Recently, former POE currency co-creator and long-time director Chris Wilson released a video discussing one of the most fundamental pillars of online action RPGs: economic integrity. While the timing of the video coincided closely with controversial in-game balance and exploit discussions, it is important to note that Wilson recorded the video before recent patch notes were released. The overlap, however, made the message resonate even more strongly with the current state of the Path of Exile community.

In this video, Wilson reflects on decades of experience designing and maintaining online RPG economies, using Path of Exile as a central example. His insights offer not only a retrospective on PoE's philosophy but also a broader commentary on what online RPGs must do to retain player trust.

What Is Economic Integrity?

Economic integrity, as Wilson defines it, is the ability for players to earn progression and items fairly through in-game actions, without outside influence such as cheating, real-money trading, favoritism, or developer intervention. At its core, it ensures that all players are competing on a level playing field.

In online RPGs, the economy is the competition. Players race to level, acquire powerful items, complete difficult content, and establish wealth—especially during league launches, when the economy is fresh and progression matters most.

If players believe others are getting ahead unfairly, that sense of competition collapses. And when trust in the economy is lost, players leave.

Why Path of Exile's Economy Matters So Much

Path of Exile leagues are famously competitive. At the start of each league, many players schedule time off work, stay up overnight, and invest enormous effort into early progression. This seasonal reset model—pioneered years ago by Blizzard—only works if players believe the economy is fair.

Wilson emphasizes that players are effectively trading real time and effort for progress they believe has real value. Once that belief is shaken—through exploits, favoritism, or inconsistent enforcement—the motivation to continue playing disappears rapidly.

This is why early-league exploits are so damaging. A single unchecked exploit can permanently ruin a season's economy, no matter how quickly it is patched.

Online RPGs as an Escape from Real-World Inequality

One of Wilson's most compelling points is that online RPGs serve as an escape from real-world class and wealth disparities. In a healthy game economy, success should be determined by skill, intelligence, and time invested, not by real-life wealth or influence.

Allowing players to buy power—directly or indirectly—destroys this fantasy. Whether it's real-money trading, paid early access, or preferential treatment for high-profile individuals, the result is the same: the game no longer feels fair.

Trade, Solo Self-Found, and Player Choice

Wilson acknowledges that many economic issues are mitigated in Solo Self-Found (SSF) modes, where players cannot trade. However, trade-based economies unlock a huge amount of player interaction, excitement, and depth.

Removing or heavily restricting trade to avoid integrity problems sacrifices much of what makes games like Path of Exile compelling. The real solution, he argues, is not avoiding trade—but protecting it.

Developer Responsibility and Internal Discipline

Economic integrity starts inside the studio. Wilson warns against actions that may seem harmless but damage player trust, such as:

Creating characters or items on live servers for celebrities or promotions

Allowing developers or testers to use unreleased information for personal gain

Sharing non-public economic knowledge unevenly

Even if the impact is minimal, the optics are devastating. Once players believe developers interfere with live economies, trust erodes quickly.

Consistency, Transparency, and Compensation

When developers must make difficult decisions, consistency and communication are critical. Players remember precedents. If compensation is given once, it will be expected again.

Wilson strongly advises against compensating players with items or progression after outages or issues. Instead, compensation should come in forms that do not affect the economy, such as cosmetic rewards. Giving progression-based compensation may please some players but damages trust for everyone else.

Cheating, Exploits, and Zero Tolerance

Cheating takes many forms: exploiting bugs, using third-party tools, botting, or abusing unintended mechanics. Wilson advocates for a zero-tolerance policy toward intentional exploitation, including permanent bans.

While harsh, this approach sends a clear signal that integrity comes first. Research shows that non-cheating players engage more with games when they see cheaters being punished consistently.

However, enforcement must also be fair:

Innocent players who trigger bugs unintentionally should not be punished

Exploit thresholds should be clearly defined

Appeals must be reviewed carefully and thoroughly

Crucially, any items or progression gained through cheating must be removed—even from permanently banned accounts—to prevent future damage if bans are overturned.

Rollbacks: The Nuclear Option

When exploits spread too widely, Wilson argues that full game-wide rollbacks may be the only solution. Partial rollbacks risk allowing exploited items to slip through and unfairly targeting specific players.

While rollbacks are painful, they are sometimes less damaging than permanently corrupting the economy. Transparency is essential—players must understand what happened and why the rollback occurred.

Real-Money Trading and Pay-for-Advantage

Wilson is unequivocal: pay-for-advantage features undermine economic integrity. This includes:

Buying power directly

Early access head starts

Cross-economy trading

Streamer donations that function as economic advantages

Even seemingly indirect advantages—such as item donations to popular streamers—can distort fairness by converting real-world influence into in-game power.

Each league or season must exist as its own closed economy, free from outside influence.

Customer Support as an Economic Threat

One of the most overlooked dangers to economic integrity, Wilson explains, is customer support.

Policies like item restoration after hacks can unintentionally enable duplication exploits, fake reports, and laundering of stolen goods. His conclusion is blunt but practical:

Games that prioritize economic integrity should not restore items or characters under any circumstances.

While harsh, this approach eliminates entire classes of abuse and forces players—and developers—to prioritize account security.

Even seemingly harmless support actions, such as character name changes, can impact the economy by allowing bad actors to escape reputational consequences.

Customer support, Wilson stresses, is effectively an admin interface to the economy and must be treated with extreme care.

A Personal Mistake—and a Hard Lesson

Wilson closes the video by sharing a personal failure. During a Path of Exile expansion launch plagued by server queues, he allowed certain streamers to bypass the queue so they could entertain viewers.

While well-intentioned, this decision gave those players an unearned economic head start based on real-world privilege. The backlash was immediate—and justified.

Wilson acknowledges this as a powerful reminder that even small advantages can have massive economic consequences, especially at league launch.

Final Thoughts

Chris Wilson's video is more than a retrospective—it is a manifesto on what makes online RPGs worth playing. Economic integrity is not a secondary concern or a technical detail; it is the foundation upon which player trust is built.

When players believe the game is fair, their time feels valuable. When that belief is broken, no amount of content can repair it.

In the context of recent buy Path of exile currency controversies, Wilson's words resonate strongly. Whether or not the current leadership fully embraces this philosophy moving forward remains to be seen—but the message itself is clear:

A fair economy is not optional. It is the game.