eBay draws sword against virtual weapons

eBay spokesman, Hani Durzy, has this week explained the auction site’s decision to ban the sale of virtual wares acquired in Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). A busy trend on the site had seen online roleplaying veterans, particularly of the popular World of Warcraft, trade various trophies won in the course of their digital quests. These objects included swords, armour, gold and even whole characters in the form of online accounts. Yet, in the world that most people inhabit, they amount to little more than strings of code. Strings that lead back, not to the traders, but the games’ creators.

By banning game-related loot sales, eBay has wisely retreated from a grey-area of IP questions before it has had chance to turn into a quagmire. Durzy said: ‘Because of those legal complexities, we felt the most prudent thing to do at this point was to ban [the sales].’ He added that the ban would benefit ‘the overall health of the marketplace.’

The precise legal status of virtual goods trading is unclear, but in the specific case of eBay and World of Warcraft, two facts suggest it is taboo. Firstly, Warcraft’s creator, Blizzard Entertainment, has expressed concern about the trade, and secondly, eBay’s policy line on the sale of digital materials reads: ‘The seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.’

Durzy hints that the MMOG and online auction sectors require clear legislation on these transactions: ‘We are not saying they are legal and we are not saying they are illegal … Remember, our policies are ever evolving. We will change them if the communities, state of the culture, or laws dictate such.’

eBay is making an exception to goods acquired in Second Life: ‘Right now, Second Life is not considered a game,’ said Durzy, ‘So we are not applying the restriction.’ This stance is endorsed by Dmitri Williams, assistant communications professor at the University of Illinois: ‘It's consistent with Second Life that the economy outside the world is part of the world, whereas these other games are really trying to enforce the magic circle – that the rules inside the game are different from the rules outside, in order to protect the game’s sanctity.’ Second Life also notably defers IP rights to its users for innovations they add to the virtual world's content.