Korea: Virtual Currency Just As Good As Cash

[Gin Fushicho]

But...But... I want money! D= I find rare items all the time in MMO's and just Hoarde them , now I wanna sell them!

 

[egidem]

Crap...imagine what you could buy if you had 1000 virtual wallets....time to get out some notepad or paper and start creating some accounts and password.

 

[hillarymakesmecry]

That's ~$17,600 for those who don't want to do the math.

 

[figgus]

This is a very very bad thing. Watch for other governments to start taxing MMO money now, but guess what: they will want their cut in REAL money at the appropriate exchange rate. Also, the government is under no obligation to exchange currencies for you, you'll need to find a private service to do that.

This is the reason why most companies try to limit the buying and selling of their virtual goods: tax laws like this one will kill MMO gaming.

 

[thegreathuntingdolphin]

...earned the virtual funds through skill and hard work.

What are they talking about? Skill? Hardwork??? They are playing a freakin game. Geez I do a lot of things in RL that require skill and handwork but that doesn't mean I get paid for it.

I don't think this ruling really is all that surprising. I don't think it will affect normal people. It's like secondlife. Whether it crashes and burns will not affect me since no real banking institutions or companies are treating it like stock or a legitimate trade. However, since it is virtual, there is great risk to the people playing it since the gamemaker and whims of the public can make the money crash and be worthless. And unlike Wall Street, there are no protections or regulations (but you still have to pay taxes...talk about getting shafted!). Also, I imagine there will be hyperinflation now that everyone will jump on board.

The court did NOT say it was real currency, only that it could be traded for real currency. It is still not legal tender...

 

[virtualban]

[citation][nom]cjl[/nom]That's ridiculous. People don't get paid for hard work. They get paid for doing something useful. Actual farming makes food. In game farming makes....nothing. If someone else in the game is moronic enough to pay them actual money for a transfer of virtual funds, that's fine, but nobody should be obligated to accept virtual funds that were obtained through useless labor as equal to real money.[/citation]
Right said.

If one wants a shortcut to the actual farming or grinding, ok, let them pay money and receive the item. Grinding and farming for in game purposes is good at relaxing because chosen to, and because it adds to the sense of fulfillment, delusional according to some, addiction beyond reason according to some others, plain fun according to most anyway, but, for the sake of Odin, do not ever turn it into a work where the product farming that makes useless items is sold actually for useful items. It's just a click away from the GM or whoever is in charge, let it be so. Pay is ok, be paid is not. IMO. It's like washing the floor with a toothbrush, waste of useful time. Either like it, or not. As soon as farming for the reason of being paid for something that someone else has just to click once to make you worthless,... not funny, please, don't actually implement ANYthing of the sort.

 

[marraco]

Super Mario collected all the coins!, now he can....! did you your taxes?.

No can't go. Sorry.

 

[virtualban]

Also, in world economy is fun, out of world implication of any kind, and adding of extra rules upon rules, not fun! Escape of real world, not be caught in it. It is nice in some games where you can actually do whatever is allowed inside the world physics and still be ok. And they will always patch for those that find bugs upon exploring the limits of the physics, but the rest can be fine, and have fun, and relax, or get frustrated and change group, or realm, or just log off, but still detached enough to make it a fun and safe experience even in frustration. Like previously said, what would happen if one 'steals' in game, because allowed to. Will be the rule: you can steal in real world, and be punished for it. or will it be: ok, you got hold of some accounted for situation and showed you're really the bad guy (rogues in wow, haha) or got hold of some unaccounted for that will be patched soon. But still, a safe world to play, not a world to live in (yeah, we pretty soon will be plugged in matrix style, and jump to and from pixelated selves.

 

[anamaniac]

Well, in many of these games, you can buy coins, can't you?
Legally too, but for more than the farmers charge.

I believe in fair competition in online games. Not just the richest player wins... They already have a Porsche, life isn't fair, so lets make videogames fair. =D

 

[Guest]

It is not the courts problem if it makes the game unfair. The people running the game can disallow the RL selling of the ingame currency as they see fit. But they can't make it illegal.

And to a lot of people the gold farmers work is apparently useful. Sadly.

 

[killerb255]

South Korea has just decimated their economy...