p2pnet - rss feed: South Korea cyber gold rush
p2pnet.net News:- South Korea’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism acknowledges there’s gold in them thar cyber hills and a new Ministry Game Industry Division bill will attempt to, “tighten regulations on hazardous gambling activities,” says Ars Technica.
It would ban buying and selling virtual currency, but wouldn’t impose controls on item trading.
Some gamers are happy to pay real world money for in-game currency and/or items and that’s, “created quite a stir amongst gamers and politicians alike,” says the story. “The South Korean bill has received strong support from some in the game industry, particularly companies that run multiplayer Internet games in which the commercial exchange of virtual currency can potentially disrupt balance and competition. On the other side of the issue are gold-farming companies that serve the growing market for virtual currency.
But prohibition won’t decrease the market for virtual currency, “As gold farmers are quick to point out,” says Ars Technica.
Moreover, “By imposing penalties on virtual currency exchange, the Korean government will deprive native companies of access to a rapidly growing, $1 billion dollar market that will still be serviced by foreign companies,” it says, adding, “Many MMORPG developers already have policies forbidding the commercial exchange of virtual currency, and some might question if it is fair to the tax-paying public to shift the costs and burdens of enforcing those policies to the Korean government.”
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
Ars Technica - Korea considering gold farming regulation, December 27, 2006
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