Korea Bans Commercial Game Item Trades

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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Korea Bans Commercial Game Item Trades


South Korean authorities are looking to stamp out the burgeoning game items-for-cash market.

According to The Korea Times, the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism is planning to introduce legislation which will render all commercial virtual item trades illegal. Under the new law, which will be announced next month, gamers caught trading items for cash (or vice versa) could face a maximum 50 million won fine (approximately US$42,848) and a not-unreasonable-at-all five year jail term.

"The main purpose of the games is for entertainment and should be used for academic and other good purposes," said Kim Kap-soo, head of the ministry's content policy division.

The law also prohibits MMO players from using programs that play games and collect items automatically. According to the ministry, items acquired by bots make up over 60 percent of all items traded in the country, and the monetization of item trades is partially responsible for the nation's rising crime rate amongst teenagers. If the finalized law doesn't feature any exemptions, it will likely cripple the country's MMO industry. An overwhelming majority of Korean MMOs are free-to-play titles which depend on virtual item sales to turn a profit.

Korean arcades will also be affected by the new law, as it closes the legal loopholes they've been using to bypass anti-gambling legislation. Currently, games like Sea Story don't technically count as gambling, as the machines don't pay out in cash. They do however, pay out virtual tokens which can then be redeemed for cash. The number of Arcades offering games like Sea Story has risen to 1,500 as of April this year compared to a mere 50 in 2009.

Source: The Korea Times [http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2012/06/129_112964.html]


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Albino Boo

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Jun 14, 2010
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Well this explains the hostility to D3s real money auction house. Previously I had thought that the anti auction house moves was protectionism for Korea own online games but its obviously become an issue in Korea.
 

microhive

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Mar 27, 2009
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I've personally never been very fond of the idea of buying digital items for actual currency. I welcome this change.
 

Comando96

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May 26, 2009
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South Korea have recently removed evolution from their text books [http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/12/south-korean-textbooks-embrace-creationism/]
Which endangers their position as the worlds so called leader of education.

Now they want to cripple their own MMO market... has there been an election that I missed where a bunch of retards got elected?

Hey David... David... Cameron you prick. At that got your attention.
Fancey capitalizing on this move by South Korea and try to steal away some of their MMO market and turn the UK into a market leader for games... oh no you fucking moron what are you doing... [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18439226]
 

RaNDM G

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Apr 28, 2009
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Evil Smurf said:
will they stamp out DLC next?
DLC should be fine. It looks like the law is only going after microtransactions for items already in the game.

I actually think this is a good idea. If the U.S. had laws like this, my mother wouldn't be spending God knows how many hours each night playing YoVille and Farmville. There are more important things she could be doing at 2:40 in the morning. Like posting on message boards.

Joking aside, this is going to suck for free-to-play developers. But hopefully this will encourage them to make games that are actually worth buying at retail. I never cared for Zynga anyway.

Comando96 said:
South Korea have recently removed evolution from their text books [http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/12/south-korean-textbooks-embrace-creationism/]
Which endangers their position as the worlds so called leader of education.

Now they want to cripple their own MMO market... has there been an election that I missed where a bunch of retards got elected?
I can't argue with that. Idiots will be idiots.
 

lancar

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Aug 11, 2009
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hmm...

5 year jail time? 42k$ fine? For buying/selling a virtual item?
Sounds legit.

This could mean trouble for the F2P titles where buying items & advantages with real money is the very cornerstone of their existance.
 

Comando96

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May 26, 2009
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RaNDM G said:
But hopefully this will encourage them to make games that are actually worth buying at retail. I never cared for Zynga anyway.
http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Free to Play/

Just have a quick look at the free to play games that steam has within it's system.

They have some good games there... Zynga is probably a legitimate target as it relies on the Skinner Box but a lot of these other free to play games are of a good quality.

To take down Zynga your doing a lot more and a lot wider damage... effectively you would be nuking Zynga and all these other games get caught in the blast and in the radiation...

RaNDM G said:
Comando96 said:
South Korea have recently removed evolution from their text books [http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/12/south-korean-textbooks-embrace-creationism/]
Which endangers their position as the worlds so called leader of education.

Now they want to cripple their own MMO market... has there been an election that I missed where a bunch of retards got elected?
I can't argue with that. Idiots will be idiots.
Yeah but you could argue that idiots shouldn't be allowed to vote or run for the position of RUNNING A COUNTRY xD
 

RaNDM G

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Apr 28, 2009
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Comando96 said:
To take down Zynga your doing a lot more and a lot wider damage... effectively you would be nuking Zynga and all these other games get caught in the blast and in the radiation...
War...

War never changes...
 
Sep 4, 2009
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When I first read:

Grey Carter said:
Under the new law, which will be announced next month, gamers caught trading items for cash (or vice versa)
I didn't notice the "versa" on the trailing line, and assumed this was about "I'll pay you with sex if you like" kinda problem.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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Well, I guess this is understandable in a country where video game addiction causes as much harm as it does. When there's actually people dying when in internet cafés and children starving while their parents are playing online games there needs to be some changes. While I don't know if this is quite what I would have in mind it's a logic step since I can imagine some might have problems getting food because they spent it all on a new helmet for their character. They still got a long way to go though. As long as there is prestige to be gained by playing StarCraft their country will suffer from too much video games.
 

Ashannon Blackthorn

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Sep 5, 2011
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Heh asked my Korean roomie about this one. She just shrugged and said the politician were making a much bigger deal out of it to score cheap points with the older demographics. I can see that.
 

shintakie10

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Sep 3, 2008
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South Korea has been on a hateon for games lately honestly. The government seems to feel that people are spendin an unhealthy amount of time playin video games and are tryin to cut it off with stuff like this. I'm not sure what they exactly hope to accomplish with everythin other than alienatin anyone who actually enjoys the hobby, but meh.
 

Torrasque

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Aug 6, 2010
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I can't laughing at this xD
The Korean government is single handedly killing the gold farming market AND half of the auction house of D3.
It will be interesting how this law applies and if some game companies will fight back.

For example:
Hats in TF2
Skins in LoL
RMAH in D3
DLC bought over xblive
Everything in every Zynga game ever
 

Moromillas

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May 25, 2010
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Why? All it will do is create a black market for virtual items.

What's next? A black market for porcelain vases?