gamerboy Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Is there anything against the law about selling virtual items for real world cash? I understand that in many games it is against their ToS but is there really anything against the law about selling these items for money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead.cell Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Not that I know of, really. Part of the problem lies with many of the places simply being outright scams to begin with. If Person A offers item X by the buttload, for only $10, and Person B gives him the money, what makes you think Person A has to even give them the item to begin with? Also, how the transaction is processed can be very unsafe, considering giving out things like credit card numbers can lead to identity theft and so forth. There's also been known account stealing in which the customer loses their account due to them giving up their account name / password. (cases in which people pay for someone to level them up) Aside from all that, selling game items and such can really screw with the game's economy. All in all, the best option for game companies is to restrict such actions to simply avoid headaches. It's also quite beneficial to the gaming community as those wealthy in the real world hold no real level of superiority over other players. How you play the game is what matters. I would strongly discourage you from doing any such actions. If that's not going to stop you, I simply pray that you don't play the games I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylcard Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Err.. the ToS is the law, simply by using their service you're agreeing to follow their terms. Either way, they have more money than you do, therefor in any court in the world = you lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 I remember reading a while back that is against the law. It's not as much about the ToS as it is about copyright. Take World of Warcraft (WoW) for example, Blizzard owns the copyright to WoW. By you selling in game assets (money, characters, gear, etc...) you are actually "selling" something you do not own, and that is copyrighted. Mostly they put it into the ToS just to be sure you know and agree to it. There are however some games that allow or encourage you to sell stuff. I think Second Life is like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Err.. the ToS is the law, simply by using their service you're agreeing to follow their terms.Either way, they have more money than you do, therefor in any court in the world = you lose. you couldn't be more wrong, you can't be sued for breaking their tos, they can however kick you out of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylcard Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 O'rly ? Well I must have dreamt about Blizzard suing 'Glider'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Veteran Posted April 20, 2009 Veteran Share Posted April 20, 2009 Blizzard sued Glider for interfering with their service. And besides copyright law, if you're "selling" WoW items IRL and not paying taxes on your income you're breaking the law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylcard Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Well yes, technically I don't think you can sue someone for breaking an EULA/TOU, people/companies get sued for very specific reasons, but for the whole EULA. But it's just messing around with words, point being is that if you break THEIR TOU, you'd get sued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamerboy Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 so basically what I got out of it was that it is technically not against the law but you risk getting your acc banned if you are caught by the developer correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Like I said, from how I read it a while back, the game is copyrighted, by selling items in game your actually selling items that you do not own the copyright to or have permission to. Thats how a lot of these game companies got eBay to not allow such sales anymore. They put it in the ToS basically to ensure that the customers know about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 so basically what I got out of it was that it is technically not against the law but you risk getting your acc banned if you are caught by the developer correct? that's right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamerboy Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Like I said, from how I read it a while back, the game is copyrighted, by selling items in game your actually selling items that you do not own the copyright to or have permission to. Thats how a lot of these game companies got eBay to not allow such sales anymore. They put it in the ToS basically to ensure that the customers know about it. that's right Two different opinions lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookie Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 point being is that if you break THEIR TOU, you'd get sued. And you'd know this from your degree in law right? Oh wait! :laugh: Blizzard took Glider to court because it's a bot. Last time blizzard caught a tonne of botters/gold farmers they just had a mass banning. I'd love to see evidence which shows them suing someone for selling their wares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylcard Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 *Sigh* I call your "Blizzard took Glider to court because it's a bot." and raise you a "THEREFORE IT BREAKS THEIR FREAKING TOU, BECAUSE IT AUTOMATES GAMEPLAY, WHICH IS AGAINST THEIR TOU THAT YOU SIGNED & AGREED UPON USING THEIR GAME". I hope that was clear, with the caps lock on, I don't know how you'd miss this. Oh and just because they didn't sue 52854354352842 people for advertising gold selling sites or running around using Glider, doesn't mean they can't do it, but you can see the problem with that - suing so many people is troublesome, at best you'd be able to sue one major site or one major program, not every single user. But hey, go ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehtro Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=2293 Just how far things can go when talking RL bussiness and MMORPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asharae Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=2293Just how far things can go when talking RL bussiness and MMORPG I just read that and was like....ZOMG! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookie Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 doesn't mean they can't do it, but you can see the problem with that - suing so many people is troublesome, at best you'd be able to sue one major site or one major program, not every single user. Finally you get my point. Even if it's possible to take them to court. The work required would be impossible. Therefore. They wouldn't. It's one thing to tout in gold cash for RL money. It's another to create a fully fledged bot which enables farmers to automate their business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMartian Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Two different opinions lol That's what you get for asking legal advice in Neowin :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macf13nd Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 I just read that and was like....ZOMG! hilarious! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilo Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 That girl's infamy spans across the entire FFXI server community. She was on my server once after being ousted by the community on her previous server. Girl is a nutcase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted April 27, 2009 Veteran Share Posted April 27, 2009 Something like that is probably against the game's ToS. And actually profiting from it could lead to drastic consequences. For instance, in most countries you'd get busted for tax evasion. Unless of course you declare it. http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=2293Just how far things can go when talking RL bussiness and MMORPG Wow. :omg: That girl's infamy spans across the entire FFXI server community. She was on my server once after being ousted by the community on her previous server. Girl is a nutcase. She must be! I mean, what she proposed was pretty low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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