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  1. #1

    Local currencies and wow monthly fee [TURKISH PERSPECTIVE]

    I live in Turkey and our currency; Turkish lira, loses its value against eur and us dollar day by day. In one and a half month period, eur gained 15% more value over lira. Right now 1 eur is equal to 11 Turkish lira and every moment, ratio is going up in favor of eur.

    What i'd like to say is, for a moment lets skip currencies and call them "units". European players play wow for "13 units" and here in Turkey, we have to pay 143 units for monthly fee of wow. In addition, monthly minimum salary set by government here in Turkey is 2825 Turkish liras which is equal to 256,81 EUR (48% of the employees amongst total work force in Turkey earn this amount also).

    I hope someone will read this comment and do something.

    p.s.: sorry for my English, its not my native lang.

  2. #2
    Then stop paying them.

    Europe has always has this mix of players buying gold with tokens, and people in the poorer countries buying their play time with gold.

    Or just quit. You wouldn't be the first.

  3. #3
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    Well, if we go Euro to local currencies, as from a country in the EU, we do not use the Euro, and thus our payment is 96,73 DKK pr. month, as 1 EUR = 7,44 DKK.

    Though, we know from other countries where their currency is much weaker, that Blizzard has rolled out a different method of subscription but if the fee is currently more than you can spare, then I do suggest to stop playing until you can afford it.
    FOMO: "Fear Of Missing Out", also commonly known as people with a mental issue of managing time and activities, many expecting others to fit into their schedule so they don't miss out on things to come. If FOMO becomes a problem for you, do seek help, it can be a very unhealthy lifestyle..

  4. #4
    similar story for a lot of eastern european countries with wages 500euro or lower. has been for years too so don't see it changing.

    if you want a solution, find a way to pay with something other than money. ingame gold in an option, but i've also known a bunch of people who had western european friends pay subs for them.

    also see lots of people from those countries have etsy style shops to supplement their income.
    Last edited by Hellobolis; 2021-10-21 at 01:56 PM.

  5. #5
    This is not how money works.

    You, me, or anyone else pays 13 EUR per month for a monthly sub here.
    This "units" point makes no sense economically.

    This is a premium service not a charity or essential resource.

  6. #6
    L2make gold, buy WoW Tokens for game time.

    Or

    Suck up to someone who'd gift you.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    This is not how money works.

    You, me, or anyone else pays 13 EUR per month for a monthly sub here.
    This "units" point makes no sense economically.

    This is a premium service not a charity or essential resource.
    exchange rate when buying something in a foreign currency is definitely how money works.

    the game costs over 5% of his income to play, that is a rather large amount and the exchange rate is making it worse fast.

    it's really one of the bigger drawback of single market europe, it's much harder to make regional prices in line with local purchasing power for the poorer countries.

    this reminds me: another possible solution for his problems is to play on a russian account then he'd only have to pay ~8 euro a month, but not sure how exactly that works with access to non-russian speaking servers.
    Last edited by Hellobolis; 2021-10-22 at 02:47 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Hellobolis View Post
    exchange rate when buying something in a foreign currency is definitely how money works.

    it's only tangentially related to the point he is trying to make though: that the game costs over 5% of his income to play, that that is a rather large amount and that the exchange rate is making it worse fast."

    it's really one of the bigger drawback of single market europe, it's much harder to make regional prices in line with local purchasing power for the poorer countries.
    Yes, that's how exchange rates work.
    He literally claimed that he pays more than 13 EURs which is factually incorrect. Whatever the exchange rate is he always pays 13 EURs.

    Blizzard (or like, literally any other company) are not liable to any local currency doing poorly.
    Steam offers the same game for 60EUR for me, for germans and for turkish people as well. True for every single digital distributor.

    We are talking about a digital market. Physical products may need to adapt to local demand but digital products are international.
    If Turkish accounts would receive a 'discount' based on their region then what would stop anyone with opening a turkish account to just simply game the system and pay less?
    Blizzard cannot ask you for your government ID to fact check you.

    Edit.: I am also eastern european before you accuse me of being a rich swiss kid.

  9. #9
    Why would Blizzard pay, for the devaluation policies of your government? Don't elect him next time.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    We are talking about a digital market. Physical products may need to adapt to local demand but digital products are international.
    If Turkish accounts would receive a 'discount' based on their region then what would stop anyone with opening a turkish account to just simply game the system and pay less?
    Blizzard cannot ask you for your government ID to fact check you.
    wasn't that way ~10 years ago. back then you still had EU tier1 and EU tier2 (much cheaper) prices on many digital goods.

    and yes, it's exactly because people in the rich countries wanted to save a few bucks and bought stuff in the poor countries that this is no longer a thing, and the poor countries get shafted for it.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Hellobolis View Post
    wasn't that way ~10 years ago. back then you still had EU tier1 and EU tier2 (much cheaper) prices on many digital goods.

    and yes, it's exactly because people in the rich countries wanted to save a few bucks and bought stuff in the poor countries that this is no longer a thing, and the poor countries get shafted for it.
    I'm pretty sure this was not the case for any triple A studios.
    I paid the same as anyone for 30 days in 2008 as well.

    Or maybe you are talking about some next level 3rd world country where internet is still delivered by mail, idk.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    I'm pretty sure this was not the case for any triple A studios.
    I paid the same as anyone for 30 days in 2008 as well.

    Or maybe you are talking about some next level 3rd world country where internet is still delivered by mail, idk.
    always been a case by case situation if companies did it or not, but a quick google search shows steam only discontinued the system in 2016. (heck apparently they even had an even cheaper tier 3 for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania until 2010)

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Hellobolis View Post
    always been a case by case situation if companies did it or not, but a quick google search shows steam only discontinued the system in 2016. (heck apparently they even had an even cheaper tier 3 for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania until 2010)
    Well, good for them.

    But newsflash, technology improved. VPN's are everywhere.
    If this was still a thing it would be exploited easily.

    We are not living in 10-year-ago-land anymore.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    Well, good for them.

    But newsflash, technology improved. VPN's are everywhere.
    If this was still a thing it would be exploited easily.

    We are not living in 10-year-ago-land anymore.
    nah the reason it doesn't exist is increased region locking/DRM kinda things. (which isn't allowed inside the EU market, hence only 1 price for all)

    just go to any grey market site and it's still filled with cheap game keys from russia and stuff like that for games that don't have those features.
    Last edited by Hellobolis; 2021-10-22 at 03:23 PM.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    Well, good for them.

    But newsflash, technology improved. VPN's are everywhere.
    If this was still a thing it would be exploited easily.

    We are not living in 10-year-ago-land anymore.
    I wonder, why are you so mean towards poor people? Is it his fault he wasn't born with a silver spoon in the ass? Is it his fault that he pays 5% of his month overall income (while having to work hard to earn that income) for a game sub, while for people lucky to be born in some other countries its more like 0,05% of their month overall income? I definitely see a problem here, although its a huge world problem of everything at all, not a small local one connected with a game services.
    No more time wasted in WoW.. still reading this awesome forum, though

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Hellobolis View Post
    nah the reason it doesn't exist is increased region locking/DRM kinda things. (which isn't allowed inside the EU market, hence only 1 price for all)

    just go to any grey market site and it's still filled with cheap game keys from russia and stuff like that for games that don't have those features.
    Yea, cuz they are not obtained legally, used stolen card or etc.

    I don't care about non-official sales.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    Steam offers the same game for 60EUR for me, for germans and for turkish people as well. True for every single digital distributor.

    We are talking about a digital market. Physical products may need to adapt to local demand but digital products are international.
    That is simply not true, the prices for digital goods differ vastly across the world, that's why you can use a VPN to activate keys bought for the indian, brasilian or african market for a fraction of the local costs on illegal or at least legally grey key vendors.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by l33t View Post
    I wonder, why are you so mean towards poor people? Is it his fault he wasn't born with a silver spoon in the ass? Is it his fault that he pays 5% of his month overall income (while having to work hard to earn that income) for a game sub, while for people lucky to be born in some other countries its more like 0,05% of their month overall income? I definitely see a problem here, although its a huge world problem of everything at all, not a small local one connected with a game services.
    When did understanding economics became the same as hating on poor people?

    Money doesn't grow on trees, as in, money is finite that's why everyone can't be rich.
    Those who are more able make more. It's how the world works and that's how you motivate people to make a better living for themselves, to improve.

    You don't go to Blizzard or any X company to cry how you don't have money to buy their shit, you build your own life by obtaining the necessary skills and electing a working government to make money. This goes for everyone everywhere.
    You might not like this because this places responsibility on the individual which is a no-no nowadays but this is how it's done irl.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Garymorilix View Post
    Yea, cuz they are not obtained legally, used stolen card or etc.

    I don't care about non-official sales.
    meh i used to believe that, but then the prices from different vendors wouldn't all be so close together and would generally see more of a race to the bottom. if technology has increased in any area in the last 10 years it's in exactly that kinda fraud prevention. + if it was bought with stolen money you'd also see blizzard game etc on there but you never do.

    nah pretty sure these days it's mostly just bulk bought global keys in cheap jurisdictions.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Puri View Post
    That is simply not true, the prices for digital goods differ vastly across the world, that's why you can use a VPN to activate keys bought for the indian, brasilian or african market for a fraction of the local costs on illegal or at least legally grey key vendors.
    As I said, I personally don't use, neither recommend the usage of, anything but the official distributor.
    Call me old fashioned but I don't want to support the illegal acquiry of digital goods by shady sites.

    That's like saying that "yea, you can buy your pain meds at the pharmacy or from Billy at the corner pub for 60% off but you don't know how he got it."

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