Virtual Trade Tough Nut to Crack

Wired.com has published a two-page article entitled “Virtual Trade Tough Nut to Crack”, in which they discuss the buying and selling of MMORPG accounts and items on auction sites. The article is primarily focused on Blizzard’s decision to prohibit the sale of World of Warcraft items and characters, but the concept pretty much fits any MMORPG out there. A snippet:

In its announcement on the World of Warcraft community site, Blizzard stated its policy against the buying or selling of the game’s objects for real-world money. Its goal, which many MMO developers share, is keeping the game pure from an inflated economy and from players who buy game attributes rather than earning them. And they often claim that such objects have no real-world economic value.

“If you are found to be selling in-game property (such as coins, items or characters) for real money,” the policy says, “you will lose your characters and accounts, and Blizzard Entertainment reserves its right to pursue legal action against you as well.”

Castronova, and others, feel that Blizzard can stop such illicit activity, much of which happens on eBay, through actively tracking down buyers and sellers and banning them from the game.