Criminalizing RMT.

[Kanodin]

These news articles are dated around late November, but I see no threads for them on KI or here.

Recent news stories report that a Chinese student in Japan named Wang Yue Si was recently arrested after making an estimated 150 million yen (around 1.3 millon dollars U.S.) auctioning off World-of-Warcraft items online. He was arrested for violating the terms of his student visa, after a bank teller became suspicious of his frequent transactions (sending money back to China), and alerted local police.

Another news article on the same topic reports that the student was deported.

See these news articles:
SWIK.net News Article
Secureworks.com News Article
Commongate.com News Article
Slashdot.org News Article

In addition, the Korean legislature is considering a bill that would make RMT illegal. The "Amendment for Game Industry Promoting Law" is on its way to approval.

The amendment adds the former original bill to a clause for prohibiting acts of exchanging in-game money to real money. This tells that anyone cannot do her business for 'exchanging' or 'mediating' exchanges of, and 'repurchasing' outcomes of games by real money. The 'outcomes' mentioned include in-game money, all kinds of in-game points, but in-game items are not among these.

Read the related articles here:
Virtual-economy.org News Article
If you can read Korean, you can read the original news article here.

[Tradition]

I was under the impression that this wasn't Allakhazam.

[Starr]

I was under the impression that this wasn't Allakhazam.

This is interesting.

[Celeras]

Dont know how this isnt illegal to begin with, to be honest. You're selling something that doesnt belong to you.

[Vistani]

Dont know how this isnt illegal to begin with, to be honest. You're selling something that doesnt belong to you.

IGE probably have something written in the fine print stating that what you're paying for is actually the service of farming the gil and they're giving it to you for free.

[Quizno]

you obviously don't know much about law.

[Kanodin]

you obviously don't know much about law.

Who are you talking to?

[gemini~cusp]

Dont know how this isnt illegal to begin with, to be honest. You're selling something that doesnt belong to you.

Not really as clear cut actually. EQ players first tested this legally threatening a lawsuit against EQ when they were getting banned for selling in-game items. The idea was that while the content and material was EQ's, the time and creativity used in getting and creating a character was the property of the player. The lawsuit failed in court but alot of legal writings documenting the case pretty much indicated because its never clear with mmorpgs.

Even if the act of rmt'ing is against the TOS I don't know of any mmorpg company that actually tested their TOS in court against IGE or other online sites and its hugely a tricky legal thing to test.

[Khamsin]

I'm surprised they got him on violation of his visa, rather than ToS for WoW.

[Delekii]

I was under the impression that this wasn't Allakhazam.

who the fuck are you? lol

interesting stuff, lets hope that it is actually enforcable

[Isildur]

I believe a breach of ToS from RMT is alot like police handing out speeding tickets on the highway or jaywalking, sure SE's ToS says that RMT is illegal in their MMORPG, but they believe that the time and energy far outweigh the problem.

its like RMT = 66MPH in a 60 zone..and botting = 100MPH in a 60 zone

(this analogy is wide open for a fleetool joke)

[LD]

While I have recently come to believe RMT takes money from the obscenely wealthy and gives it to the possibly deserving, and apparently crafty poor, it is nice to see action being taken and regulations being put in place.

The effect it can have on the in-game economy and the pitiably desperate is indisputable and awful to behold, measures should be taken.

Interesting Stuff...
Stay Tuned for More..
Tales...Of....Interest.

[Coren]

I was under the impression that this wasn't Allakhazam.

<3 people with 2 posts making statements like this. Isn't the "Zam!" card reserved for people with like 1000+ posts?

re-rail:
What are the odds china would back something like this? Slim/none?

[Kanodin]

re-rail:
What are the odds china would back something like this? Slim/none?

I think they have other things to worry about, like recognizing basic human rights and curbing the rampant corruption in the local governments. Part of the reason why RMT flourishes so well in China is that many areas have very low standards of living--so low that a person can "survive" on a RMT wage.

It's similar to the whole "Nike can pay Shanghai employees 20 dollars a month and turn a profit" thing...

[Tradition]

who the fuck are you? lol

No one, really. I just thought these kinds of discussions were better left over there.

[Coldplay4tw]

150 million?!

Thats some big Yen!

[Takedown3]

so... MPK = murder?

[MisterBob]

so... MPK = murder?

Your mom's place

[Vertabreaker]

Here's another article

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061227-8503.html

[Xavier]

I dunno the legality of it but it seems like what the one person said, about charging people for your time rather than for the items should be acceptable by law?

If I go to a pottery barn like place and purchase the right to paint using their supplies in their store, and then turn around and sell my awesome cup, pottery barn can't sue me.

I know the ToS you agree to can specifically prohib RMT-like activites, but it seems like charging for your time is the loopwhole.