The Alphaville Herald

GAMING OPEN MARKET leaves TSO, continues in 2L, There, etc.

by Alphaville Herald on 28/04/04 at 4:52 pm

By Atlantis

Several months ago we interviewed Jamie Hale of Gaming Open Market. Since then, GOM has left TSO because of lack of interest. Its business on There and Second Life appears to be growing, however. In this story, our reporter Atlantis checks in on GOM for an update, and for our new readers, an introduction to the service.

Money lending is one of the oldest practices on Earth. I am sure that people back then as they do now wished that money grew on trees. However, now if you are playing online you can participate in the newest form of one of the oldest practices. You can get your money on The Gaming Open Market (http://www.gamingopenmarket.com/). I was lucky enough to chat with Jamie Hale, co-founder, President and self-proclaimed head Geek. This ingenious company allows people to transfer funds from Second Life to There, for example.

This “garage company” started when two friends, Jamie Hale and Tom Merrall decided that what was missing in the online world was a market where people could buy and sell their goods. With $4,000 Canadian they started The Gaming Open Market. Their market works in Second Life, There, Horizons, EVE Online, Project Eutopia, RuneScape, and Star Wars Galaxies. Although they deal in only money at the moment, they hope to expand in the future making it a truly versatile market.

I was interested to find out how Hale and Merrall started this company. He said that they looked on eBay to get an idea of pricing and went from there. Now people can come onto his site and decide how much they want to sell or purchase the online money for. People place what they want to sell and how much real dollars they want and wait for a buyer. Their website contains awesome charts on the exchange rates of their various games.

The way that Hale and Merrall collect the money makes a lot of “cents.” They are the lucky ones who get to play each one of the games that they offer money changing services. They set up avatars that meet their clients to get the online money. At this time the buyer transfers their money to The Gaming Open Market through Pay Pal. Hale said that this method is used to make sure that each party has what they say they have. When all is confirmed the transfer is made complete. Some transfers can occur in three minutes!

Why should you buy from The Gaming Open Market over eBay? Well, let me say that first off Jamie Hale is a really nice guy, but other than that they are 50% cheaper! They charge $.03 per block, which is their method of trade. Along with all of this, unlike eBay where you might have to wait a week for the transfer to be complete, Hale and Merrall try to complete every transfer as quickly as possible. Also where on eBay you HOPE you get what you think you are buying, the market’s transferring system ensures that you get what you pay for.

However, this method of gaining money is not necessarily backed by the companies. The Gaming Open Market does not take responsibility if you are caught and taken off the game. Some companies have seen the market as a wonderful opportunity to expand their gaming experience. Hale was excited to tell me about how in Second Life ATM’s were created to assist players in trading through The Gaming Open Market.

The Sims Online was taken offline by the market because of a lack in interest. However, Second Life and There seem to be growing. According to Hale it is cheaper to buy your There Bucks off the market then through the game. EVE Online and RuneScape are two other games that seem to be creating quite a stir in the online world.

In the future the market hopes to move into other avenues, such as marketing avatars, objects, and such. They are even thinking of speculating in real estate. Hale and Merrall are also thinking about moving into other avenues of trade. Keep your eyes open for the first online gaming market that has created their own Mutual Funds. Whatever these two online J.P. Morgan’s decide to do I am sure that they will change digital banking forever. It makes me wonder if there will ever be a virtual Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation?