How to solve RMT and mirroring monopoly

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bachgaman#6713 wrote:

These are terrible Blizzard-like ideas. Honestly, it doesn’t get worse:

1. What exactly bothers you about the “mirror monopoly”? Are you offended? Jealous that someone got somewhere through effort or luck? Want to seize and redistribute everything “fairly” among people like you? Why even fight this?

2. An automated auction house would be bot paradise. Popular items will be instantly auto-sniped by scripts. Prices will skyrocket, and actual players won’t be able to buy anything.

3. What’s your problem with RMT? Like it or not, most of what you enjoy in the game exists because of RMT. In fact, it helps keep the economy — and the game itself — alive.

4. How many times have you actually been scammed by a mirror service?

Thanks for taking the time to reply — but I think there’s been some misunderstanding of the core ideas I put forward. Let me clarify a few points:

1. On the 'mirror monopoly' — This isn’t about envy or redistributing wealth. It’s about addressing a system that heavily favors a tiny group while relying on trust-based trades and off-platform coordination. The goal is to open up access in a way that’s fairer, safer, and more consistent — without taking anything away from crafters who’ve earned their positions.

2. Regarding bot sniping — The mirror service model I proposed doesn’t involve limited-time or one-off listings. Crafters would list their mirror-tier item and set a fee, and anyone with the required mirror and currency could use it — there’s nothing to "snipe" because the service is open and repeatable. Automation wouldn’t give anyone an advantage here.

3. On RMT — I get that RMT is entrenched, and in some ways, it's filled gaps in the game’s systems. But relying on it long-term isn’t sustainable. It invites botting, scams, and account theft, and distorts the in-game economy. Improving in-game tools helps reduce the demand for RMT rather than trying to police every player.

4. As for mirror service scams — Whether common or rare, the fact that scams happen at all with items worth a ton of mirrors is a problem. Creating an official, automated system would eliminate the risk entirely and make the process smoother for everyone.

None of this is about dumbing the game down or copying Blizzard. It's about solving real friction points with systems that respect player investment and reduce the need for third-party workarounds. If you have alternative ideas that address the same issues, I’d love to hear them.


RE: all other responses so far

Unfortunately, none of the other replies have addressed the points I raised, so I won’t be responding further unless the conversation becomes more focused on the actual ideas.

Solving problems by creating new ones.

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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bachgaman#6713 wrote:

It’s possible we’re talking about different things when we say “RMT”. You seem to be referring to the people who just buy and resell. I’m talking about the grinders — the ones playing 16 hours a day farming and selling. They’re the ones flooding the market with items, keeping prices accessible, and indirectly enabling a wide range of builds and services. Without them, the market dries up, and the game economy stagnates.

It is a very wrong assertion that "the market dries up" without RMT farm suppliers. The game market adjusts to everything, supply and demand. And what people are willing to pay based on the time it takes to acquire currency. It is incredibly unlikely there would be a legitimate "shortage" of currency given how many real players there are and how much currency drops. And even if there was a shortage of, say, mirrors...the market adjusts to that and would likely lower the cost of everything.

All information taken together, RMT has very LITTLE positive impact, if any, on the economy and the potential for MAJOR negative impact.

Again...we can go back to the inflation thing: high end items would likely cost FAR LESS if there were less currency in the market overall. Mirror fees would be less because people would NOT be paying them enough for crafters to bankroll other items or remain profitable.

The only thing RMT "farmers" accomplish is driving down the value of currency by flooding the market with it, and increasing the cost of all things at the higher end.

You fail to see the repercussions and are only assessing the idea that "more is better". It's not. That isn't how economics work, and it isn't how trade works. This is only a tiny fraction of the full equation that makes a healthy "economy".

Otherwise, in real life, it would make sense for governments to constantly be printing more and more currency without bound because "more is better". That is how monetary systems are destroyed.

You're using the wrong analogy. In PoE, currency isn't just money. It's also the product. It has real use for crafting, rolling, progression. RMT farmers don't just dump raw currency. They supply scarabs, essences, fossils, six-links, bases, and more. That's not printing money. That's producing goods.

Without them, especially after the first league peak, you'd have a hard time buying most materials. Less supply doesn't just mean lower prices. It means nothing to buy.

RMT has downsides, sure. But pretending it doesn't help stabilize the market later in the league just isn't realistic.

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bachgaman#6713 wrote:

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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bachgaman#6713 wrote:

It’s possible we’re talking about different things when we say “RMT”. You seem to be referring to the people who just buy and resell. I’m talking about the grinders — the ones playing 16 hours a day farming and selling. They’re the ones flooding the market with items, keeping prices accessible, and indirectly enabling a wide range of builds and services. Without them, the market dries up, and the game economy stagnates.

It is a very wrong assertion that "the market dries up" without RMT farm suppliers. The game market adjusts to everything, supply and demand. And what people are willing to pay based on the time it takes to acquire currency. It is incredibly unlikely there would be a legitimate "shortage" of currency given how many real players there are and how much currency drops. And even if there was a shortage of, say, mirrors...the market adjusts to that and would likely lower the cost of everything.

All information taken together, RMT has very LITTLE positive impact, if any, on the economy and the potential for MAJOR negative impact.

Again...we can go back to the inflation thing: high end items would likely cost FAR LESS if there were less currency in the market overall. Mirror fees would be less because people would NOT be paying them enough for crafters to bankroll other items or remain profitable.

The only thing RMT "farmers" accomplish is driving down the value of currency by flooding the market with it, and increasing the cost of all things at the higher end.

You fail to see the repercussions and are only assessing the idea that "more is better". It's not. That isn't how economics work, and it isn't how trade works. This is only a tiny fraction of the full equation that makes a healthy "economy".

Otherwise, in real life, it would make sense for governments to constantly be printing more and more currency without bound because "more is better". That is how monetary systems are destroyed.

You're using the wrong analogy. In PoE, currency isn't just money. It's also the product. It has real use for crafting, rolling, progression. RMT farmers don't just dump raw currency. They supply scarabs, essences, fossils, six-links, bases, and more. That's not printing money. That's producing goods.

Without them, especially after the first league peak, you'd have a hard time buying most materials. Less supply doesn't just mean lower prices. It means nothing to buy.

RMT has downsides, sure. But pretending it doesn't help stabilize the market later in the league just isn't realistic.

Complete nonsense, how would you be different from any other player farming resources/currency in the game to advance his build?

Do you have personal vested interests in RMT or are you asking for a "friend" who does it?

There are functional means to prevent botting/scripting and flipping on Auction house.

Banning trade in game, and forcing players to do all transactions in auction house, while also recording the history of transactions would make the game more transparent and could shoot down the RMT beast. Taking out scammers on the way out.

I would like to see people achieve something in game by their own effort and luck, and not by swiping mastercard or accepting donations from 1000s of people on stream.

It is the question if GGG has what it takes to do this major change to a game.

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GODOFWARSANCHEZ#4574 wrote:

Do you have personal vested interests in RMT or are you asking for a "friend" who does it?

Don't do that. No matter how convinced you are that you have the only valid opinion here, don't start accusing people that disagree with you like that. It makes you look rather...

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There are functional means to prevent botting/scripting and flipping on Auction house.

Banning trade in game, and forcing players to do all transactions in auction house, while also recording the history of transactions would make the game more transparent and could shoot down the RMT beast. Taking out scammers on the way out.

I would like to see people achieve something in game by their own effort and luck, and not by swiping mastercard or accepting donations from 1000s of people on stream.

It is the question if GGG has what it takes to do this major change to a game.

EVERY(!) popular game with trading, has botting and RMT - no matter if the game has an AH or not. There's TONS(!) of market manipulation and/or exploiting players going on with the Currency Exchange as we speak. There is NO(!) "functional means to prevent botting/scripting and flipping on Auction house". Sure, there are ways to more aggressively fight it and limit it to a larger degree than what GGG is doing now, but prevent it? That's naive. But by all means, give me some examples of games that have "prevented" it.

And you talk about flipping as something GGG wants to get rid of; they don't. They want a free, open economy. Flipping isn't against the rules.

And no, I do not have "vested interests in RMT" just because I do not agree with your every point. I'm just a little bit more realistic than you, I think. But I'll wait for that example now.

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Kraxiloth#7346 wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/80ga51/aaron_ciccheli_who_owns_75_of_ggg_owns_two_rmt/

This is what I was referring to.

Dang. First time I ever saw that.

Some of the responses are mind blowing.

My favorite is "makes perfect sense".

SSF baby

Regardless, how or why would an auction house solve the RMT problem? I may be stupid, but the I way I see it, an AH makes it even easier.

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Kraxiloth#7346 wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/80ga51/aaron_ciccheli_who_owns_75_of_ggg_owns_two_rmt/

This is what I was referring to.

Yeah, hardly an "employee" with influence over the game's direction - and dealt with by people with influence over the game's direction more than 7 years ago.

Don't get me wrong here, it's shady as f, but I think calling him an employee is vastly misleading. As far as I know, he was dealing in RMT sited way before buying into GGG. But yes... Bad...

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GODOFWARSANCHEZ#4574 wrote:

Complete nonsense, how would you be different from any other player farming resources/currency in the game to advance his build?

Do you have personal vested interests in RMT or are you asking for a "friend" who does it?

Imagine how stupid I’d have to be to make money from RMT and then openly defend it on the forum of the game I’d be doing it in. Believe me, 99% of players aren’t even close to the efficiency of those who grind 12 hours a day and live off it. I’m just not the kind of person who gets jealous over someone making a few hundred bucks playing a game