Difference between revisions of "Real Money Trade"
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The academic debate around RMT has centered around two positions: the first is that real money trade is a natural extension of player's economic rights while the other position views RMT as cheating and destroying the integrity of the game. For example, a wealthy player can simply "buy into" a game in order to circumvent the trials of acquiring virtual wealth, goods, or statuses. Castronova argued that "RMT is like a pollution of a service that designers are attempting to provide to their customers", and that it undermines the achievement hierarchy in MMORPGS. On the other side of the coin, RMT can be see as a natural extension of gameplay because players who work hard to acquire marketable goods put in hours of labor to produce a good. | The academic debate around RMT has centered around two positions: the first is that real money trade is a natural extension of player's economic rights while the other position views RMT as cheating and destroying the integrity of the game. For example, a wealthy player can simply "buy into" a game in order to circumvent the trials of acquiring virtual wealth, goods, or statuses. Castronova argued that "RMT is like a pollution of a service that designers are attempting to provide to their customers", and that it undermines the achievement hierarchy in MMORPGS. On the other side of the coin, RMT can be see as a natural extension of gameplay because players who work hard to acquire marketable goods put in hours of labor to produce a good. | ||
| − | Blizzard Entertainment has been one of the first major game developers to implement an in game system | + | Blizzard Entertainment has been one of the first major game developers to implement an in game system that allows players to buy and sell items for real world money in their upcoming title Diablo III. This system has created controversy amongst the community of the game. |
== Crime == | == Crime == | ||
Revision as of 21:06, 18 December 2011
Real Money Trade, or "RMT" is when game assets, such as characters, currencies, and items are traded for real world currency. The virtual economy is an emerging market where people enter for recreation and entertainment purposes rather than by necessity.
Background
Real money trade is a phenomenon that has existed ever since the advent of multiplayer video games. However, it wasn't until the release of large scale MMORPG's such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft that the secondary virtual marketplace grew exponentially. Edward Castronova, back in 2001, claimed that the virtual economy in EverQuest had a GNP comparable to some real world developing countries. Since then, there has been a growing academic interest in the RMT industry.
Controversy
The academic debate around RMT has centered around two positions: the first is that real money trade is a natural extension of player's economic rights while the other position views RMT as cheating and destroying the integrity of the game. For example, a wealthy player can simply "buy into" a game in order to circumvent the trials of acquiring virtual wealth, goods, or statuses. Castronova argued that "RMT is like a pollution of a service that designers are attempting to provide to their customers", and that it undermines the achievement hierarchy in MMORPGS. On the other side of the coin, RMT can be see as a natural extension of gameplay because players who work hard to acquire marketable goods put in hours of labor to produce a good.
Blizzard Entertainment has been one of the first major game developers to implement an in game system that allows players to buy and sell items for real world money in their upcoming title Diablo III. This system has created controversy amongst the community of the game.
Crime
In late 2006, one of the greatest scams in online gaming history occurred. It took place in the game EVE Online, where users built and flew armies of spaceships. During this time, a user by the name of "Cally" built a functioning financial institution by the name of Eve Investment bank. The bank immediately grew in popularity and magnitude as there was nothing like it before. However, after a year of operations, Cally took all the money from the bank and stole his client's invested access. It was estimated that he made off with 700 billion ISK, which was equivalent to about $100,000 at the time of the heist.
Emerging Sites
As virtual economies grew, sites were also created to cater to this emerging market. One of the biggest sites during this time was MarkeeDragon, which was owned by Markus Eikenberry. MarkeeDragon wasa trading forum for virtual property; it catered to players of many different games and services. Other businesses such as IGE (www.ige.com) built businesses to service communities around certain niches, such as World of Warcraft gold.
Legality
Although the United States does not have explicit laws defining Real Money Trade, courts in South Korea have addressed various subjects. One court claimed that since virtual items are produced in MMORPG's, and MMORPG's were designed by their developers, in-game items cannot be claimed as good or property by the user and would remain the intellectual property of the game designer.
