What is Real Cash Economy - RCE

RCE

RCE is a concept, which of course does not mean that everyone will automatically have access to the benefits offered by the concept.
Let me give one of those overused car examples, just having the concept of a combustion engine, combined with a chassis and 4 wheels, does not mean everybody in the whole world will have access to a rolls royce and be able to use it.
Now by linking the PED to the US $ in a fixed 10:1 rate offers multiple benefits and solves some problems.
MA is just a company, they cannot and would not be allowed to just announce the forming of the virtual country of fantasia and expect it to be accepted by the real nations, which they would need to do if they wanted to introduce a real currency with real backing.
Linking the PED to the US $ solves this problems as now the PED is in fact backed by the US $, in all the good as well as bad meanings this does have.
Also MA now has the commitment to make sure that the PED economy has to be stable, this is a very difficult task and surely there is disagreement if they did well in this, but for my part I do admire them to have done it as well as they have so far.
Now this is all meaningless babble without the part EU is relatively unique in offering, sure its something gambling sites do offer, but for them its core business, while I fail to find any other MMO offering the ability to legally withdraw money from in game funds, with a fixed exchange rate.
As I said in other threads already, please feel free to educate me on that, but I really did not find any other MMO offering to withdraw money from within the game, with a fixed exchange rate.
Each single aspect of EU is covered in/by other games and services, but it is this unique mixture which constitutes what EU is representing.
At the end of the day though one thing should be clear to each participant in EU:
It is a MMO, a service provided to you by a real existing company, this means it could fail at any given moment in time. The introduction of the planet partners does defuse this situation a bit, but we are far from having secure assets in EU. Also you have a contract with MA and they could at any given time decide to deny you access, which might sound bad, but it is their given right to do this.
So there are risks... the US $ might collapse, you might get banned, Sweden might get overtaken by Russia, the ingame economy might fail, sweat might become introduced in real-life deflating the in-game sweat prices even more!
It is wise to not have more money stored in EU than you are willing to lose at any given moment.
Putting all these risks aside the linkage to real life offers a unique feeling like Miles explained here: "Just the fact that my account balance has a real-world value, even if it is never realized, makes it feel like the choices I make are important, it makes them matter in some way that just isn't there in a normal game. If you don't get that feeling, then it really isn't anything. If you do, then it is everything." if this is not the case for you as participant there probably will be better games for you.
If you get the same kick EU is giving you on gambling sites and you are good at and content with playing poker or whatever all the time, then those sites might be better for you.
Having said all that, momentarily I am not logging in too often, as many of the things I enjoyed before VU 10 are still gone, just look at the movies by Bambuco then you will know what I mean when I say that everything just looks much too sterile. (And he already does his best to cover that)
The few other MMOs I tried since then might have great gameplay, but they don't offer the thrill I have by now got used to but also I am not into pure gambling and could not care less about poker...
So, What is a RCE? (only read this passage if your attention span is short)
Yes it is, but also it is more than the two way exchange of money!
The meaning of the fixed exchange rate is not to be underestimated, in other games the service providers could just decide to devalue their currency when players suddenly find a way to earn too much of it, in EU MA has to be wary at all times.
Right, two way transfer of money but also with a fixed exchange rate.
Without the fixed exchange rate you would decouple the real cash from the in-game economy, which in turn would make it only a RC MMO (each MMO worth the name has a "world" with an "economy" anyway).
That is the concept of it as I understand it... and as I said not everyone can have a rolls royce!
The concept also does not include "guaranteed profit", just because lets say even 99% of all participants won't be able to withdraw "with profit", does not mean its not possible.
The fact is 100% of all participants have the facility to withdraw their in-game funds and that is what makes this a RCE.
None of the risks that exist and the fact that it probably will be "without profit", does change that.
Its a RCE and for many that is a reason to stay with EU.