The Grand Exchange: Supplying the Nation since 2007!

As you travel through the world of Runescape, one of the first major cities that you’d come across as a player is Varrock, a small city north of Lumbridge. A short journey west of Varrock take you to the Grand Exchange.

The Grand Exchange, or G.E. as some players like to say, is a constant mess of people and colourful text, the place where anyone wanting to make some quick money can go and try their luck. The items for sale aren’t limited to just weapons and armour; recipes, ingredients and resource are a hot commodity as well.

In Winning and Losing, Peter Dickens (2007) describes the world’s economy as being shaped by transnational corporations, as they hold the ability to be able to shift the economy as they see fit (p. 437). In the Grand Exchange, the players themselves are primarily in control of the market, as it is they who both buy the items that are on sale, as well as being the source for them. As Dr. Kuttainen explains in her lecture on ‘Stuff’ from week 8, there is a ‘natural law of economics’ that affects trade price and sales, and the Grand Exchange is no exception. As such, the market does tend to favour those with a higher skill level, but even players with low level skills could benefit from the market. Low level items are always in demand, especially among the higher levelled players who don’t want to spend time farming, so one could always level up their skills by farming low level items and selling them for profit.

The Exchange is a vital part of the player network, not just as a trading hub, but as a place for a player themselves. It’s well known by the playing community that you are bound to make more money selling peer-to-peer than it is to merely sell your items to the NPCs, and the Grand Exchange gives the player an easy way to not only get rid of what they don’t need but also earn them money in the process.

References

Dickens, P. (2007)  Winning and losing: An introduction. In Global shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy (pp. 237-453). London, England: Sage.

Kuttainen, V. (2013)  BA1002: Our space:  Networks, narratives, and the making of place, week 8 lecture notes [PowerPoint Slide]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fcontent%2Ffile%3Fcmd%3Dview%26content_id%3D_1259745_1%26course_id%3D_50513_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue

Image Reference

RuneScape Wiki (n.d.) Grand Exchange players [Image]. Retrieved from http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/File:Grand_Exchange_players.png