Virtual trading creates real issues in Net gamin

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The Yomiuri Shimbun

OSAKA--Problems concerning the trade of virtual reality weapons and items in online gaming have been increasing among players.

The trading of imaginary assets within the virtual world for actual money, which has been dubbed real money trading (RMT), is believed to have become a 15 billion yen industry.

Online gaming involves players who compete against each other in Internet games.

According to the Online Game Forum comprised of game developers, about 320 online games are available in the country as of the end of 2005, and about 28 million people are registered players.

Online gaming is now an 82 billion yen market, an increase of about 140 percent compared with last year.

Since there are no regulations or specific rules for RMT, more problems are expected.

RMT has increased in recent years in line with the growing popularity of online gaming.

Players usually gain their virtual items or currency as they clear certain stages of the game. Hoping to clear the stages quickly or to obtain expensive items, some dedicated game fans sell and purchase the virtual items individually through bulletin boards on gamer Web sites.

The players usually contact each other via e-mail. After confirming that money has been sent into their accounts from intended buyers, the sellers then provide the items or virtual weapons through a character appearing in the games.

The trend has created some professional traders who mediate game players. A Tokyo trader said items or weapons difficult to obtain can be priced at 50,000 yen to 100,000 yen, or occasionally even 2 million yen.

However, tradings have regularly been conducted on the Internet by people unknown in the gaming community, causing frequent problems.

In late August, a high school student in Kyoto told Kyoto prefectural police that he sent 150,000 yen to an account in exchange for a game weapon, but he never received the virtual item.

Three similar complaints were lodged at the Osaka municipal consumers' center this year.
In Tokyo and Yokohama, local consumer centers received a number of complaints between May and June from buyers who were unable to contact the sellers after paying.

In South Korea, where RMT is believed to have created a 1 trillion won (120 billion yen) business, fraudulent acts and assault cases in relation to RMT have already become a major problem. The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has ordered game developers to set a ban on RMT among individual users.

In Japan, most of the game-creating firms have established a ban on RMT, claiming it disrupts the order of the game. They also set punitive measures, including canceling a player's registration for the game if he or she breaks the ban.

However, there is no legislation in place regulating RMT, and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry believes the issue should be left up to the ethics of the users.

Kiyoshi Shin, a lecturer at Ritsumeikan University's graduate school, said the desire of players to show off rare items sold at high prices is similar to the desire to obtain prestigious brand name objects.


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