Player trading
Direct item or currency exchange between players, either through a face-to-face trade window or a broader marketplace, letting the player-driven economy redistribute loot beyond what any single player found themselves. Path of Exile's currency-based barter trading (with no gold, only tradeable currency items acting as money) and World of Warcraft's auction house and direct trade window both make player trading a core economic layer distinct from vendor interactions. Designers use player trading to let the community's aggregate loot pool serve individuals more efficiently (someone else's unwanted drop might be exactly what you need), to create emergent economic gameplay (flipping, market-watching, price-setting), and to add social interaction around otherwise solitary loot systems. Key decisions: trade scope (any item versus restricted/untradeable categories to preserve certain rewards' earned-not-bought feeling), scam prevention (trade windows need to show both sides clearly and lock in agreed terms), whether a broader marketplace exists beyond direct trades, and how trading interacts with the game's overall difficulty and reward design (does buyable power undermine earned progression?). Pitfall: unrestricted trading of the game's rarest, most aspirational items can let wealth substitute entirely for player skill or time invested — many games deliberately mark certain high-value or achievement-tied items untradeable to preserve their earned status.
- Dev effort: Medium
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: mmo, arpg