Just a few days after launching, World of Warcraft's game time Tokens, which were meant as a cash-for-gold alternative and a way for players to use in-game gold to score game time for their account, have lost a third of their value in the online marketplace.

According to WoW Token Info (found via PC Gamer), the Auction House market value of the $20 World of Warcraft game time token is on the decline, having dropped from its starting price of 30,000 gold to 20,000 in less than two days of the service's launch. The Token System allows a player to buy a WoW Token for $20, which adds 30 days of subscription game time to the user's account. The person who purchased this token can throw the Token up on the Auction House, where players can buy one for tens of thousands of gold. Of course, the Token's pricing depends on the supply and demand of the market (which aren't server exclusive, unlike the rest of the AH). In other words, the Tokens have a baseline price of 30,000 gold from their debut, but it fluctuates like most other items on the Auction House based on the supply and demand. This is based on how many Tokens have been posted up for sale by players and the rate at which other players are buying them up.

Blizzard's WoW Token system was implemented for multiple reasons. First, it is to let those with stockpiles of gold start buying game time for their World of Warcraft account with its in-game currency and stop using their real life cash for it. Obviously, only the few players smart enough to play the AH to make massive amounts of moolah, or those with a ton of savings, will be able to indefinitely continue paying for a World of Warcraft subscription through this manner. The Token system was also intended to combat the number of third-party gold-farming websites out there, which could get your account banned if caught using illegally farmed gold that you purchased from one of these sites.

From personal experience, I bought a WoW Token when the service went live. My token sold for a little over 31,000 (higher than the Token's original 30,000 pricing). As of this morning, WoW Tokens are currently sitting on my server's AH for the price of 21,000 (it was around 22,000 yesterday).

More From Arcade Sushi