5 ms·

Do they regularly sell for $40,000 or is that just the top price that's posted?

by Drakim 8y ago

ceejayoz 8y ago
$40k is probably a bit of an outlier, but there's still quite a bit of volume. For example, this gun https://opskins.com/?loc=shop_view_item&item=498470571 https://opskins.com/?loc=shop_view_item&item=498470571 sold 7 times yesterday for $200/pop. That's one item on one site.
aphextron 8y ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-skins-most-expensive/ https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-skins-most-expensive/ It seems the $40,000 one was an outlier, but still $4000+ is common. Total market volume is in the billions.
- darawk 8y ago
  Market volume in the low billions is probably not enough for a government to do much serious money laundering. Maybe organized crime, but not a major national government.
  - jbattle 8y ago
    north korea
  - jessaustin 8y ago
    Why would a government need to launder money? Are there no banks in their jurisdiction? Can they not enforce their laws on those banks?
    - ThrustVectoring 8y ago
      You need to get the money into the US banking system in a way that doesn't arouse suspicion.
- blowski 8y ago
  The market size for computer game skins is worth billions? I find that absolutely incredible. Do you have an article that talks about it?
  - user5994461 8y ago
    That's fairly reasonable when thinking about it. The sales for an AAA game is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A free to play game should be able to earn the same order of magnitude through its shop, or there wouldn't be so many of them.
    - blevin 8y ago
      Know any good writing that introduces the game item market to outsiders? I am curious about the thought process of people who spend money in this way, and their perception of value. I imagine a taxonomy of motivations, like the one Larry Harris has in _Trading & Exchanges_. Presumably some people get entertainment value (because surely there is a kick in seeing a game's world modified beyond its normal rules of state mutation); some speculate on price trends (hence the price graph on opskins.com; what are time series graphs for if not to spark idle dreams of avarice), and others getting some sort of utility (i.e., money laundering).
      - eeeuo 8y ago
        Skinning is probably a slight misnomer. The skins are applied to the player's weapons and can be seen by all other players as well as spectators. They are, in effect, a status symbol. This feeds into the supply and demand component quite heavily, as you can imagine. All secondary effects follow this initial relationship.
      - exolymph 8y ago
        Play Money by Julian Dibbell! It's on the dated side now but dives into MMO economies from a practioner's perspective — incredible read.
  - m3rc 8y ago
- flashman 8y ago
  > Total market volume is in the billions. Trade volume, or market cap? This is an important distinction. You can't multiply the number of items for sale by the market rate for those items. What you're saying is that people are spending billions on CS:GO items and I don't think that's correct; I think what you mean is that buying all the items at their current market prices would require billions.

Do they regularly sell for $40,000 or is that just the top price that's posted?

by Drakim 8y ago

Do they regularly sell for $40,000 or is that just the top price that's posted?

$40k is probably a bit of an outlier, but there's still quite a bit of volume. For example, this gun https://opskins.com/?loc=shop_view_item&item=498470571 https://opskins.com/?loc=shop_view_item&item=498470571 sold 7 times yesterday for $200/pop. That's one item on one site.

aphextron 8y ago

https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-skins-most-expensive/ https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-skins-most-expensive/ It seems the $40,000 one was an outlier, but still $4000+ is common. Total market volume is in the billions.

darawk 8y ago
Market volume in the low billions is probably not enough for a government to do much serious money laundering. Maybe organized crime, but not a major national government.
- jbattle 8y ago
  north korea
- jessaustin 8y ago
  Why would a government need to launder money? Are there no banks in their jurisdiction? Can they not enforce their laws on those banks?
  - ThrustVectoring 8y ago
    You need to get the money into the US banking system in a way that doesn't arouse suspicion.
blowski 8y ago
The market size for computer game skins is worth billions? I find that absolutely incredible. Do you have an article that talks about it?
- user5994461 8y ago
  That's fairly reasonable when thinking about it. The sales for an AAA game is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A free to play game should be able to earn the same order of magnitude through its shop, or there wouldn't be so many of them.
  - blevin 8y ago
    Know any good writing that introduces the game item market to outsiders? I am curious about the thought process of people who spend money in this way, and their perception of value. I imagine a taxonomy of motivations, like the one Larry Harris has in _Trading & Exchanges_. Presumably some people get entertainment value (because surely there is a kick in seeing a game's world modified beyond its normal rules of state mutation); some speculate on price trends (hence the price graph on opskins.com; what are time series graphs for if not to spark idle dreams of avarice), and others getting some sort of utility (i.e., money laundering).
    - eeeuo 8y ago
      Skinning is probably a slight misnomer. The skins are applied to the player's weapons and can be seen by all other players as well as spectators. They are, in effect, a status symbol. This feeds into the supply and demand component quite heavily, as you can imagine. All secondary effects follow this initial relationship.
    - exolymph 8y ago
      Play Money by Julian Dibbell! It's on the dated side now but dives into MMO economies from a practioner's perspective — incredible read.
- m3rc 8y ago
flashman 8y ago
> Total market volume is in the billions. Trade volume, or market cap? This is an important distinction. You can't multiply the number of items for sale by the market rate for those items. What you're saying is that people are spending billions on CS:GO items and I don't think that's correct; I think what you mean is that buying all the items at their current market prices would require billions.