Fanfest 2015: There's ISK, And Then There's ISK

I have to admit, I'm a bit more excited about purchasing products at the Fanfest store this year. Not just because of some of the selections, but due to the change in the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar and the Icelandic krona (ISK). Last year at the beginning of Fanfest, the exchange rate according to Oanda was 112.35 ISK to the dollar. Yesterday, the rate was 136.73 ISK to the dollar.

I could use some more glasses

Did I mention that Iceland is rather expensive? But with the strengthening U.S. dollar over the past year, going out to dinner or barhopping just got a lot less expensive.

Of course, that put the thought into my head, what about the Europeans coming to Fanfest? So I gathered a little historical data and made some charts. Everyone loves charts, right?

Now's the time to travel for Americans

Good news for people travelling in from the U.K. and Switzerland, bad news for those using the Euro. But what's that at the end? The Interstellar Kredit? Well, since CCP mentioned something last year about buying beer with PLEX, I thought I'd include EVE Online's in-game currency to the chart as well. Surprisingly enough, New Eden's ISK is holding its value against the dollar as well, if not a little better, than the more highly regarded British pound and Swiss franc.

I then decided to take a look at my RMT research. I started tracking the value of ISK at Player Auctions in the wake of CCP Falcon's input broadcasting forum post on 1 December to see what effect the post would have on not only the price of PLEX in Jita, but the price of illicit ISK sold on the secondary market as well. So why not make a chart showing the change from 1 December to yesterday?

That was a surprise

Once again, the U.S. dollar outperformed all terrestrial currencies. But what about virtual currency? In that case, New Eden ISK did what the euro, pound, franc and krona failed to do: gain value. So theoretically, paying with ISK seems a good deal. Too bad that's considered RMT and Team Security would start issuing bans. Oh well.