eBay Puts a Ban on Listings for Virtual Items

Author: June
Posted: February 7th, 2007 @ 3:11pm
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The online auction site eBay has put a kibosh on any listing for virtual goods used in multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft. However, the company has exempted Second Life from this decision and will allow trade to continue is the online community.

eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told CNET that “We think there is an open question about whether Second Life should be regarded as a game.”

Edward Castronova, an Associate Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University and 2005 Pop!Tech speaker, studies synthetic worlds and their economies. He adds that “this is very, very good. Second Life wants to be an extension of the real economy, while World of Warcraft does not. Will judges and legislatures see the difference? At least eBay did.”

The question that continues to surround Second Life is whether or not Second Life is in fact a game. How do we define the Second Life phenomena? More importantly, in a virtual situation where users can make money and become millionaires while they are at it, how do we define the growing economy? One could say that because Second Life has not real “goal”, no levels to pass, no monsters to defeat it is not a game. It maybe be an extension of a very real first life, made accessible on the internet. But does that mean that Second Life will develop is own economy, will there be a SLSE (Second Life Stock Exchange)? And there are even rumors of taxation on virtual goods. It will be interesting how these issues develop as we see more and more business jump on the band wagon.

Thanks to Ed Castronova for the link.