[MUD-Dev] Real money and virtual worlds

[Martin Bassie]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 09:43:50PM -0800, Koster, Raph wrote:

> Yeah, it's inevitable. But look at the minefield that it is! This
> is about Project Entropia, which allows conversion of real eorld
> cash into in-game money--and back again. When I first heard of
> this project, my first thought was "money laundering." Others,
> including the authors of the summary I am about to post, thought
> "Ponzi scheme." Instead, it turns out it's actually "great place
> to engage in credit card fraud."

There's something scary about allowing people to cash in their
virtual money. Allowing them to buy neat in-game toys with real
money turned virtual isn't too bad. It's a feature that's easily
tweaked and modified, and it has no direct relevance to real life
(other than possible auctions). When it comes to an opportunity to
"make" money, people are greedy and gullible, and an easy prey for
scams.

With the risk of stating the obvious, I have to say that this is a
flaw inherent to the whole online CC system. There's no real
verification that the person who uses the CC is actually the legal
owner of the card.  This makes it unsuitable for an implementation
as in Project Entropia.  At least, to me.

I agree - it's inevitable. But I've seen so many issues with CC
payments that I'd think a few times before I'd accept them in any
design where real money can go into, and come out of virtual worlds.

-Martin

--
Let's not forget the awful looming shadow of chargebacks, another
popular form of CC fraud - although with a lot less impact on players :)



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