eBay has stopped sales of virtual items in exchange for real money for online games such as ‘EverQuest‘ and ‘World of Warcraft.’ The reason given for stopping those sales, which  was reported by the Los Angeles Times, was eBay had to deal with ‘complex legal issues’. You cannot buy virtual items that give you, a player, an advantage in online gaming because it is too  complex.

Speaking for eBay Hani Durzy said. ‘We can`t say definitely if it`s legal or illegal. It`s complex. And when something is complex like this, we have a history of disallowing the items.’

We are talking serious money. One author made a guess at $100 million a year and that may not be that far off the mark.

So why is it legally complex?

The companies that own the online games are of the opinion that the virtual items belong to them. Nearly every game’s terms of service state explicitly that all in-game property is actually the property of the game developer or publisher, and not the player in question.

For example Blizzard Entertainment, which publishes ‘World of Warcraft‘, has terminated hundreds of thousands (that is the term it used) of accounts for buying and selling virtual items with real money.

But, to eBay, not all online games are the same.

‘Second Life‘, a scene from which is the illustration, has property which can be bought and sold. It happens a lot. Which is why eBay refers to them as ‘legal complexities’. And where there is money plus legal complexities can the tax man be far behind?

The problem for the gaming firms is they are creating a product which is being used to make real money — and they are not seeing a cent of it.

It is claimed that there are workers in Korea who spend hours a day doing nothing but farming virtual goods and that have attempted to form a real trade union for their virtual farming is a real industry. This sounds a little like urban myth but it shows how serious this gaming business can be.

Second Life has not yet been fanged because you could argue it is not a game — it is a virtual world with very few rules. And it could also be argued the process of people buying and selling virtual items in- and out-of-game is part of the appeal of the virtual world. So the rules are you can buy virtual money with real money if you are using it in a virtual world but not a game which is a different sort of virtual world. Of that you can be virtually certain.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 9:00 am under Internet.

Read more entries by Gareth Powell.
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