Software:Gamepal
GamePal is an online platform for players of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games to buy, sell and trade digital assets such as in-game currency, items, accounts, and power leveling services. The site is a neutral marketplace that supports player-to-player as well as direct selling for popular MMOs.
History
GamePal emerged in June 2004 as a multi-feature platform for MMORPG players interested in digital asset trading. The buying and selling of in-game assets such as virtual currency is also a practice known as "real money trading" or RMT.
In June 2005, GamePal launched virtual account rental services for gamers who can now rent a high-level character and play as long as they like, then return the character for a different one or for a character in another game.[1]
GamePal worked closely with companies such as IGE expanding their options to virtual account trading allowing the buying, trading and selling of accounts.[2] In 2007, IGE received numerous disputes and sold their company[3]
Controversy over secondary markets for MMOGs
The RMT or secondary market for in-game MMOG assets has been controversial for a number of years, with many games such as Eve Online[4] and World of Warcraft[5] forbidding trading that violates their End User License Agreements (EULA). Other publishers such as Sony Online Entertainment previously forbid the sale of virtual goods until 2005 when it opened a new service called Station Exchange[6] allowing the sale of virtual goods. In 2010, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that virtual currency is the equivalent of real money and legalized real money trading.[7] In 2011, Blizzard Entertainment changed their decision to outlaw the sale of virtual goods and implemented real money trading (RMT) to their game Diablo 3 allowing users to sell items at an official auction house in exchange for real money.[8]
Current research estimates that approximately $3 billion (US) dollars[9] of virtual goods are bought and sold by players around the world every year. Other research estimates that approximately 30% of all gamers purchase virtual goods.[10]
References
- ↑ "Upward Mobility" 26 June 2005. NY Times
- ↑ "Be a Gaming God for Dollars a Day" 23 June 2005. Wired
- ↑ "The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire" 24 November 2008. Wired
- ↑ "EVE Online Vows Unholy Rage on Real Money Trading" 18 August 2009. IGN
- ↑ "Gaming for Money: Trading Game Assets" 18 August 2009. Dave Spohn, About.com
- ↑ "SOE Station Exchange Launches" 20 July 2005. IGN
- ↑ "Virtual Currency to Real Money Trading Now Legal in Korea" 13 January 2010. MMORPG.COM
- ↑ "Blizzard, Value and the future of goods " 14 August 2011. GamerLaw
- ↑ "Global market for trading virtual goods reaches £1.8bn a year" 11 April 2011. Daily Mail
- ↑ "Up to Thirty Percent of MMO Players Buy Gold" 19 May 2009. 1UP
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