy my stuff , so I can GET PAID..... =)