Virtual Economies (Money & Properties)
As mentioned earlier, every person will be able to develop their own avatar in the virtual world. Avatars in the MMORPG network develop their social network and relationships in the online community. Inside the virtual world, they do have their own economies system involving trade and barter for things such as weapon, guns, gold, and other intangible goods.
According to Lawrence G. Walters (2010), people are enjoying a real profits from the virtual worlds by selling artifacts and avatars on the Internet auction sites. Some entrepreneur sell virtual money or gold to be used in the games. These "gold" in the game are gained through an unacceptable manners which they referred as "farming" (using computer bots to play automatically), and resell it to other gamers through the online sites. This practice is strongly opposed by the gaming companies as it violates the game rules and intellectual property rights.
The issues of copyright and ownerships right often arises in the MMORPGs. Can the agreement made in the cyberspace enforced by the real world's law? Can the virtual properties be "stolen" in legal sense? There is an example of the virtual property and real world money trade that involved court. In the case, a Second Life player purchased a piece of virtual land below the market value and invested thousands of dollar to resell the land for profit. However, the gamer's account was terminated by the gaming company upon the completion of the trade. The company refused to make refund and the gamer filed a civil complaint against the company. What worth mentioning is the case is not heard in the court until today. It is unsure whether this kind of trade involving virtual land and real money can be enforced by the legal action.
Reference: http://www.gamecensorship.com/mmorpglaw.html
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