O’Brien highlights EVE’s PLEX system as a model. “As in that case, our system takes gold trading out of the hands of real-money trading (RMT) companies and puts it directly in the hands of players.”

Guild Wars 2 will, like its predecessor, be a full-price game with no recurring subscription fee. Unlike Guild Wars 1, however, Guild Wars 2 has afforded ArenaNet “an opportunity to integrate the microtransaction system from the ground up.” It’ll be a more substantial part of the game than it was in Guild Wars 1.

Why use PLEX?

A Pilot License Extension (PLEX) is an item that adds 30 days of game time to your EVE Online account.  It can be converted from any game time code and, like any other item, it can be traded on the EVE market.

EVE PLEX offers an alternative way for people to pay for their subscription without the use of our more conventional payment methods. Using EVE PLEX, pilots can earn game time simply by playing EVE.

The EVE PLEX system improves on the current method of secure time code trading since it uses the EVE market to nerf price fixing.  And since you can only sell time codes to people who want to play for that time, the system is capped.

O’Brien explains that GW2 will have three currencies: gold, in its traditional role as in-game currency, karma, which rewards participation in events but is bound to the player that earns it, and guild war ecto, which are bought for real cash. There’ll be an in-game market where players can trade guild war ecto for gold and vice versa, and ArenaNet hope that this will undercut illegitimate gold farmers.

"If a player buys gold from another player, he gets the gold he wants, the selling player gets guild war ecto she can use for microtransactions, and ArenaNet generates revenue that we can use to keep supporting and updating the game. Everyone wins.”