Real Money Trading and its effects on MMO Games. 

No identifying information will be collected and the research carried out in this survey abides by the University of Gloucestershire's ethical guidelines.


Terminology
Real Money Trading (RMT) is the act of buying or selling in-game currency in exchange for real world currency.
1st  party RMT occurs between the player and the game developer.
3rd party RMT occurs between the player and an entity not related to the game developer.
1

Please specify your gender:

Male
Female
2
Please specify your age:
10-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-40
41-50
51+
3

Which region are you from?
Europe - UK
Europe - Western
Europe - Eastern
Europe - Iceland
North America - USA
North America: - Canada
North America - Mexico
North America - Other
Asia - China
Asia - South Korea
Asia - Japan
Asia - Other
South America
Oceania
Africa
Other, please specify
4
Which Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games do you play?
None
World of Warcraft
Dark Age of Camelot
Lord of the Rings Online
City of Heroes
Warhammer Online
Eve Online
Star Trek Online
Star Wars Galaxies
Guild Wars
Runescape
Final Fantasy XI
EverQuest 2
Other, please specify
5
On average, how much money do you spend on MMO games per month? (For the purpose of this questionnaire, please answer using U.S Dollars.)
None
$1 - $10
$11 - $20
$21 - $30
$31 - $40
$41 - $50
$51+
6
Of that, how much is spent on 3rd party RMT?
None
$1 - $10
$11 - $20
$21 - $30
$31 - $40
$41 - $50
$51+
7

(Go to question 8 if you answered ‘None' to Question 6).
If 3rd party RMT did not exist, would you now spend that money on the game developer instead? E.g. Buy more play time, Character appearance change, etc.
8
Would you ever buy game gold for real money on a MMO game?
Please explain your answer
9
Would you ever sell game gold for real money on a MMO game?
Please explain your answer
10
If a game you were playing - or would like to play - had 1st party RMT in it, would it deter you from playing it?
11
If a game you were playing - or would like to play - had 3rd party RMT in it, would it deter you from playing it?
12

Please rate how detrimental you think each of the following side effects of 3rd party RMT is on MMO games. 5 being very detrimental, and 1 being not detrimental at all.

1
Not detrimental at all		2
 		3
 		4
 		5
Very detrimental
Artificial inflation of the games economy
Spam advertisement in game
Unfair advantages through participating in RMT
Additional restrictions to all players to combat RMT
Wasted company resources spent combating RMT