LOS ANGELES, Feb 8 — Influential MMO ‘World of Warcraft’ is incentivising play by allowing users to spend virtual currency on characters, equipment, and cards in other games by the same developer, Blizzard Entertainment.

WoW Tokens were introduced in 2015 as a convenient way of allowing players to extend ‘World of Warcraft’ subscriptions using in-game currency.

Playing ‘World of Warcraft’ over a period of time would allow dedicated players to purchase extra time with the game, subsidizing their subscription fee and effectively allowing WoW Tokens to function as a loose loyalty program reward.

It also reduced the perceived need to sell excess ‘WoW’ gold to third-party vendors, often part of a cottage industry set on reselling gold and turning a profit in the process.

At the same time, WoW Tokens have been subject to market forces.

Blizzard sells them from an in-game shop for US$20 (€20, £15, ¥75 CNY, ₩22,000 KRW, RM88) but the purchase price using in-game gold fluctuates according to players themselves -- buyers and sellers can set their own prices via an in-game Auction House.

Following the announcement that WoW Tokens could be used to buy boxes of randomized equipment in 2016 sensation ‘Overwatch’, additional characters in 2015’s competitive battle arena eSport ‘Heroes of the Storm’ and extra cards in breakout 2014 deck building game ‘Hearthstone’, North American and European prices have started adjusting in response.

Tokens had been stable at around 60,000 Gold (North America) and 115,000 Gold (Europe) but 24 hours on are worth 112,000 (NA) and 200,000 (EU) respectively, according to data tracker WoWInfo.com, though Chinese, Taiwanese, and South Korean regions did not experience fluctuations on the same scale.

Blizzard had indicated that WoW Tokens had been designed for cross-game flexibility during a Q&A session at annual fanfest Blizzcon in November 2016; data that was mined from ‘World of Warcraft’ game update later the same month showed that the initiative was being prepared for deployment.

Between then and the February 6 announcement, the gold price of Tokens had already risen by between 18% and 42%, depending on region. — AFP-Relaxnews