Dolf Goodcheese wrote: "Like it or not, people who want to sell, and people who are able to sell, are not the same groups. "
^^ Add to that "people that voluntarily don't sell" and "people that voluntarily only sell loot" currently, then that statement would be correct.
For whatever reasons they choose not to sell, they are still able to sell. I referred to people having both the ability and the desire together as being our merchant base.
The expectation that the current system does not make selling worth their time and effort, is a valid opinion. If an improved means of selling becomes available to them, it is only natural that they would attempt to try it.
There are a lot of players that just don't sell now, by choice. Dangle a gold nugget in front of their heads, and they are going to stampede to chase it, just because it's there. Not just initially either.
As for your "absolute fairness", that is never going to happen....... ever. That is, unless everyone that plays EQ2 is forced to only use dial-up internet service, have 1 phone line, have the same living conditions, and have only 1 EQ2 account. Personally, I'm going to argue with anyone that says someone with 1 phone line and dial-up service (costing $20-$40/month) with limited connection time should have the same advantages as someone with highspeed service (costing $50-$80/month) that has a connection that is always on. The same goes for someone who only has 1 account to play/sell shouldn't have the same advantage as someone who pays for 2 accounts to sell more.
Now you're being funny. The pursuit of an ideal is done because the effort improves the situation. Noone actually expects to achieve absolute fairness, even though it is a pleasing idea.
As for the rest of that paragraph, (detailing how people who can afford better hardware and ISP service deserve a better EQ2 play experience), you seem to feel advantages in EQ2 should be for sale.
If I am not misstaken, it is the players effort that defines their play experience. Noone should have an advantage because they have a cable modem instead of a dial-up connection.
Therefore, SOE allowing players to sell while outside their houses and maybe offline, but in limited quantities, and leaving the others to sell normally while online and in their houses, will help those players out that are stuck with dial-up, but won't deflate/ruin the market for everyone else.
See.. there is that troubling assumption you are making. The idea that if they let people sell their goods during prime time, that it will have a negative effect on the game economy in general.
Depriving a segment of the merchant base the ability to sell on equal ability, because they could not afford a second account, or they happen to play when the best time to sell exists, is wrong. It is depriving the players, who want to buy goods at non-gouging prices, from being able to do so reliably.
Whenever you reduce the competition for goods, the remaining goods on the market are freed from any need to maintain a fair pricing structure for the purpose of competition.
Put another way, if item A can be made, and sold, for less than it normally appears now, you say that such sales should be blocked. Players should not have the ability to make the extra effort to succeed in the market, because their very presence will make the current merchants actually have to charge a more fair price for goods.
The arguments you put forth seem to favor those who would inflate prices when given the opportunity. You seem to want to protect those opportunities.