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@Miles--I'm going to have to agree with Hessah on this one.

I think the inflation hypothesis you described works under the assumption that the gold spammers are taking gold from someone else (that is, they are taking it out of circulation). But they are not. They are taking it directly from the game which is continually producing drops (which NPC into money) and quest prizes.

So now the amount of coppers/silvers/gold running out there is being produced two fold--by the players who are completing quests and getting drops and selling them, and by the bots who are farming away and selling those drops for money.

when gold is taking from the market its called deflation. If more gold flows into the market, without being backed with items of equal worth, its called inflation. MMORPG's are bound to inflate, some faster, some slower.

Basicly inflation means that prices go up, deflation means prices go down. And i think the gold seller make there money with bots, and enchantment services.
So Outspark would be indirectly profiting from the gold sellers.

@Miles_Glorioso: i just read your post, and i agree to nearly everything u say, but 1 point.
I dont see gold sellers as a blessing. The do increase the rate of money being created. Yes they also keep large amounts from the market too. But the money they keep from the market flows in large portions in the low lvl market.

Unlinke the high lvl market the low lvl market is not very tolerant to more gold. A lvl 20 is rich when he as 10s. So a player that buys 1g, gets in an instant 100times more then that he had before. With that his tolerance to high/extreme prices increases too. Because of that the prices of enchanted and rare item will explode.

In the end people who are rich, from the game designer perspective, will feel poor, and start farming money. And thus are starting a inflation spiral, that will spin faster and faster and faster. Until only people who paying for the game in one way or another can afford good items.