Loading... China Bans RMT

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Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Western MMO gamers have overwhelmingly welcomed the news that the Chinese government has prohibited the sale of virtual items and currency for money, cutting into a controversial industry worth hundreds of millions. But is it too soon to celebrate? An inside look into how business is really done in China, and why this ruling comes down as RMT is on the wane in today's Loading... China Bans RMT.

Coyote is back in a big way at Ten Ton Hammer, and his daily column explores all things geek with Coyote's trademark wit in It's All Geek to Me. Read it daily at Ten Ton Hammer! Today's topic: Mario and Ouija... (Luigi Board - all answers are pasta related)

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World of Warcraft Champions Online (UP 14! - here's why) EverQuest 2 Age of Conan Aion (down 3)

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Global Agenda (UP 52 to #17) Guild Wars (UP 15 to #10) EverQuest (UP 7 to #14) Recent MMO Releases 6/16 - EverQuest 2 GU 52 6/24 - Age of Conan Update 5: Gangs of Tarantia 6/25 - WAR "Land of the Dead" 6/30 - City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary

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Loading... Daily

If virtual currency were traded as a commodity on a public exchange (and no doubt a crackpot professor somewhere with more grants than sense is pushing for just that), you'd be seeing a huge uptick in RMT futures today. InformationWeek is reporting that China has banned the sale of virtual items and currency. Is it time for anti-RMT'ers like yours truly to dance in the streets? For pro-RMTers to invest in that Eastern European goldfarming operation their tennis buddies told them about? Not quite.

My short brush with Chinese politics was an eye opener. Americans, even the bad ones, generally believe that the law is a homogenous code throughout a country, uniformly enforced, and, once broken, it's usually only a matter of time before the lawbreakers are caught. It's a good and useful belief, tenuously supported by the facts at home, even if horribly naieve abroad.

In China, laws that can be quietly broken are more like invitations to bribe the local authority to look the other way. Beyond this Orwellian giant of a government are a humble and hard-working people just trying to make a buck for their families. If a bit of consideration greases the wheels to ensure 30 RMT workers aren't turned out on the false mercy of the welfare lotto, most figure that there's no real harm done. They aren't possessed of our abject horror at extortion and corruption; after all, it's how business has been done for thousands of years. Nonetheless, those costs will be passed down to the end-user.

Whatever effect this new prohibition has, illicit RMT is past its heyday. Not only are developers increasingly establishing official RMT avenues, no one wants their account banned for purchasing golds, goods, and accounts in flagrant violation of the ToS. Developers like Blizzard and SOE have seriously stepped up their efforts to ban farmers, mules, and purchasers. Why? Not necessarily for the purest, fan-driven motives. Everyone is on the take, in one way or another. SOE formed their own anti-hack anti-farming operation most likely because these activites are a stumbling block for their Station Cash program. For Blizzard, banning accounts is likewise big business. A banned farming account just means that the banee needs a new key, which means more box revenues for you know who. WoW commands that kind of customer loyalty, a luxury most other games don't have.

Does this ban come just as RMT is on the downswing? What's your take? Share it in the Loading... forum, or email me.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer Forum

China Bans Gold Farming

If it keeps some of the spammers and botters out of our games, I'm all for it.

Annatar
posted a link in our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer forum to an article
in Information Week which states that "trading virtual goods for real
money has been banned in China, putting hundreds of millions of dollars
in economic activity at risk."

What do you think, gamers? Can we
look forward to less gold spam in our games and on our forums and
Interwebz in the future? Or is this sort of thing going to be difficult
for China to regulate? Share your thoughts!

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"In unrelated news, Blizzard just announced the closing of half of WoW's servers."

- Bithnar
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

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