Jul
30
Is virtual gold real?
Filed Under Virtual | Leave a Comment
At last count, millions play mmorpgs. From the massively popular World of Warcraft, to the cutesy Maplestory, the new SilkRoadOnline and others like Everquest and Lineage 2, the count is increasing daily. And WoW boasts at least 500 thousand players online minimum at any one time.
Visit eBay, Yahoo! Auctions and any other major auction site and inevitably, there are virtual game items and virtual game gold for sale. Not cheap too. Reportedly, some people can make a living out of these virtual jobs, whether it is mining virtual gold or doing power leveling for virtual characters. It’s even been the subject of several mini virtual cross border disputes where some US players blamed Chinese players cooped up in a LAN sweat shop with a 56k connection of mining non stop for gold to sell for money.
Like any thing else in economics, I believe it boils down to market demand and supply. For as long as people are willing to pay a few hundred to get someone to level their game character, there will be someone willing to do it.
And while most game companies claim ownership over all virtual items in the game, inevitably, people who are desperate enough for a highly sought after item will pay good cash for it.
So, play on, I say. The game companies are definitely winning, looking at the relatively low running costs they bear in comparison with the size of their client base, and the amount of money they are rolling in.
So much so, that the tax officials are looking seriously at how to tax your character’s online possessions. Yeah, be prepared to pay yearly taxes on that +18 Sword of the Rock.
And let the game companies keep improving the games, to hook us all till kingdom come.