You probably did, didn’t you? Lookie. The government of South Korea will be the first national government to impose taxes on transactions that occur in virtual worlds.
Could this happen in the US? Yeah, it could. The IRS is looking into it. Second Life seems to be the model:
Entrepreneurs have flocked to Second Life - a computer-based 3-D virtual world where users create their own, well, second lives - in pursuit of making real money. So-called residents can buy and sell goods for Linden dollars, an in-world currency that can be converted into real U.S. dollars.
At least one user claims the virtual world has minted her a millionaire - and economic activity is humming along. Users of the virtual world injected about $1.6 million into Second Life in the last 24 hours alone, according to Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life.
It seems just yesterday I was amused at the degree to which economic activity in such games as Diablo II was seeping into the real world. Now there are sites to assist you with real money trading in gaming worlds so that you can know exactly how much you can be asking for that digital sword or digital shield you picked up on the digital battlefield. I am sure Baudrillard would have something profound to say about all this.
2 responses so far ↓
Roland Dodds // July 14, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Oddly enough, I am moving to Korea this Tuesday. I guess I will have to stop selling goods using my World of Warcraft character huh?
hydralisk // July 15, 2007 at 9:20 am
Haha, I guess so. But on the flip side, you’ll find online gaming cafes everywhere you go if the rumors are true!
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