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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Lawbringer: Real money transactions and some eBay history
by Mathew McCurley 
Oct 15th 2010 at 9:00PM
eBay and massively multiplayer online role playing games have a deep, rich and occasionally sordid past. As social beings, we've been bartering, trading and selling our time and goods for the entirety of human history. The internet just made things even easier. Hell, buying some gold or an item off of eBay isn't the first time you've probably spent money for a work-around in a game. Ever heard of Game Genie? We paid money for that at one point in our lives.
This week, The Lawbringer delves into the past, remembering the good ol' days when the internet came in three varieties: 28.8k, 33.6k and 56k v.90. Also, 14.4k, but only losers had such weak baud. Please don't make me go back further in time. You're probably making modem sounds right now, pretending to go ksshhhh ksshhhh bee doo be dooo wha wha wha wha wha wha wha beeboobeeboobeebeeboobeep, so we should probably start this up.
These were the days when you could browse eBay for a Silver Sword of Vanquishing for Ultima Online or buy plat in EverQuest. These were the homesteading, Wild West days. Eventually, companies either went the EverQuest route and sold stuff themselves or the Star Wars Galaxies path of banning accounts up for sale.
So who buys?
Not everyone buys, but more people than you think take part in purchasing in-game items and currencies. Virtual goods are hot right now -- do you think Farmville would be on 7-11 cups if it didn't bring people into the store? People think that buying virtual goods is a new phenomenon, when in actuality, we've been doing it for a long, long time.
Do you remember MUDs? I do. MUDs, or multi-user dungeons, are the genesis of the massively multiplayer. These online virtual worlds were the proto-MMOs, where people existed alongside others, fought dragons, explored worlds, and, through the power of text, lived virtual lives.
One of my professors once told us an amazing story in which he spent a good amount of money on an item in a MUD. He sent a decent amount of cash to the administrator of the game in the Netherlands. The class laughed. I didn't. I empathized with my professor -- the time, energy and devotion to get items in these games when the opportunities just don't present themselves for one reason or another seems utterly worth it sometimes. My heart almost broke.
Over time, the mob-like, back-alley transactions became events of the past, as eBay and other auction sites opened shop online providing an easy repository of virtual goods for the common player. Ultima Online rares and silver weapons flooded the virtual markets. EverQuest platinum potentially made people wealthy. For a while, Origin, original creators of Ultima Online, didn't really seem to mind. In-game real estate like large towers and castles were selling for thousands of dollars. Sony asked eBay to stop listing auctions for in-game Everquest items in 2001, curbing most of the real money transactions going on. If you've learned anything from the last few Lawbringer columns, you know that once money gets involved, there's trouble. And, really, you don't even own this stuff, so how are you selling it?
Time is money, friend
eBay virtual goods peddlers sold accounts, items, real estate and everything in between. The practice of selling something you don't own is tantamount to fraud in a lot of places, considering that a.) you don't own the thing you are selling, and b.) you don't have any rights to the thing you are selling. Terms of Use were in effect, acknowledging that players had no claim or right to the virtual items or currency that they amassed in game. How could people get around it?
Sellers erected what they had believed to be the iron wall of defenses, a disclaimer to end all disclaimers, one disclaimer to rule them all. The idea was that the buyer of an item was not actually paying for the goods or the item itself. Rather, the seller was being compensated for his time farming, questing or playing to get said item. Flawless, right? To the untrained eye, it's bulletproof. What people didn't realize was that it doesn't matter what disclaimers you throw at the bottom of an eBay auction. If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, walks like a duck and is sold on an online auction website like a duck, companies are going to treat it like a duck.
No dice. Over time, game companies wised up to the shenanigans going on through eBay. MMOs were really picking up steam now, and the money started to pour in. A million people were playing EverQuest. The world was the MMO's oyster. SOE's Star Wars Galaxies began to close accounts that were found to be on sale, ruining sellers' potential profits by making those accounts inactive. You can't buy a house in Ultima Online anymore on eBay. Searching "World of Warcraft account" on eBay brings up a host of guides to level, but nothing substantial. There was more to lose now.
Blizzard's rule and the "grand scam" of things
What's the status of buying and selling accounts in World of Warcraft? Don't. Aeus, a Blizzard poster, made it very clear in 2007:
Re: is buying/selling accounts on eBay "illegIt's not allowed according to the agreements you agree to when you play WoW. If and when we find out an account was bought, it gets closed down, permanently, no appeal.
Do you really want to put time and effort into something you might lose over night?
Do you really want to put time and effort into something you might lose over night?
Blizzard's stance is unforgiving, and for good reason. Have you heard about the "grand scam"?
The grand scam is the end all, be all of account-selling scams. Here's how things go down. The account seller sets up an auction with whatever back-alley website he chooses. Buyer comes along and pays real money to the seller. Buyer has changed all the passwords. Here's the rub -- the user cannot change the first or last name on the account. How is this buyer ever going to prove this account is his? It doesn't even matter. One day, the buyer can't log in. The password has been reset. Seller has called up Blizzard tech support, claimed his account was stolen and reset the information. Buyer has no recourse, seller has his "goods" back and Blizzard has little way of knowing if the seller was ever telling the truth.
Paving a way?
Accounts, items, currencies and a whole lot more have been sold, bartered and traded throughout the history of MMOs. eBay was instrumental in the early days of real money transactions and virtual goods. I'd even go as far as saying that these types of transactions on eBay paved the way for the original generation of microtransactions and virtual goods outside of South Korea, China and Japan. People need to be OK with buying things that have no tangible, real-life counterpart, and early eBay provided the world with just that.
This column is for entertainment only; if you need legal advice, contact a lawyer. For comments or general questions about law or for The Lawbringer, contact Mat at mat@wow.com.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Bronwyn Oct 16th 2010 1:17AM
Buying TCG stuff is fine, they were engineered like that in the first place.
Eisengel Oct 16th 2010 4:31AM
Short answer: Yes
Longer answer:
It's okay to sell TCG cards because you own them. When you purchase the commodity, the seller turns over the disposition of the article to you. A seller only has first sale rights, meaning they can only control the product until they sell it... however you do not own WoW. What you buy is a copy of the client software. What you buy is Blizzard's permission to use their game client (the material form of this permission are the reg codes on the CDs), and your subscription pays for Blizzard's permission to use their game server - you own none of the virtual items. Since you don't own any of it, you can't sell it.
Solitha Oct 16th 2010 11:31AM
A TCG card is an IRL bearer-owned item. You can buy, sell, or trade it because it is just that... an IRL item.
At one point, it was not allowed to sell a card's loot code for in-game currency. That was changed, shortly before they changed loot card rewards to be BoE or BoU. Now you can buy/sell an in-game redeemed item for in-game currency as well.
Just last night on my server, though, there was someone trying to sell WoW game time for in-game currency... still not allowed.
dodgeballer2005 Oct 16th 2010 12:40AM
Quoted from a friend:
"If there's someone dumb enough to buy something, there will be people smart enough to sell it."
However if people are dumb enough to buy/sell accounts, there are GMs bored enough to close them.
Kole Oct 16th 2010 1:29AM
14.4k?! Wow...you must be young...back in MY day I played MajorMud and FarWest Trivia on the Planet X BBS at 2400baud!! It was an UPGRADE to get 14.4k! Is it sad that I can still tell the connect speed by hearing the init-string?! Ohhh damn, now I am bringing back bad memories of AOL chat and countless hours of SLINGO.......
MH Oct 16th 2010 2:04AM
As someone who properties made 3k as a 14 year old selling UO properties, I think it's important to differentiate between those of us who sold unique items and people who merely sell currency. If a house was located somewhere in UO you weren't going to be able to duplicate that particular building. Land space, especially before Trammel was at a premium, and those of us who got in on the ground floor reacted to a more than willing market. No matter how much someone farmed gold in UO, they might not get to own a tower or a keep. Real money was a plausible solution for some, and I'm sure my single mother would love to thank a few buyers in particular!
MH Oct 16th 2010 2:06AM
Typos galore, that's what I get for responding on a Droid.
Fizzl Oct 16th 2010 7:39AM
Yeah I've got that teen-aged UO playing past too, I would acquire millions of gold and valuable real estate by just playing the game. Though I don't recall weapons selling much the housing market was very profitable and surprisingly fun.
The current state of what are essentially sweatshops in china is kinda sad because for me as a young middle class brit it was my first taste of financial responsibility and was not only able to cover my game subscriptions and internet costs but also the £300 a quarter phone bills I was getting because back when internet involved dialling premium rate numbers. Your time spent on-line was basically one big phone call (and they were charged by the minute in the UK). Eventually my mum made me get my own phone line the main one was always engaged. :)
Nick Oct 16th 2010 2:22AM
Yup, I wish I started UO early enough to cash in on that market!
I have never bought virtual items with real cash but not for the reasons you might think.
I have no moral objection to it at all, I simply don't care enough about Warcraft to want to invest more than my £8 a month.
That said I imagine that real money transactions are something that I would consider in the future. For me, time is a valuable commodity, I go to uni, study outside of class, I work 24 hours a week, I play in a basketball team that can train up to 3 nights a week and have games once a week, I have a girlfriend and I have a niece. If I have a quick look online, I see I could buy about 7.5k gold for an hour overtime. Perhaps if I had to farm a lot of gold I'd be better served staying late 1 night than farming in WoW for god knows how long? Just a thought.
Crowqueen Oct 16th 2010 5:11AM
You may not have any objections but Blizzard (or whatever company it is) do and it's their game if they want to terminate your account.
shocklock Oct 16th 2010 5:41AM
New Guildie - "trying to get to 80 as fast as I can, this is a new account, had 2 accounts banned"
Me- "Banned? for what?"
New Guildie - "One for Botting, one for Buying Gold"
(silence)
/gkick
a few seconds later I get a tell from kicked guildie "why did you kick me?"
/facepalm
would you have done the same? I just think that guild members need to be held to some standards.
tharveyyorkshire Oct 16th 2010 11:22AM
speaking as an officer of a social guild i would say you are perfectly within your rights for kicking this guy, i would have done the same.
i also dont allow characters with "inappropriate" names in the guild. its tough love :)
Solitha Oct 16th 2010 11:22AM
You did right.
If they're cheating on contracts they're able to be legally held to IRL, what's to say they won't cheat in-game on guildmates?
Besides, anyone who funds gold spammers deserves no place in the game whatsoever.
Ras Oct 16th 2010 6:15AM
Hey Ill have you know I had a 14.4kbaud modem when other people were still rocking 2400 baud. I was super cool then. lol
Mathew Oct 16th 2010 8:55AM
We had an external 9600, I think, but to be completely honest, I didn't want to make a modem joke too far back because a good number of people wouldn't get it. I'm still pretty young, and even that made me feel old.
XytheX Oct 16th 2010 9:09AM
There's no argument that gold selling doesn't work well for the buyer & seller. It's the price that everyone else pays that is at issue. From stolen accounts, botting, and Auction House deflation, to third world sweatshops; allot of people pay an unagreed to high price for only a few's benefit.
Anony Moss Oct 16th 2010 9:59AM
Frequently what people sell is NOT the "property" of the account, but instead the "time, effort and expertise put into creating the account". For all intents and purposes it is the equivalent of saying to a friend of yours that you'll pay them $X to come sit on your computer and play on the account for some period of time for you.
It is my belief that Blizzard's policy is a faulty one, in that it doesn't prevent the problem but simply drives it underground. If instead Blizzard offered a 'verified' method for such transactions (where they of course would take some percentage of any transaction for what would be comparatively minor investment), Blizzard could make money AND regulate the market to avoid such scams.
If they were smart, too, they could 'sell' in-game things that people frequently seek as well. Epic flight? There's a $X purchase you can make. No need to go pay money to some Chinese farmer, instead pay it directly to Blizzard and for 0 cost to Blizzard they give a character epic flight. Considering gold selling can and does continue to go on, it is by no means game breaking and you cannot convince me that Blizzard wouldn't be able to undercut gold sellers prices when it costs Blizzard nothing to offer such items. When the profits instead go to Blizzard (rather than gold farmers), they have that much more money to invest in the game or simply take home as profits for shareholders.
Don't fight the system, when you have so much power to simply dominate it and make a killing in the process.
Solitha Oct 16th 2010 11:23AM
What you suggest was already covered in this column before, and despite what you may think it's horribly complicated.
Solitha Oct 16th 2010 11:36AM
I'm surprised this story didn't make it into this particular column...
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/man-accused-of-world-of-warcraft-scam/1064822
kaminari Oct 16th 2010 1:17PM
a.) you don't own the thing you are selling, and b.) you don't have any rights to the thing you are selling.
you put a time and effort to get something inside a virtual world and can do what you want with it inside said world, like give it to some one, however if said person happens to give you money in the real world around the same time that is bad, gotcha.
i can see 3 points why selling acounts is against the ToS:
1.- developers don't like other people make money out of their products (even in created maerkets like MMO) without them getting a slice, completly meh reason imho
2.- acount tracking for post hack restoring would be both a blizz and client nightmare, this i can agree with
3.- account selling done openly or even allowed would be not much diferent than blizz selling unfair advantages, like gear, chars, etc, and judging from the debates on the forums sparkle pony is alraedy too close too blizz selling out