Where do you think value derives from, specifically in MMO's.

I have a few, can you think of any more?
 

• Uniqueness/ exclusitivty
• Novelty
• Usefulness

Graphic quality

Sales

Addictiveness

csbrown, can you tell us about your question? Why do you wonder about "value" in MMOs?

Define value.

For a commercial product, value is generally whatever brings in revenue.  For personal projects value can mean anything else at all, including learning experiences.  Value can come in research, value can come in market awareness, value can come in building tools and technologies used for creating future value.

Value is also relative. One person's trash is another person's treasure. This is especially true across humanity such as a big city's trash is valuable in a poor refugee camp, but it applies to everything.  What is valuable to one game as a high-priority high-value element may have no value at all in another product.

My apologies....I meant to ask where value "in game" comes from from the player point-of-view.  Why do players value things in the game?  What is it about those things in the game that give them value.

"Things" like items, weapons, armor, potions, ammunition...? Microtransaction type stuff?

25 minutes ago, Tom Sloper said:

"Things" like items, weapons, armor, potions, ammunition...? Microtransaction type stuff?

Yeah, I went to a higher level.  I think "usefulness" covers all of those, though they don't necessarily have to come via microtransactions.,..

Value depends on the games. People place value on different things in different games. In some games there is value to completely cosmetic skins, in other games skins are valueless. In some games there is value to having a long list of items to collect, in others collection is a valueless feature. Some value customization, some value completion, some value numbers and stats, some value action speed....

18 minutes ago, frob said:

Value depends on the games. People place value on different things in different games. In some games there is value to completely cosmetic skins, in other games skins are valueless. In some games there is value to having a long list of items to collect, in others collection is a valueless feature. Some value customization, some value completion, some value numbers and stats, some value action speed....

I'm not asking at the individual level, rather at a high level to look at the possibilities.

In other words, transportation in a game is useful, even if some people would still rather run. 

Transportation falls under value realized via an object's usefulness.  However, if the object in question is extremely hard to acquire, it could also realize the value in its uniqueness.

I gave three examples of what I perceived to be the root of value in an MMO,  Uniqueness, Usefulness or novelty (which come to think of it, really overlaps with uniqueness).

Can you think of any other root of value in an MMO?

Value should be derived from the average time spent farming the item and its usefulness in saving time or enabling activities.

Otherwise its just irrational humans distorting the real value.

1 hour ago, wintertime said:

Value should be derived from the average time spent farming the item and its usefulness in saving time or enabling activities.

Otherwise its just irrational humans distorting the real value.

What about a trophy or a decoration that is extremely hard to get?  It might not be useful at all in saving time in the game, and to the contrary, it may have taken a lot of time to acquire with little real benefit in terms of time-saving activities, but some people will still find value in it.

People will spend time just to differentiate themselves from others...

But I think what I defined in the OP covers what you said, right?

There are usefulness and uniqueness or some combination of the two.  If it took a long time to acquire a useful item then it's probably reasonable to say that its uniqueness is increased.

Something like this....?