Don't Win Trade So Close To Me

New shoulders, the subject
Of casual fantasy.
He wants them, so badly,
Knows that he has to trade.

So the WoW forums are alive with Blizzard's latest crackdown on the arena PR pimps and their desperate buyers.  As a confessed shoulders buyer (remember, I play a paladin that is barred by statute from shoulders in 2v2/3v3) I'd be lying if I didn't feel some trepidation logging on this morning.  Courtesy of Blizzard's incredibly shortsighted and anti-competitive PR requirements for S3 gear, virtually every casual I know either buys PR or points now.  So I fully expect[ed] an enormous amount of casual players to be hit with suspensions or bans.

So far, so good but who knows if this is just the start of the latest witchhunt. It's sad because in S2, no casual I knew even bought points and win trading was a nonissue (for casuals).  Everyone knew they'd eventually get all the arena PVP gear in S2, even though it would take about 5-6 weeks per piece.  Now that ratings are apparently here to stay, arena exploitation has exploded into a very profitable business (see my previous posts on the subject).

Without rehashing why gear discrepancy is a Very Bad Idea in a lolcompetitive esport, let me just offer my condolences to anyone hit by the ban wave.  I believe as the virtual economy continues to grow these kinds of opaque, no due process type actions will eventually succumb to the same legal requirements that protect regular property.  Let me explain.

The Legal Angle
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Congress is already beginning to look at a tax on the sale of virtual currency because it can be converted into real currency at a fairly stable exchange rate. The IRS could basically consider the earning of in game gold as gross income.  In fact, a Forbes article (can't find link anymore) I read a few years ago ranked WoW's virtual economy as something like the 39th largest if compared against other countries: higher than Argentina in fact (something insane like that).  It's a billion dollar+ business.  And like other billion dollar businesses, it's subject to the same kind of oversight, regulation and legal protection we expect in other industries, real or virtual.

Now I'm sure someone will pipe up here and say "Roma, you moron, they can do whatever they want, it says so in the ToS!!!11!!!".  Well, that's true to a point.  But virtual property is one of the Wild West frontiers of intellectual property law right now- an area I fully expect to explode in the very near future (and I wish to partake in that explosion when I pass the bar of course).  Actions in equity provide a remedy where the normal legal remedy is insufficient. Let me provide a simple analogy.

Suppose you paid a membership fee to belong to an art studio.  The membership gave you access to the art studio where you could use their paint, canvas, etc... to paint whatever you wanted. And suppose the membership agreement gave the art studio the right to cancel the membership agreement at will and retain all ownership rights in any paintings you create. Basically you were paying for the right to paint in their studio.  Suppose you paint the equivalent of the Mona Lisa.  The studio then discovers that you -- against their studio rules -- used oil paints purchased outside the studio. They cancel your membership and confiscate your painting, the Mona Lisa Deux.

How many of you believe that a court sitting in equity is going to let the studio reap the benefit of all your labor?  And more importantly -- all that value.  It's essentially unjust enrichment.  Typically contract actions are limited to actual damages and keeping a priceless painting clearly seems excessive.

Someone is going to bring this kind of lawsuit in the next few years, guaranteed. Especially if they can convince a few lawmakers of all the potential revenue to be gained. I foresee a day soon when MMO companies merely provide the world and the content but players own the virtual property, subject to rules on ownership and transfer of property laid out by the legislature.  If you're going to ban someone for a violation of an in game policy, costing them thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in labor, be prepared to follow due process just as if you were going to repossess someone's car if they default on a loan.

Ruat caelum fiat justitia.

Attorney Coda: If I misstated the legal analysis anywhere, feel to correct me and I will edit accordingly.

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