Korea Gaming Bill Prohibits Cyber Money Trading
January 6, 2007 by Patrick Quek
Filed under Gaming
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Korea has came up with a gaming bill that may cripple Korea’s $1 billion online gaming economy.
The controversial bill has been immobile for more than a month due to its sensitive contents, including a prohibition on the trading of cyber money used in online games.
The bill is not welcome by gamers, item trading companies and even academics:
Yi In-hwa, a professor of digital storytelling at Ewha Womans University, said the prohibition is not a good solution and the government should try to find a way to help develop a healthy market.
“Of course, hazardous gambling games should be tackled. But it’s nonsense for the government to crack down on the trade of cyber money,” Yi said.
Moreover, the bill does not clearly define cyber money, game items and virtual goods. A blurry definition means even simple trading of virtual goods may be viewed as illegal.
Most of the time, I don’t agree with academics but I second the Prof’s stand in this case.
Crazy Gaming Bill via The Korea Times
