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
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