Last week PSFK reported the sad case where a Chinese man killed another over a dispute about a sword they traded in an online game. Countries in Asia are considering laws to govern such disputes. This week, Sony Online Entertainment, who run games like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, announced a service to facilitate the buying and selling of virtual goods. Station Exchange is an auction site that allows players to spend real money on virtual weapons, armor, coins and new, high-level characters.
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Taking My Magic Sword: There Oughta Be A Law Against That
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I did a trial account on Ultima five or six years ago. I remember even back then people were selling characters and equipment. I had too much “real” living to do so I rather quickly dropped the game. The question comes to mind that if a person were to “play” eight or ten hours a day then sell things from the game for real cash how do we re-define “play”, “work” and “real”? People play for work and trade virtual items for very real cash. Complex in all it’s simplicity, no? Anyone see the movie Avalon?
April 21st, 2005 at 11:56 am
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4497313.stm
May 1st, 2005 at 5:55 pm