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eBay Bans Auctions of Virtual Goods
As of January 29, 2007, the popular auction website eBay has confirmed its decision to ban auctions for the characters, currency, weapons, attire and accounts of massive multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, EverQuest and others. However, the virtual world Second Life is not subject to the ban. A spokesperson for eBay, Hani Durzi, indicated that Second Life is exempt because it is not currently regarded as a game. With eBay no longer available as an option, third-party sites, such as Internet Gaming Entertainment, are expected to control the virtual item market, which is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
While eBay said its decision, which is essentially a move to begin enforcing rules against virtual-item trades that already exist, stems from a desire to protect users, critics suggest the decision has larger implications for the market for virtual goods. Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, suggests that eBay may be leaving the market to avoid legal disputes with game publishers and government regulators. The majority of online games forbid users from exchanging virtual goods from the game for real money (Second Life being a notable exception) and the Korean government is proposing laws to regulate real-world transactions for virtual goods.
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