eBay to delist virtual property auctions
The online auction site, Ebay, plans to fully enforce its policy on digitally delivered goods “the seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.” In the past the policy has not fully been enforced with lapses occurring for quite some time.
What this policy means is that gamers can no longer sell items that they have earned from online games on the online auction site. No longer will gamers be able to sell their gold, their swords (with +1000 super-duper-fire-power) or their strong high leveled accounts.
Speaking with the web site, Slashdot, Ebay said that it will be delisting all auctions for virtual property and has been it has been doing so for the last couple of months.
What effect this will have on the market remains to be seen. A high percentage of operations are run in third world sweatshops where workers “mine” gold for very poor pay. Will these businesses have to close or will they find an alternative marketplace?
Reference for posting: http://games.slashdot.org
