Anti-gold farming bill proposed in South Korea
by Ross Miller 
{ Dec 28th 2006 at 3:27PM }
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism in South Korea has proposed a bill prohibiting the sale or purchase of virtual currency for anyone gaming in the country. According to the Ars Technica article, no limits would be imposed on trading.Never mind how logistics of trying to enforce such a law, a full prohibition on a billion-dollar industry is simply a reaction to a trend which legislators have little understanding of. Even if enacted, virtual consumerism would continue to grow. A bill that taxes virtual economies would be more realistic, but could such a bill be enforced?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex @ Dec 28th 2006 3:32PM
Of course it can be enforced: close the game servers. They will cooperate or disappear.
crono141 @ Dec 28th 2006 3:38PM
How would this be hard to enforce logistically? How do they sell it now Korea-Ebay(or a reasonable facsimile)? Shut down said auctions. Make it a "black market" commodity.
And how is taxing a virtual economy more feasable? Sure, i'll give my 2% gold I get from the AH in Warcrack to the gov't. Then the gov't will have some Warcrack money.
You can't tax something with no real world monetary value.
Dirtyboy @ Dec 28th 2006 3:42PM
The problem isn't so much the sellers as it is the buyers. If so many people wouldn't be lazy or want to cheat to get ahead, then it wouldn't be a problem. Oh, of course you have the "oh, I don't have the time to put in to the game so I buy gold/characters". Bah, go play something that you do have time for then. The problem with people today is no one wants to earn anything themselves, they just want instant gratification. No one wants to play the games by the rules, they want to play it their way, even if it means cheating.
I farmed for two weeks to get enough gold to buy two epic mounts in WoW while others around me just went to IGE. It felt to me like I had actually earned my reward while the others all it mattered to them was they looked cool to the other 60s or they were just impatient. Of course all they did after that was just stand around in IF, but that is another story...
James @ Dec 28th 2006 3:44PM
Crono, I think he means taxing the other end. In other words, the farmers who you pay real money to would be taxed.
Steve @ Dec 28th 2006 5:19PM
You can't close the game servers and make them cooperate. The actual game servers/companies don't sell the gold/gil /platinum etc., in fact they punish people for taking part in it, at least blizzard does. I know Sony Online Entertainment does sell the stuff themselves, so that's an exception.
It would be stupid and unlawful to shut down game servers that, in their terms of service/EULA, specifically state that they do not condone the buying/selling of their currency for real currency. I know blizzard is always banning accounts for this very reason, and I'm willing to bet most other MMO companies do as well(EQ/EQ2 obviously being exceptions, possibly a few others too).
Taxing virtual currency transactions seems unfair to me, even though it wouldn't affect me personally. I suppose if services are taxed in general (anything intangible) then I guess it's fair enough, but I don't know much about those rules.
This really does feel like another case of politicians trying to exploit or damage any industry or cultural trend that they don't understand, video games being a prime target lately. In the big picture, a small tax on this stuff probably won't matter, but it feels like too much like Jack Thompson-esque BS for my taste.
Steve @ Dec 28th 2006 5:48PM
Trust me; wherever you find people enjoying themselves and passing money around in the process, a greedy socialist is waiting in the shadows to ruin things for everyone. They'll probably justify it by claiming they need to protect the digital environment of the elusive paragoomba from excessive plumber intervention.