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| Xavier Antoviaque |
 Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:18 pm |
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Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Posts: 396
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Hello,
In case you have missed it, eBay has introduced a policy to ban auctions of virtual items a week ago:
LA Times: EBay bans auctions of virtual treasures
Quote: From a legal standpoint, game companies hold all the cards. Subscribers to these games explicitly agree to a contract, called a user agreement, stating that the intellectual property rights of anything they create in the game belong to the game publishers.
"It's extremely clear that these contracts are enforceable," said Beth Noveck, a professor at New York Law School. "That's not open to debate. It's a question of whether the players will tolerate this over the long term."
And Slashdot had a story about it too, and discussed Second Life's exemption of this policy.
Quote: We've spoken before on the possibility of taxation of virtual goods in the U.S. and abroad, as well as the economic impact these sales can have. With the removal of a very popular, very public source of virtual currency and goods from the market, what does this mean for the future of RMT? Will small businessmen who previously worked via eBay now turn to larger independent sites like IGE? Given that eBay is ipso facto declaring virtual goods to be the property of the game makers and not the players who 'earn' them, what does this mean for the future of virtual rights in general? |
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Xavier. |
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| burlingk |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:11 pm |
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Joined: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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I know my oppinion is probably not the popular one, but when we sign up for these games we agree to the contract stating we won't sell the stuff our characters get for realworld money.
If you don't like the rules, don't play the game. It's not a matter of "virtual rights" it is a matter of liscense agreement.
Whatever a person's view is of their ownership of items their character gathers, there is a bigger issue, a matter of honor and keeping ones word. It may seem a little silly to some, but it is important. When we click "I Agree" we are saying that we read the contents of the contract and agree to it. That is us giving our word that we will follow the rules layed out within in exchange for the service that the company offers. Even if you didn't read the rules, you are still bound by them because you said you would be.
To be rather blunt though, item/gold sellers have pretty much trashed the gaming industry. They have crashed economies in other wise stable worlds.
As the article said, How long will players put up with this. It goes both ways. I personaly would suggest taking a stand against the people who mass harvest and sell loot online. Don't buy from them, and don't encourage others to do so. |
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| daraknor |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:34 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 25
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I have argued that in game currency sales actually helps the economy, and I haven't lost the argument yet. In game currency brokers act as a secondary money sink, and banning them acts as a primary money sink.
Some games require massive amounts of time in order to advance, and in many cases the time is not spent actually playing the game, but doing time sinks. I think time sinks should be optional for people who actually work. Game sales of items are a clear way of doing this. EQ2 is having moderate success with official brokered sales of game items.
Ebay is probably doing the CYA policy = Cover Your Ass. With in game item sales becoming a more legal issue, Ebay probably doesn't want to get involved on either side. Since there isn't really a recourse for in game item fraud, Ebay has a very tenuous position in general.
While I'm for out of game sales in general, I'm against macroing in general. I have done both (selling gold and macroing). Last time I macroed a game heavily was Matrix Online because the crafting system was over 100 clicks to make a single item and I was getting carpal tunnel. It wasn't 100 meaningful clicks, it was 100 senseless clicks, and there was no alternative. I sold my MxO cash on Ebay and essentially got a refund for that PoS game. (item database was unstable, missions were in sorry need of balance + fixes, best items were harvested by level 50 characters killing all game bosses in the entire world, etc) As some prominent game designers have said, don't fight macroing, just redesign the interfaces people macro because it means they probably weren't designed well to begin with. |
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| burlingk |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:36 pm |
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Joined: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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daraknor wrote:
Ebay is probably doing the CYA policy = Cover Your Ass. With in game item sales becoming a more legal issue, Ebay probably doesn't want to get involved on either side. Since there isn't really a recourse for in game item fraud, Ebay has a very tenuous position in general.
While we will probably run into varying levels of disagreement on the other subjects, I think we can agree here. :) |
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| daraknor |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:50 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 25
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I tend to have really bizarre unpopular opinions in general. On the other hand, I challenge a lot of premises. It is really strange that so much hinges on so few premises. For example, if you don't believe in sin almost all of the Bible based religions are impossible to explain through other means. An entire belief system hinging on one premise. I challenge all premises I can find, because I'm discontent with the world in general. I feel we sacrifice our best to feed our worst, and most of these sacrifices are needless. I think the law should be understood and possible to be followed.
Most of my conclusions are well founded in Systems theory, comparisons to history and sustainability studies. I'm probably wrong on many counts, but I'm more interested in knowing why than any emotional attachment to a belief. So ... feel free to fire away!
I'm doing AI design for BaW as well, if you want to debate topics there. |
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| Windwalker |
| Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:02 pm |
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Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Cornwall UK
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| I think it's really quite unfair that Ebay acts like big brother, but it still allows the sale of other "intangable" goods, and now with it's classifieds offering "local services" it just mkaes a mockery of all the hard work that has gone into making and trading Virtual Items. |
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WOW here I come :D
http://www.eco2you.co.uk |
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