2008년 4월 30일 수요일

Cyber money in the real world

According to Kirkpatrick’s (2007, para. 9) article, “This virtual world - don't call it a game - has become a phenomenon: Second Life, which is free for casual use, has about 334,000 regular visitors. More than 2.6 million have checked it out, a figure that in mid-January was growing by about 20,000 per day”. As above in the article, the online world has become another world. An online game, which is a game that is based on a computer networking system, provides various kinds of contents to satisfy gamers’ need. Even though the majority of people do not think that online world is real, it has many similarities with the real world. It has an economic system, like an auction system, and it has a government that is controlled by the company. People who play the online game enjoy playing the game to fulfill satisfaction that is different from the real world. However, the online world has had problems recently; such as financial crime, damage in its market system and destruction of online game worlds. Therefore, the government, company and individual can make several solutions to prevent the problem.

Internet games are such that usually gamers play a game through the networking system such as the Internet system. As our technology has changed rapidly, our trend of games has changed a lot. This means that new types of games produce a variety of satisfaction for gamers. The history of online game was started in 1969. Many of the companies which provide service based on online network system had made games that many people could play together at the same time to fulfill consumers’ changes (Mulligan, 1999). Actually, many years ago, they started to provide online games, before the network system improved enough. Nowadays, the online world has become a new hot issue, because it has made new problems, since some people make real profit through trading cyber money. One solution to prevent this is that the government or the company could make a tax law system for the cyber world. According to Dibbell’s (2007, para. 8) article, “American Apparel's Second Life store sells virtual fashions to players. Consider ‘bartering’ and ‘prizes’ as outlined in IRS publication 525 (Taxable and Nontaxable Income): Anyone who acquires goods or services either in trade or at play must report as income the ‘fair market value’ of those goods or services”. However, others think that trading cyber money for real money does not cause problems, because it is natural that many players who want more power and position in their game world make the money market naturally to fulfill their own satisfaction (Ward, 2008). In fact, there are lots of problems in the cyber world due to the fact that many people do not consider its problem seriously today. For example, making a black market, spoiling a game’s surroundings and increasing financial frauds can be harmful to both the company and the player.

First, the government and company should regulate rules or policies to prevent an illegal market system. In Korea, several companies realized that there was a problem that many foreign gamers were making cyber money for selling in the real world. Usually the foreign gamers connected from their own countries, and the illegal company can use them at a lower labor fee. According to Wingfield’s (2007, para 4) article, “While some game makers have embraced such transactions, others view them as a form of cheating. A more vexing matter, though, is a new professional class of entrepreneurs, called ‘gold farmers,’ who do nothing but collect virtual goods and sell them for real money, often operating from low-wage countries like China and Eastern Europe”. So, the company makes the solution to prevent illegal trading, like blocking foreign Internet Providers. Through blocking foreign Internet Providers, we can prevent surreptitious uses, like stealing Social Security Numbers. Furthermore, through a tax system, people can prevent imbalance in the market system. So, a tax system can bring the result that every profit from trade in the cyber world can make more specific information about illegal trading. It means people can avoid damages from the illegal market system.

Another is that the company and government should restrict selling cyber money with specific action. The biggest problem is that our society does not think that cyber money can become real money. So, people can trade cyber money and items in online access easily, like E-bay and Runescape. Actually, some companies try to prevent it by employing a third gamer who can check every gamers’ trading information, or regulating specific policies to treat it as a crime (Real-Money Trading Policy, n.d.). In China, many younger people have played games. They think that is trendy, and there has been a problem related to trading cyber money for real money. In YunYun’s (2007, para. 5) article, “In the past, players had to buy certain cards to get access to an online game. However, currently, most of the operators don't charge players due to the cutthroat market competition. To find profits, the game operators turn to selling virtual gear, including clothing and special weapons, to players to enhance their gaming experience. That virtual gear costs real money and satisfies ‘human beings' inner desire to be powerful and dominant in one world’”. However, any operation cannot protect them from the cyber fraud, even if they got financial damage, because the government does not consider that is cyber money a real product. So, the government should need to make some protection system to protect them. For example, strengthen the police’s position, like make cyber police to help people who are victims of fraud by cyber money seller.

In addition, today both the company and people who trade cyber money for real money may tend to compromise with illegal trading. They might think that trading cyber goods will get worse, if the company and government just restrict trading the cyber goods (Wingfield, 2007). However, in this process, the players who just enjoy playing the games without trading cyber money for real money can get damage anyway. Actually, the majority of gamers who play online games have the experience of being annoyed by cyber money sellers. Cyber money sellers usually use the bot accounts, which are controlled by the computer without man’s control (Ward, 2008). Also, those bot machines can be camping, which means that the bot machines monopolize certain places that can be the best places to get cyber money. It causes many problems that many players have to spend more time to compete with them. Furthermore, those cyber money sellers can send spam messages to players to sell cyber money for a fast buck. That phenomenon can bring destruction of game’s surroundings, and it can be the biggest reason that some players can leave the game; also, it can affect the company’s goal to make a profit. However, as supply and demand formula, it cannot be an avoidable situation. If they restrict or stop the bot machine, it can cause other problems, such as making a black market and hacking. So, recently the companies and legal cyber money sellers have cooperated to trade cyber money with real money legally. It means that sellers cooperate, they can avoid making a black market and illegal market system, and the companies can solve the problem in part.

Finally, some opponents say that even with the company and government’s rules or policies, like a tax system, they cannot control imbalance of market system, because applying a tax system in the cyber world can bring lots of complicated problems. For example, the company that provides the service to gamers has to tax about the profit. Moreover, the gamers would have to pay taxes for playing games. It means that the company fixes the prices to make profit through the consumers’ payment for service. Also, it should include taxes. So, they might say it is unfair to consumers, but this argument is incomplete, because as the online world’s market has developed, the government needs more specific information about trading cyber money for real money. The opponents may be worry about double taxing to consumers, but the government can take care of that through reducing tax for payment, and tax for cyber money can be paid in cyber money. The others say that trading cyber money for real money can be a natural phenomenon in today’s economic situation, because the cyber money and item is a kind of product in the economy, so people who want the cyber money can buy it in cash, if they had money for it. However, this argument is illogical, because an immaterial thing, like cyber money and item, has risks with keeping property right. It can cause crime such that people who want to get easy money can deceive people who want to buy the cyber money or item, like fraud and hacking. The real world and cyber world should be separated to prevent the financial crime. If the government and company allowed the trading of cyber money for real money without any control, it would get worse in our economic situation.

In conclusion, trading cyber money or items causes lots of problems now. It causes imbalance of economic market, financial crime and destruction of game’s surroundings. As the online world gets bigger, we need specific solutions to make better online and real world. Through the government and company’s regulation of rules and policies, we can prevent imbalance of market system, and considering it as a crime so that the government and society can prevent financial crime. However, the most important thing is that the government, company and individual have to cooperate to prevent many risks. It should be protected by some kind of control, and we have to know that a game is just a game, not for a fast buck.

Reference:

Dibbell, J. (2007, January 30) Virtual gold could draw real taxes. About.com. Retrieved March 31, 2008,from http://pcworld.about.com/od/onlineentertainment/Virtual-Gold-Could-Draw-Real-T.htm

Kirkpatrick, D. (2007, January 23) Second Life: It's not a game. CNN.com. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/22/magazines/fortune/whatsnext_secondlife.fortune/index.htm

Mulligan, J. (1999) History of online games. Happy Puppy.com. Retrieved April 9, 2008, from http://www.tharsis-gate.org/articles/imaginary/HISTOR~1.HTM

Real-Money Trading Policy. (n.d.). Guildwars.com. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://www.guildwars.com/support/rtm/rtm-en.php

Ward, M. (2008, Feburary 6) How cash can change online games. BBC News. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/Technology/7226818.stm

Wingfield, N. (2007, December 17) Start-Up to create market for trade of virtual goods. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1399624091&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId =1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Yunyun, L. (2007, Feburary 25) Virtual world, real fortune. Bjreview.com. Retrieved April 5, 2008, from http://www.bjreview.com/print/txt/2007-02/25/ content_56736_3.htm

2008년 4월 28일 월요일

Wikipedia is best?

Nowadays many people use Internet to get any information and knowledge from it. According to Wolverton’s (2007, para. 8) article, “Contributing to the debate is the speed in which Wikipedia has grown. While many scholarly and academic sources have decades – if not centuries – of history, Wikipedia’s popularity has surpassed all of them in a matter of just six years”. Actually a tremendous number of people find Wikipedia to get specific information for working and living. It provides very useful information to users, and it is free to get information from it, so many users consider it as a good encyclopedia. However, it has become an issue that many universities and colleges have banned quoting from Wikipedia, because it is not authoritative or scholastic. Even though many teachers and educators think it is not suitable to use for college students, it has many good effects for the majority of people for a long time.

First, we can share our knowledge with anybody. Wikipedia systems allow anyone to post the definition and information on Wikipedia (Lengel, 2006). Usually, people prefer to count on their own knowledge, and although they want to expand their knowledge, it is a little difficult to get new knowledge. However, in Wikipedia, anyone can edit the information, and it is open for everybody. It is a very easy way to share information with someone who wants to know something. It provides a various kinds of topics and subjects that anybody can edit. It means that it may not be accurate information, but after many people edit and edit again, it can become accurate.

Second, it is free to use. According to Byers’ (2007, para. 3) article, “Approximately 38 million people visited the English language version of the site in December 2006. Wikipedia is also easy to find; it frequently appears at the top of many Google searches and access is completely free”. For many poor people who cannot afford to buy the books, Wikipedia is like an expensive encyclopedia, which can help to get knowledge. Already many people get information from Wikipedia, even though they know that it have not verified by the specialists. However, information that many people have shared makes it reliable for people to get information and knowledge. That is why Wikipedia has become the most popular online encyclopedia today (Martin, 2008).

Last, Wikipedia provides information quickly and easily. Actually, most information from any media may not be accurate. According to Lengel’s (2006, para. 12) article, “The internet will never be like the school library. Nor should it be. Its value as a communication medium lies in its openness and diversity. But these same aspects make it problematic for our students. They, like many of us, were brought to trust what we read in a library book, or in the newspaper, or on television. These communication channels were for the most part well mediated, and so over the years. A few years ago, the way to get information and knowledge was just though television, newspaper and books. Today, we can get the information on the desk without any effort. If we did not have Internet service, like Wikipedia, maybe we still would have to go to the library and rent books, or we would have to pay for newspapers or television to get information. Furthermore, those media like television, newspapers and books are more difficult than the online encyclopedia to find certain information in. It can require more time and effort. So, systems like Wikipedia are very useful and helpful for us in our society.

In conclusion, Wikipedia is very useful online access to get information and knowledge. Even though many students and educators treat it as an informal information provider, it has very good effects for everyone. Many people can share information through Wikipedia, and it can help poor people to get more information. In addition, it provides us a tremendous amount of information easily and quickly. Therefore, Wikipedia gives people a more convenient life through those good effects.

Reference:

Byers, M. (2007,March 8 ). Controversy over use of Wikipedia in academic Papers arrives at Smith. Sophian. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2007/03/08/News/Controversy.Over.Use.Of.Wikipedia.In.Academic. Papers.Arrives.At.Smith-2765409.shtml

Lengel, J. ( 2006 ,Feburary 7). Authority. Teaching with Technology. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/article.shtml?ID=12

Martin, N. (2008, January 21 ). Wikipedia clamps down on ‘unreliable’ editors.Telegraph.co.uk Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://www.telegrapg.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/20/wiki120.xml

Wolverton, J. (2007, January 22 ). Wikipedia wisdom. Valley Vanguard. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from http://www.svsu.edu/clubs/vanguard/stories/1141

2008년 4월 22일 화요일

Trading cyber money with real money

Can you believe an image of the cyber item costs more than furniture? Have you ever thought that cyber money could be real money? Many companies that provide the service for playing online games have suffered with the issue of trading cyber money with real money. As the networking system developed, our trend of games has changed a lot. This means that new types of games produce a variety of satisfaction for gamers. According to Mulligan (1999), “Rick Blomme writes a two-player version of MIT's famous Spacewar for the PLATO service. PLATO was one of the first time-sharing systems dedicated to experimenting with new ways to use computers for education (Originally built in the late 1960's at the University of Illinois/Urbana)” (para. 6). Actually, many years ago, they started to provide online games, before the network system improved enough. Nowadays, the online world has become a new hot issue, because it has made new problems, since some people make real profit through trading cyber money. So, the government and company should regulate protection, such as an online tax system in other to checking trading information easily. There are many problems of trading cyber money with real money, so several solutions by the government, company and individual can help to make fewer problems in the cyber world.

First, the government and company can solve the problem of an illegal market system that trades cyber money with real money. In Korea, several companies realized that there was a problem, that many foreign gamers were making the cyber money for selling in the real world. Usually the foreign gamers connected from their own country, and the illegal company can use them in lower labor fee. According to Wingfield’s (2007) article, “While some game makers have embraced such transactions, others view them as a form of cheating. A more vexing matter, though, is a new professional class of entrepreneurs, called "gold farmers," who do nothing but collect virtual goods and sell them for real money, often operating from low-wage countries like China and Eastern Europe” (para. 4). So, the company should make the solution to prevent illegal trade through blocking foreign Internet Provider. Furthermore, the government should regulate laws, like a tax system to prevent imbalance in the market system. According to Dibbell’s (2007) article, “American Apparel's Second Life store sells virtual fashions to players. Consider ‘bartering’ and ‘prizes’ as outlined in IRS publication 525 (Taxable and Nontaxable Income): Anyone who acquires goods or services either in trade or at play must report as income the ‘fair market value’ of those goods or services” (para. 8). So, a tax system can bring the result that every profit from trade in the cyber world can make more specific information about it. it means the company can prevent an illegal market system.

Second, the cyber money can make financial crime in the real world, because our society does not think it is real products, so the company can solve the problem through a variety of policies. For example, some companies regulate the policies that treat it as illegal trading (Real-Money Trading Policy, n.d.). Basically, the company can prevent the trade, and people can realize it is not normal trade. Furthermore, the company can make more powerful position in the online world. So, it can control trading, such as checking selling cyber money and blocking spam messages to gamers.

Last, trading cyber money with real money can spoil the game’s surroundings for many gamers, so the company can help to solve that problem. Most people who like playing games want to make stress go away while playing. However, many gold sellers spoiled the game’ surroundings because they have to make more of the cyber money to get more of the real money. For example, farmers who make cyber money usually make a monopoly of places, which can be the best places to make more gold. It can make many players get more stress when playing the game. If the company can make non-tradable items in an online world, people cannot trade basically. Moreover, applying a system of restrictions playing time can be a good solution for players. Therefore, the company’s role is very important for the cyber world.

In contrast, opponents say, trading cyber money system is a natural phenomenon in our society, because our online technology has developed a lot, so it does not need to be controlled it by rules and policies. However, this argument is incomplete, because our society does not recognize it as a real product. Furthermore, if someone can get fraud from trading cyber money with real money, the police cannot help him or her, because it is not real. It is changing recently, but it is still a problem.

In conclusion, our technology has changed rapidly, and it has made lots of games and a cyber world to fulfill gamers’ satisfaction. However, it has made lots of problems like fraud, spoiling game surroundings and making a black market. So, the government and companies have to regulate specific rules or policies to prevent it.

Reference

Dibbell, J. (2007) Virtual gold could draw real taxes. About.com. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from http://pcworld.about.com/od/onlineentertainment/Virtual-Gold-Could-Draw-Real-T.htm

Mulligan, J. (1999) History of online games. Happy Puppy.com. Retrieved April 9, 2008, from http://www.tharsis-gate.org/articles/imaginary/HISTOR~1.HTMM

Real-Money Trading Policy. (n.d.). Guildwars.com. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://www.guildwars.com/support/rtm/rtm-en.php

Wingfield, N. (2007, December 17) Start-Up to create market for trade of virtual goods. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1399624091&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD

2008년 4월 8일 화요일

Money and tax in virtual world

According to Dibbell’s (2007) article, “Virtual Gold Could Draw Real Taxes,” the author shows us that the Joint Economic Committee of Congress will apply tax law to a virtual world. First, the author explains that MMOs’ companies try to control the trade of virtual money with real money that usually make illegal profit, but many users trade the virtual money like exchanging with other games’ money. Furthermore, people who play online games can meet easily the trade information, like on E-bay system. Next, the author explains that it is complicated to make a tax for it. Last, the author said that many gamers realized this situation, but it is unfair to conclude that the virtual world needs a tax system. If the government is concerned about this situation, people will lose opportunities to fulfill the tremendous potential of communication beyond playing the game.

Have you ever thought one image of items can make money in society? Nowadays many companies and individuals can make profits through selling the virtual money and goods. Actually, our economic system requires a tax on profit from any kinds of services and goods. However, most online game money exchangers do not pay any taxes, even though they have evened earn something like real money or virtual items. Moreover it is difficult to judge what profit is, because the virtual money usually cannot be defined like real money. Most gamers think that they should not need to pay taxes for virtual money because of several reasons.

First, it is too complicated to pay taxes. Usually paying taxes is concluded on labor and service, but most people who enjoy games think that the game is not for getting money. Many users paid money to play games, and the companies pay taxes on that earning. If the government is concerned with the paying of taxes in the virtual world, the players may pay double the taxes for it. Besides, recent online games have made profit all over the world. If people who want to make the tax laws in the virtual world apply a tax system in the online world, the companies and gamers will get confused about where they should pay the taxes. The biggest problem is that the virtual money system is still not treated as real now. Just some gamers know the value of the virtual money, but except for those gamers, most people could not know about that. So, paying taxes for the virtual money is not easy for many people to tax as real.

Paying taxes as gamers for the cyber money can make reasons that many gamers would leave that game. Most people enjoy the game to make stress go away. It means that the cyber world is different from the real world. There may not exist the stressful things, such as paying taxes, bullying somebody, ordering from a higher officer, or being chided by the parents. If the government is concerned with paying any sector in virtual world, it will make one of the reasons that gamers leave that game, because there will not be any differences with the real world. Also, it can cause the failure of companies, and other companies have to take that risk to make profits. So, it could make problems with both the companies and gamers.

Adjusting a tax system in the cyber world require lots of time and labor. The majority of countries have suffered problems with higher labor fees. If the government wants to make a tax law system in the cyber world, they will have to expand a number of people to take care of the cyber tax law. Actually, the cyber world has risks that it can disappear at any time for any reasons. For example, production companies can become bankrupt someday, or they can merge with any other game companies. If some people take care of an online world tax system, they could get confused from that. It means that the cyber world is incomplete to judge as the real world. So, it can cause the wasting of labor and time, because it could not need a tax system as the real society does.

In conclusion, many people pay taxes from any earning and spending in the real world. However, in the cyber world, it could not be possible to pay taxes in any sector in the cyber world. It should be a problem to make trade between the virtual money and the real money, but paying taxes in the cyber world can make problems in that would require a very complicated law, and it can make reasons for some gamers to leave. Also, it can cause wasting of labor and time, because it is not the real world. Therefore, the tax system in the online world can be considered impossible, and it has lots of risks for everyone.

Reference

Dibbell, J. (2007) Virtual gold could draw real taxes. About.com. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from http://pcworld.about.com/od/onlineentertainment/Virtual-Gold-Could-Draw-Real-T.htm