“...But can a VRMMO stay in business by doing that? Company operators and staff are not exactly volunteers right?” “Of course, it doesn’t mean that all the players can make money. It’s the same with pachinko machines and horse races. The monthly fee, if I remember correctly, is 3000 yen and for a VRMMO, this is quite an expensive one. But, the amount that an average player gets on a monthly turn is at best, a tenth of that... in the area of a few hundred yen supposedly. However, perhaps you can say that their gambling nature is high... and on rare occasions, some guy will come out with a bang and find a precious rare item. After disposing of it through of in- game auctions, if they exchange the electronic money from the sale it can amount to anywhere between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen. If you heard about a story like that you will probably get the feeling that ‘some day it will happen to me too...’ Inside that game is like being inside a huge casino.” “Hmmm, I see...” “So, a «Pro» is someone who earns money constantly every month. Top players get around 200,000 to 300,000 yen per month supposedly. If you compare that amount with real-world standards it might not seem like such a big deal... but, without luxuries, it’s enough to live on. In other words, what it comes down to is that these people are making their income from the monthly fees paid by the players in the volume zone. That’s what I meant by what I said earlier, about the top players in GGO being envied more than in other games. It’s similar to a government official eating stupidly expensive cakes with taxpayer’s money.” “Fufufu, as usual Kirito-kun says things in such a harsh way. I like that part of you.”