[MUD-Dev] Are eBay sales more than just a fad?

[Dave Rickey]

    Okay, I've got to admit, I always thought eBay auctions of characters
and equipment from these games were a fad.  I figured that there would be
far more people willing to sell virtual stuff for real dollars than would be
willing to buy them for any price, however low, and that market would
inevitably crash.

    Well, it hasn't crashed.  In spite of severe problems with fraud
 http://www.macontelegraph.com/local/teen0907.htm ,
http://www.lumthemad.net/darwinfiles.html ), and a diffident attitude from
the game companies (who neither support nor stop the practice), the bizarre
bazaar continues
 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=425863637 ).

    Some current games, notably some Simutronics titles and 10Six, support
the purchase of in-game items with real-world cash, and I'm sure there are
more examples (10Six was notable until the closure of HEAT because you could
also convert game success, measured in HEAT Points, back into real-world
goods).  2 recently announced MMOG projects, Warhammer Online
 http://www.climax.co.uk/news/warhammer.htm ) and Project Entropia
 http://www.mindark.com/inc/news_read_inc.asp?news_id=6&switch=press ), have
made this part of their fundamental business model, they'll stop eBay sales
only because they want to *be* eBay.

    I think it's safe to say that this is starting to look like a trend.
Like being a little bit pregnant, once you start down this path, there's no
stopping till you get to the end (IMHO).  Question is, where's the freaking
end?  What's the legal consequences of selling, as the operator of a game,
in game stuff for real money?  What if a bug eats that Sword of Buttkicking
you just sold somebody?  What if you ban the account? How do we integrate
what is, after all, a rather cold-blooded money-suctioning device into a
game concept?  Do we even *want* to go this route, and if we don't can it
possibly be prevented?  What do we do when the EverQuest Platinum Piece is
traded in the world money markets?  We've been talking about how "Graphical
MUD's" were going to redefine commerce and business.  Welcome to the future.
Who do you want to kill today?

--Dave Rickey




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